Old/New Testament

Warning to Zedekiah

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from Adonai, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion and all the peoples were warring against Jerusalem and its towns, saying, ² thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah and tell him, thus says Adonai: ‘I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire, ³ and you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes will behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.”

⁴ Yet hear the word of Adonai, O Zedekiah king of Judah, thus says Adonai concerning you: “You will not die by the sword; ⁵ you will die in peace. As there were burning ceremonies for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you, and they will lament for you: ‘Oy, lord!’ For it is a word I have spoken,” declares Adonai.

Covenant Breaking With Slaves

⁶ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was warring against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left—against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities. ⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from Adonai, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹ so that everyone should let his manservant and his maidservant—Hebrew man or Hebrew woman—go free, so that no one should make a slave of a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ So all the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone would free his manservant and his maidservant and not make them slaves any more—they obeyed, and freed them. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and made the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, return, and brought them back into subjection as servants and as handmaids.”

¹² So the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying, ¹³ thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: ¹⁴ ‘At the end of seven years you are to set free every man his brother that is a Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you are let him go free from you.’ But your fathers did not obey Me, nor inclined their ear. ¹⁵ Now you had repented, and had done that which is right in My eyes, by proclaiming liberty everyone to his neighbor. You even had made a covenant before Me in the House where My Name is called. ¹⁶ But you turned around and profaned My Name, and made everyone his servant and his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their will, return, and you brought them back into subjection, to be your servants and handmaids.”

¹⁷ Therefore thus says Adonai: “You have not obeyed Me, to proclaim liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim for you a liberty,” declares Adonai, “to the sword, to plague and to famine! So I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts ¹⁹ —the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the officers, the kohanim, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them who seek their life, and their dead bodies will be for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹ King Zedekiah of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, who were withdrawing from you. ²² Indeed, I will command,” declares Adonai, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a wasteland, with no one living.”

Obedience of Rechabites

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from Adonai in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying: ² “Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into one of the chambers of the House of Adonai, and give them wine to drink.”

³ So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the House of Adonai to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the doorkeeper. ⁵ I set jars full of wine and cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites, and said to them: “Drink wine!”

⁶ But they said: “We drink no wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab our father commanded us: ‘You will drink no wine, not you nor your sons, forever. ⁷ Also you are not to build a house, or sow seed, or plant a vineyard or own one. Instead all your days you are to dwell in tents, so that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ ⁸ So we obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab our father in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, ⁹ nor to build houses for us to dwell in, nor to own a vineyard, field or seed, ¹⁰ and we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against the land, we said: ‘Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Arameans. So we are dwelling in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then came the word of Adonai to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Go, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?’” says Adonai. ¹⁴ “The words of Jonadab son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are observed, and to this day they drink none, for they listen to their father’s commandment. Yet I have spoken to you, early and often, and you have not obeyed Me.

¹⁵ “I have sent also to you all My servants the prophets, sending them early and often, saying: ‘Return you now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers; but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to Me. ¹⁶ For the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have kept the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people have not obeyed Me.’”

¹⁷ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “I am about to bring on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I spoke to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.”

¹⁸ Now Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you,” ¹⁹ therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “There will never be cut off for Jonadab son of Rechab a man to stand before Me forever.”

Baruch Reads Jeremiah’s Scroll

36 Now it happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of King Josiah of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying: ² “Take a megillah scroll, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you about Israel, about Judah, and about all the nations from the day I spoke to you—from the days of Josiah until this day. ³ Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity that I am planning to do to them, in order that they may turn, each one from his evil way. Then I would forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from Jeremiah’s mouth, all the words that Adonai had spoken to him, into a megillah scroll. ⁵ Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying: “I am detained; I cannot go into the House of Adonai. ⁶ So you go and read in the megillah—which you have written from my mouth, the words of Adonai—in the ears of the people, in the House of Adonai, on a fast day. You should also read them in the ears of all Judah coming from their towns. ⁷ Perhaps they will present their supplication before Adonai, and each one will turn from his wicked way. For great is the anger and fury that Adonai has pronounced against this people.”

