1 These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests from Anathoth, a town in the land of Benjamin.
2 The Lord first gave messages to Jeremiah during the thirteenth year of King Josiah's reign in Judah.
3 He continued to give messages throughout the reign of Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim, until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign in Judah. In August of that year, the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.
4 The Lord gave me a message. He said,
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6 "O Sovereign Lord," I said, "I can't speak for you! I'm too young!"
7 "Don't say that," the Lord replied, "for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.
8 And don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
9 Then the Lord touched my mouth and said, "See, I have put my words in your mouth!
10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them."
11 Then the Lord said to me, "Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?" And I replied, "I see a branch from an almond tree."
12 And the Lord said, "That's right, and it means that I am watching, and I will surely carry out my threats of punishment."
13 Then the Lord spoke to me again and asked, "What do you see now?" And I replied, "I see a pot of boiling water, tipping from the north."
14 "Yes," the Lord said, "for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land.
15 Listen! I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem. They will set their thrones at the gates of the city. They will attack its walls and all the other towns of Judah.
16 I will pronounce judgment on my people for all their evil — for deserting me and worshiping other gods. Yes, they worship idols that they themselves have made!
17 "Get up and get dressed. Go out, and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them.
18 For see, today I have made you immune to their attacks. You are strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. None of the kings, officials, priests, or people of Judah will be able to stand against you.
19 They will try, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
1 The Lord gave me another message. He said,
2 "Go and shout in Jerusalem's streets: 'This is what the Lord says: I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.
3 In those days Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of my children. All who harmed my people were considered guilty, and disaster fell upon them. I, the Lord, have spoken!' "
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6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.
7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this,
8 she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.
9 Israel treated it all so lightly — she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled.
10 But in spite of all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry," says the Lord.
11 Then the Lord said to me, "Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!
12 Therefore, go and say these words to Israel, 'This is what the Lord says:
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14 "Return home, you wayward children," says the Lord, "for I am your husband. I will bring you again to the land of Israel — one from here and two from there, from wherever you are scattered.
15 And I will give you leaders after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.
16 "And when your land is once more filled with people," says the Lord, "you will no longer wish for 'the good old days' when you possessed the Ark of the Lord's covenant. Those days will not be missed or even thought about, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark.
17 In that day Jerusalem will be known as The Throne of the Lord. All nations will come there to honor the Lord. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.
18 In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave their ancestors as an inheritance forever.
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10 Then I said, "O Sovereign Lord, the people have been deceived by what you said, for you promised peace for Jerusalem. Yet the sword is even now poised to strike them dead!"
11 The time is coming when the Lord will say to the people of Jerusalem, "A burning wind is blowing in from the desert. It is not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain.
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18 "Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely," says the Lord.
19 "And when your people ask, 'Why is the Lord our God doing this to us?' you must reply, 'You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.'
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1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
2 "Go to the entrance of the Lord's Temple, and give this message to the people: 'O Judah, listen to this message from the Lord! Listen to it, all of you who worship here!
3 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land.
4 But do not be fooled by those who repeatedly promise your safety because the Temple of the Lord is here.
5 I will be merciful only if you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are fair to others;
6 and if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; and if you stop your murdering; and if you stop worshiping idols as you now do to your own harm.
7 Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.
8 " 'Do you think that because the Temple is here you will never suffer? Don't fool yourselves!
9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new gods of yours,
10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!" — only to go right back to all those evils again?
11 Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of thieves? I see all the evil going on there, says the Lord.
12 " 'Go to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle to honor my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites.
13 While you were doing these wicked things, says the Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer.
14 So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that was built to honor my name, this Temple that you trust for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.
15 And I will send you into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.'
16 "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don't beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you.
17 Do you not see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to their other idol gods!
19 Am I the one they are hurting?" asks the Lord. "Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame."
20 So the Sovereign Lord says: "I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger."
21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Away with your burnt offerings and sacrifices! Eat them yourselves!
22 When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them.
23 This is what I told them: 'Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Only do as I say, and all will be well!'
24 "But my people would not listen to me. They kept on doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.
25 From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my prophets — day in and day out.
26 But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful — even worse than their ancestors.
27 "Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond.
28 Say to them, 'This is the nation whose people will not obey the Lord their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips.
29 O Jerusalem, shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.'
30 "The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes," says the Lord. "They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.
31 They have built the pagan shrines of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they sacrifice their little sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!
32 So beware, for the time is coming," says the Lord, "when that place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury so many bodies in Topheth that there won't be room for all the graves.
33 The corpses of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away.
34 I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation.
1 "In that day," says the Lord, "the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people.
