Old/New Testament
A Message for Zedekiah
34 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, along with all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth, and all the peoples that were subject to him were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities.
2 The Lord, the God of Israel, says:
Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him this is what the Lord says. I certainly am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it. 3 You will not escape his grasp. You will surely be taken and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon eye-to-eye, and he will speak with you face-to-face. You will go to Babylon.
4 Even so, hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah.
The Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword. 5 You will die in peace. Just as people made a funeral fire in honor of your fathers who were kings before you, so they will make a fire for you. They will lament for you, saying, “Alas, master!” This is my word, declares the Lord.
6 Jeremiah the prophet said all these things to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem 7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against the cities of Judah that still remained, namely, Lachish and Azekah (for these alone remained from all of Judah’s fortified cities).
8 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem proclaiming freedom for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, male and female. No one was to keep a fellow Jew in slavery. 10 All the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would set their male and female slaves free, and that no one would keep them in slavery anymore. They obeyed the agreement and set them free. 11 But after this they changed their minds. They took back the slaves they had set free, and they made them serve as male and female slaves once again.
12 It was after this that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
13 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I made a covenant with your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery. I said that 14 every seven years you are to set free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served you six years, you are to set him free.[a] But your fathers did not listen to me or pay attention to me. 15 Now, after you repented and did what is right in my sight, each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name, 16 but you have turned around and profaned my name. Each of you has taken back and enslaved his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to go where they wished. You forced them back into slavery, to serve as your male and female slaves.
17 Therefore this is what the Lord says. You have not listened to me by proclaiming freedom for your brothers and your neighbors. So I am proclaiming freedom to you, says the Lord. Freedom to fall by the sword, plague, and famine! I will make you a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 I am going to make the men who walked between the covenant pieces,[b] but who did not keep the terms of the covenant that they had made in my presence, just like the calf they cut in two and then walk between its pieces. 19 The officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the government ministers,[c] the priests, and all the people of the land who walked between the parts of the calf, 20 I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives. Their corpses will be food for the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the land.
21 I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials to those who seek their lives and to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. Watch, I will give a command, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make the cities of Judah desolate so that no one can live there.
The Example of the Rekabites
35 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah. 2 “Go to the house of the Rekabites, and bring them into one of the rooms in the House of the Lord, and give them wine to drink.”
3 So I took Ja’azaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, along with his brothers and all his sons—the whole house of the Rekabites— 4 and I brought them into the House of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials that was above the room of Ma’asaiah son of Shallum, the doorkeeper. 5 I set bowls of wine and some cups before the men of the house of the Rekabites, and I said to them, “Drink some wine.”
6 But they said, “We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rekab commanded us: ‘You are not to drink wine, neither you nor your descendants, not ever. 7 Also, you are not to build houses, sow seed, plant vineyards, or own any of these things. You must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time on the land where you live as nomads.’ 8 We have obeyed what Jonadab son of Rekab, our ancestor, commanded us. We have never drunk wine—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. 9 We have never built houses to live in. We have no vineyards, fields, or crops. 10 We have lived in tents, and we have obeyed everything that Jonadab our ancestor commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, we said, ‘Come on, we have to go to Jerusalem to escape the armies of the Chaldeans and the Arameans.’ That is why we are living in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
13 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. Go ask the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: Will you learn a lesson and obey my words? declares the Lord. 14 Jonadab son of Rekab commanded his sons not to drink wine, and this command has been kept. To this day they drink no wine, for they have obeyed their ancestor’s command. But I keep speaking to you, again and again, and you have not obeyed me. 15 I have sent my servants the prophets to you again and again. They told you to turn from your evil ways, to reform your actions, and to stop following other gods in order to serve them. Then you would live on the land I have given to you and your fathers. But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16 The sons of Jonadab son of Rekab have kept this command which their father gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.
17 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says. Watch this. I am going to bring down on Judah and everyone who lives in Jerusalem every disaster I have pronounced against them. I have spoken to them, but they have not listened. I have called them, but they have not answered.