⁸ So Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that the prophet Jeremiah commanded him, reading from the book the words of Adonai in the House of Adonai.

⁹ Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of King Josiah of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before Adonai—all the people in Jerusalem and all the people that came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the House of Adonai, in the chamber of Gemariah son of the scribe Shaphan, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the House of Adonai, in the ears of all the people.

¹¹ Now when Micaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan, had heard from the scroll all the words of Adonai, ¹² he went down to the scribe’s chamber of the king’s palace. All the officials sat there—the scribe Elishama, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the officials. ¹³ Then Micaiah reported to them all the words that he had heard Baruch reading out of the scroll in the ears of the people.

¹⁴ All the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah son of Shelemiah son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying: “Bring in your hand the megillah which you read in the ears of the people and come.”

So Baruch son of Neriah brought the megillah in his hand and went to them. ¹⁵ Then they said to him: “Sit down now, and read it in our ears.” So Baruch read it in their ears.

¹⁶ After they had heard all the words, they turned to each other in fear, then said to Baruch: “We will surely report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷ They also asked Baruch, saying: “Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?”

¹⁸ Then Baruch answered them: “He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink into the scroll.”

¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch: “Go, hide yourself—you and Jeremiah—and let no one know where you are.”

²⁰ Then they went to the king in the courtyard, after they had deposited the megillah in the chamber of the scribe Elishama. They reported all the words in the ears of the king.

²¹ So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the megillah, and he brought it out of the chamber of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king.

²² Since it was the ninth month, the king was residing in the winter house, with a fireplace burning before him. ²³ Now as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, he cut it with the scribe’s knife and tossed it into the fire that was in the fireplace, until the whole megillah was consumed in the fire in the fireplace. ²⁴ Yet neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid, nor tore their clothes. ²⁵ Moreover Elnatan, Delaiah and Gemariah entreated the king not to burn the megillah, but he would not listen to them.

²⁶ Then the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, along with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to seize the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah—but Adonai hid them.

²⁷ Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the megillah with the words that Baruch had written at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying: ²⁸ “Take yet another megillah, and write in it all the original words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned up. ²⁹ About King Jehoiakim of Judah you will say, thus says Adonai: ‘You have burned this megillah, saying, “Why have you written in it, saying the king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land and will bring an end to both man and beast from it?” ’”

³⁰ Therefore thus says Adonai about King Jehoiakim of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on the throne of David. Moreover, his dead body will be tossed out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. ³¹ I will also punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of Judah all the calamity that I have pronounced against them—but they did not listen.”

³² Then Jeremiah took another megillah and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll which King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned up in the fire—and added to them many similar words.

Warning Not to Drift Away

2 For this reason it is necessary for us to pay especially close attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ² For if the word spoken through angels proved to be firm, and every violation and disobedience received a just payback, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was first spoken through the Lord and confirmed to us by those who heard. ⁴ At the same time, God was testifying by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, according to His will.

Yeshua Greater than Angels

⁵ For it is not to angels that God has subjected the olam ha-ba—about which we speak. ⁶ But somewhere someone has testified, saying,

For when He put all things in subjection to him, He left nothing outside his control. But for now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. ⁹ But we see One who was made for a little while lower than the angels—namely, Yeshua. He is now crowned with glory and honor, because of the death He suffered so that, by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰ For it was fitting for God—for whom and through whom all things exist—in leading many sons to glory, to perfect through sufferings the initiator of their salvation. ¹¹ For both He who sanctifies and those being sanctified are all from one—so He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ^{[b] 12} saying,

¹³ And again,

And again,

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared the same humanity—so that through death He might break the power of the one who had the power of death (that is, the devil) ¹⁵ and free those who by fear of death were in bondage all their lives. ¹⁶ For surely He is not concerned about angels, but about the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in all things, so He might become a merciful and faithful Kohen Gadol in matters relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. ^{[f] 18} Because He Himself suffered when put to the test, He is able to help those being tested.