2 They will dig out their bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars — the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like dung.
3 And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken!
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13 The Lord replies, "This has happened because my people have abandoned the instructions I gave them; they have refused to obey my law.
14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them.
15 So now, listen to what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink.
16 I will scatter them around the world, and they will be strangers in distant lands. Their enemies will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely."
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Think about what is going on! Call for the mourners to come.
18 Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes.
19 Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, 'We are ruined! Disaster has come upon us! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.' "
20 Listen, you women, to the words of the Lord; open your ears to what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one another how to lament.
21 For death has crept in through our windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and young men no longer gather in the squares.
22 And the Lord says, "Bodies will be scattered across the fields like dung, or like bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury them."
23 This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches.
24 Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!
25 "A time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit —
26 the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in distant places, and yes, even the people of Judah. Like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts."
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O Israel!
2 This is what the Lord says:
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1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
2 "Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of their covenant with me.
3 Say to them, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who does not obey the terms of my covenant!
4 For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of slavery in Egypt, "If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God."
5 I said this so I could keep my promise to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey — the land you live in today.' " Then I replied, "So be it, Lord!"
6 Then the Lord said, "Broadcast this message in the streets of Jerusalem. Go from town to town throughout the land and say, 'Remember the covenant your ancestors made, and do everything they promised.
7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, repeating over and over again to this day: "Obey me!"
8 But your ancestors did not pay any attention; they would not even listen. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in our covenant.' "
9 Again the Lord spoke to me and said, "I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
10 They have returned to the sins of their forefathers. They have refused to listen to me and are worshiping idols. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.
11 Therefore, says the Lord, I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries.
12 Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and offer incense before them. But the idols will not save them when disaster strikes!
13 Look now, people of Judah, you have as many gods as there are cities and towns. Your altars of shame — altars for burning incense to your god Baal — are along every street in Jerusalem.
14 "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress.
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21 The men of Anathoth wanted me dead. They said they would kill me if I did not stop speaking in the Lord's name.
22 So this is what the Lord Almighty says about them: "I will punish them! Their young men will die in battle, and their little boys and girls will starve.
23 Not one of these plotters from Anathoth will survive, for I will bring disaster upon them when their time of punishment comes."
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14 Now this is what the Lord says: "As for all the evil nations reaching out for the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands just as Judah will be uprooted from hers.
15 But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own inheritance.
16 And if these nations quickly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the Lord lives' (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.
17 But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
1 This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not wash it."
2 So I bought the belt as the Lord directed me and put it around my waist.
3 Then the Lord gave me another message:
4 "Take the linen belt you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks."
5 So I went and hid it at the Euphrates as the Lord had instructed me.
6 A long time afterward, the Lord said to me, "Go back to the Euphrates and get the linen belt that I told you to hide there."
7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was mildewed and falling apart. The belt was useless.
8 Then I received this message from the Lord:
9 "The Lord says: This illustrates how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem.
10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship idols. Therefore, they will become like this linen belt — good for nothing!
11 As a belt clings to a person's waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me," says the Lord. "They were to be my people, my pride, my glory — an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.
12 "So tell them, 'The Lord, the God of Israel, says: All your wineskins will be full of wine.' And they will reply, 'Of course, you don't need to tell us how prosperous we will be!'
13 Then tell them, 'No, this is what the Lord means: I will make everyone in this land so confused that they will seem drunk — from the king sitting on David's throne and from the priests and the prophets, right on down to the common people.
14 I will smash them one against the other, even parents against children, says the Lord. I will not let my pity or mercy or compassion keep me from destroying them.' "
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10 So the Lord replies to his people,
11 Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for these people anymore.
12 When they fast in my presence, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. In return, I will give them only war, famine, and disease."
13 Then I said, "O Sovereign Lord, their prophets are telling them, 'All is well — no war or famine will come. The Lord will surely send you peace.' "
14 Then the Lord said, "These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.
15 Therefore, says the Lord, I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine!
16 As for the people to whom they prophesy — their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters — all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them.
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1 Then the Lord said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn't help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight!
2 And if they say to you, 'But where can we go?' tell them,
3 "I will send four kinds of destroyers against them," says the Lord. "I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left.
4 Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
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1 The Lord gave me another message. He said,
2 "Do not marry or have children in this place.
3 For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers:
4 They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like dung. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.
5 "Do not go to their funerals to mourn and show sympathy for them," says the Lord, "for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.
6 Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves or shave their heads in sadness.
7 No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead — not even for the death of a mother or a father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.
8 "And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all.
9 For the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.
10 "When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, 'Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?'
