Old/New Testament
Chapter 37[a]
Jeremiah’s Arrest. 1 Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to be king in the land of Judah, succeeding Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim. 2 However, neither he nor his officials nor the people of the land paid any heed to the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.
3 Even so, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, the son of Shelamiah, and the priest Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, to the prophet Jeremiah with this message, “Please pray to the Lord, our God, for us.” 4 At that time Jeremiah had not been imprisoned, and he was still able to move freely among the people. 5 Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set forth from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem learned of this, they withdrew from there.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: 7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Give this reply to the king of Judah who sent you to consult me: Pharaoh’s army which has set out to help you will withdraw to its own country of Egypt, 8 and the Chaldeans will then resume their attack upon this city. They will capture it and burn it to the ground.
9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves with the belief that the Chaldeans will cease their attack on you, for they will not disappear. 10 Even if you managed to defeat the entire force of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only those who were wounded were still left, they would rise up and burn this city to the ground.
11 When the Chaldean army had withdrawn from their attack on Jerusalem after they learned of the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem for the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his share of a piece of property that he had inherited. 13 However, when he reached the Benjamin Gate, he encountered there the captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shemaliah, the son of Hananiah. Irijah arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” 14 Jeremiah answered him, “That is a lie. I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah refused to listen to him, and he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.
15 The officials were enraged at Jeremiah. After having him beaten, they ordered him to be confined in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which had been converted into a jail. 16 Jeremiah was placed in a cell in the dungeon where he remained for a lengthy period of time.
17 Later, King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him, and he questioned him privately in his palace, asking him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 18 Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah, “In what way have I wronged you or your ministers or this people that caused you to order me to be thrown into prison? 19 Where are your prophets now who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?
20 “Therefore, I beg you, my lord king, to grant my petition. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe. If you do, I will die there.” 21 Therefore, King Zedekiah issued an order that Jeremiah was to be confined to the court of the guard, and that a loaf of bread was to be given to him each day from the Street of the Bakers until there was no more bread remaining in the city. And so Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Chapter 38
Jeremiah in the Muddy Cistern. 1 Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, Gedaliah, the son of Pashhur, Jucal, the son of Shemaliah, and Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, heard Jeremiah speaking these words to all the people, 2 “Thus says the Lord: Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, or famine, or pestilence. However, anyone who leaves it and surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; his life will be spared and he will live. 3 Thus says the Lord: Without any doubt this city will be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon who will capture it.
4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. There is no question that he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city as well as all the people by saying such things to them. For this man is not interested in the welfare of these people but rather is seeking their ruin.”
5 King Zedekiah replied, “He is in your power.” For the king was powerless to oppose them. 6 Therefore, they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7 However, it so happened that an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech,[b] who was a eunuch in the king’s palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. Therefore, he decided to report this to the king, 8 and he left the palace to speak to the king who at that moment was seated at the Benjamin Gate. 9 “My lord king,” he said, “these men have acted wickedly in their treatment of the prophet Jeremiah. They threw him into a cistern and left him there to die of hunger, for there is no more bread left in the city.”
10 The king instructed Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, to take three men along with him and lift the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he perished. 11 Ebed-melech went to the palace with the men after first taking from a storage closet in the palace some old tattered rags and worn-out clothes which he lowered with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, “Put those old rags and clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13 and then they pulled him up with the ropes out of the cistern. But Jeremiah continued to remain in the court of the guard.
14 King Zedekiah summoned the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I have something to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not conceal anything from me.” 15 Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I speak in a straightforward manner, you will have me put to death, won’t you? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 16 But King Zedekiah then swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives who gave us the breath of life, I will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to those who seek your life.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned to the ground, and you and your family will live. 18 However, if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, this city will fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will destroy it with fire, and you yourself will not be able to escape their clutches.”