18 Jeremiah said to the house of the Rekabites, “The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says this. Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his instructions and done everything he commanded you, 19 the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says that Jonadab will never fail to have a man to serve me.”
Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll
36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, concerning Judah and all the other nations, from the day I began speaking to you in the days of Josiah until now. 3 Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning for them, each of them will turn from his evil ways. Then I will forgive their guilt and their sin.
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah. While Jeremiah dictated all the words that the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah gave an order to Baruch, saying, “I am restricted from going into the House of the Lord, 6 so you will have to go. Read from the scroll you have written at my dictation. Read it in the hearing of all the people of Judah who have come from their cities on a day of fasting. 7 Perhaps they will make a request to the Lord, and each of them will turn from his evil ways, for the Lord has planned great anger and wrath against this people.”
8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything that Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him. He read the words of the Lord from the scroll in the House of the Lord.
9 Later, in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people of Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah proclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10 Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the House of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people. This was at the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the House of the Lord.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12 he went into the secretary’s room in the king’s palace. All the officials happened to be sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13 Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to tell Baruch, “Bring the scroll you have read in the hearing of the people, and come here.”
So Baruch son of Neriah brought the scroll in his hand and went to them. 15 They said, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
16 When they had heard everything, they turned to one another in fear. They said to Baruch, “We have to report all of these things to the king.” 17 They asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all of this? Did Jeremiah dictate this to you?”
18 Baruch answered, “He dictated[d] all of these things to me, and I wrote them with ink on the scroll.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go and hide. Do not let anyone know where you are.”
20 They put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, and then they went to the king in the court. They repeated all of these words to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. After he took it from the room of Elishama the secretary, Jehudi read it to the king in the hearing of all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house (it was the ninth month),[e] and there was a metal heating pan with a fire of burning coals in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king would cut it off with a scribe’s knife and throw it into the fire until the entire scroll was burned up in the fire. 24 Neither the king nor his attendants who heard all these words were afraid. They did not tear their clothing. 25 Even when Elnathan and Delaiah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahme’el the king’s son, along with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abde’el, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord hid them.
27 After the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
28 Take another scroll, and write all the earlier words on it that were on the first scroll, the one that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
29 Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, say: This is what the Lord says. You yourself have burned this scroll. You asked, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy the land and cut off both men and animals?” 30 That is why the Lord says this about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their guilt. I will bring on them and on everyone who lives in Jerusalem and the men of Judah every disaster I have pronounced against them, because they did not listen.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to his scribe Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote on it all the same words that had been on the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
Pay Attention to God’s Word
2 Therefore, we need to pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message that was spoken through angels[a] was valid, and every transgression and disobedient act received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? First the message was spoken by the Lord; then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it with signs and wonders, various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his will.
God Put Everything Under His Control
5 For God did not place the coming world, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
What is man that you remember him,
or the Son of Man[b] that you look after him?
7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while.[c]
You crowned him with glory and honor.[d]
8 You put everything in subjection under his feet.[e]
Indeed, in putting everything in subjection to him, God left nothing that is not in subjection to him. At the present time, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we look to Jesus (the one who was made lower than the angels for a little while, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone), now crowned with glory and honor, because he suffered death.
A Merciful and Faithful High Priest
10 Certainly it was fitting for God (the one for whom and through whom everything exists), in leading many sons to glory, to bring the author of their salvation to his goal through sufferings. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have one Father. For that reason, he is not ashamed to call them brothers.[f] 12 He says:
I will declare your name to my brothers.
Within the congregation I will sing your praise.[g]
13 And again:
I will trust in him.[h]
And again:
Here I am and the children God has given me.[i]
14 Therefore, since the children share flesh and blood,[j] he also shared the same flesh and blood, so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of death (that is, the Devil) 15 and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. 16 For surely he was not concerned with helping angels but with helping Abraham’s offspring.[k] 17 For this reason, he had to become like his brothers in every way, in order that he would be a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God, so that he could pay[l] for the sins of the people. 18 Indeed, because he suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.