19 King Zedekiah then said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans. It very well might be that I will be handed over to them and they will be ruthless in their treatment of me.” 20 Jeremiah replied, “You will not be handed over to them. If you obey the Lord by doing everything I tell you, all will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me. 22 He has given me a vision of all the women left in the palace of the king of Judah being led off to the officials of the king of Babylon and saying,
‘They have misled you and triumphed over you,
your trusted friends.
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they have deserted you.’
23 “All your wives and your children will be led off to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape their clutches. Rather, you will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned to the ground.”
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know of this conversation, or you will die. 25 If the officials learn that I have spoken with you, and they say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hold anything back from us or we will put you to death,’ 26 give them this answer, ‘I was simply pleading with the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”
27 All the officials did come to Jeremiah to interrogate him, and he replied to them in the very same words that the king had commanded. Therefore, they ceased to question him, for no one had heard their conversation. 28 And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.
Chapter 39
Jeremiah and Gedaliah. 1 In the tenth month of the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched into battle against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it. 2 Then, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, a breach was made in the wall of the city. 3 Thereupon, all of the officials of the king of Babylon came forward and took their seats at the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, who was a high dignitary, another Nergal-sharezer, who was the chief astrologer, and all of the other dignitaries in the king’s service.
4 When King Zedekiah of Judah beheld them, he and all of his soldiers fled, departing from the city during the night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls, and they set off in the direction of the Arabah. 5 However, the army of the Chaldeans set off in pursuit of them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. After they had captured him, they took him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, at Riblah in the land of Hamath, who passed sentence on him.
6 The king of Babylon ordered the sons of Zedekiah to be slaughtered at Riblah before their father’s eyes, and he also sentenced all the nobles of Judah to be put to death. 7 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and ordered him to be taken to Babylon bound in chains.
8 The Chaldeans burned to the ground the royal palace and the houses of the people, and they demolished the walls of Jerusa-lem. 9 Then Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, deported to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the remaining workmen. 10 However Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and at the same time, he gave them vineyards and fields.
11 Concerning Jeremiah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave the following orders to Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, 12 “Take him and look after him. Do him no harm, but grant him whatever he requests.” 13 Then Nebuzaradan, the commander, the commander of the guard, and Nebushazban, a high-ranking dignitary, and Nergal-sharezer, an important official, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14 ordered Jeremiah to be taken from the court of the guard and entrusted to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be brought safely home. Thus he remained among his own people.
15 A Blessing for Ebed-melech. While Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him. 16 “Go and tell Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am now going to fulfill the words I have spoken against this city for its ruin and not for its prosperity, and those promises will be fulfilled before your very eyes.
17 “However, I will rescue you on that day, says the Lord. You will not be handed over to those whom you so greatly fear. 18 For I will save you. You will not fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life because you have placed your trust in me, says the Lord.”
A High Priest for Humanity[a]
Chapter 3
Christ’s Fidelity Is Superior to That of Moses.[b] 1 Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly calling, concentrate your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our profession of faith. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in God’s household.
3 However, he is deserving of a greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house is more honored than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all is God.
5 Now Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s household, testifying to the things that would later be revealed, 6 whereas Christ was faithful as a son watching over his house. And we are that house if we hold firm to our confidence and take pride in our hope.
The “Today” of God.[c] 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 harden not your hearts as at the rebellion,
in the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your ancestors tried me and tested me
though they had seen what I could do 10 for forty years.
As a result I became angered with that generation,
and I said, ‘Their hearts have always gone astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, I swore in my anger,
‘They will never enter into my rest.’ ”
12 Take care, brethren, that none of you will ever have an evil and unbelieving heart that will cause you to forsake the living God. 13 Rather, encourage each other every day, as long as it is today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we will become partners with Christ only if we maintain firmly until the end the confidence we originally had, 15 as it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.”
16 Who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Were they not all those whom Moses had led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angered for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned and whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would never enter into his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see clearly that they were unable to enter because of their refusal to believe.
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