11 Tell them that this is the Lord's reply: It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me. They did not keep my law.
12 And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.
13 So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols all you like — and I will grant you no favors!
14 "But the time is coming," says the Lord, "when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.'
15 Instead, they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.' For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.
16 "But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them," says the Lord. "I am sending for hunters who will search for them in the forests and caves.
17 I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.
18 I will punish them doubly for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and filled my inheritance with their evil deeds."
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19 Then the Lord said to me, "Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first at the gate where the king goes out, and then at each of the other gates.
20 Say to all the people, 'Listen to this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem.
21 This is what the Lord says: Listen to my warning and live! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath day.
22 Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,
23 but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention and would not respond to discipline.
24 " 'But if you obey me, says the Lord, and do not carry on your trade or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy,
25 then this nation will continue forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will always ride among the people of Judah in chariots and on horses, and this city will remain forever.
26 And from all around Jerusalem, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the western foothills and the hill country and the Negev, the people will come with their burnt offerings and sacrifices. They will bring their grain offerings, incense, and thanksgiving offerings to the Lord's Temple.
27 " 'But if you do not listen to me and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.' "
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
2 "Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made. I will speak to you while you are there."
3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.
4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again.
5 Then the Lord gave me this message:
6 "O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.
7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,
8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.
9 And if I announce that I will build up and plant a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong and great,
10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I would.
11 "Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster against you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.' "
12 But they replied, "Don't waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, following our own evil desires."
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18 Then the people said, "Come on, let's find a way to stop Jeremiah. We have our own priests and wise men and prophets. We don't need him to teach the law and give us advice and prophecies. Let's spread rumors about him and ignore what he says."
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1 The Lord said to me, "Go and buy a clay jar. Then ask some of the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you.
2 Go out into the valley of the son of Hinnom by the entrance to the Potsherd Gate, and repeat to them the words that I give you.
3 Say to them, 'Listen to this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will bring such a terrible disaster on this place that the ears of those who hear about it will ring!
4 " 'For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wickedness. The people burn incense to foreign gods — idols never before worshiped by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children.
5 They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!
6 So beware, for the time is coming, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 For I will upset the battle plans of Judah and Jerusalem and let invading armies slaughter them. The enemy will leave the dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.
8 I will wipe Jerusalem from the face of the earth, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be appalled and will gasp at the destruction they see there.
9 I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone. Then those trapped inside will have to eat their own sons and daughters and friends. They will be driven to utter despair.'
10 "As these men watch, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought with you.
11 Then say to them, 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room.
12 This is what I will do to this place and its people, says the Lord. I will cause this city to become defiled like Topheth.
13 Yes, all the houses in Jerusalem, including the palace of Judah's kings, will become like Topheth — all the houses where you burned incense on the rooftops to your star gods, and where drink offerings were poured out to your idols.' "
14 Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth where he had delivered this message, and he stopped in front of the Temple of the Lord. He said to the people there,
15 "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will bring disaster upon this city and its surrounding towns just as I promised, because you have stubbornly refused to listen to me."
1 Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple of the Lord, heard what Jeremiah was saying.
2 So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord's Temple.
3 The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, "Pashhur, the Lord has changed your name. From now on you are to be called 'The Man Who Lives in Terror.'
4 For this is what the Lord says: I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword.
5 And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city — the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings — will be carried off to Babylon.
6 As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you promised that everything would be all right."
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1 The Lord spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to speak with him. They begged Jeremiah,
2 "Please ask the Lord to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has begun his attack on Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies."
3 Jeremiah replied, "Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him,
4 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are attacking you. Yes, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city.
5 I myself will fight against you with great power, for I am very angry. You have made me furious!
6 I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die.
7 And then, says the Lord, even after King Zedekiah, his officials, and everyone else in the city have survived war, famine, and disease, I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He will slaughter them all without mercy, pity, or compassion.'
8 "Tell all the people, 'This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death!
9 Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live.
10 For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be captured by the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.'
11 "Say to the royal family of Judah,
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1 Then the Lord said to me, "Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,
2 'Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David's throne. Let your officials and your people listen, too.
3 This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!
4 If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of officials and subjects.
5 But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the Lord, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.' "
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8 People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, 'Why did the Lord destroy such a great city?'
9 And the answer will be, 'Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.' "
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11 For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: "He will never return.
12 He will die in a distant land and never again see his own country."
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24 "And as surely as I live," says the Lord, "I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.
25 I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, of whom you are so desperately afraid — to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army.
26 I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country.
27 You will never again return to the land of your desire.
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1 "I will send disaster upon the leaders of my people — the shepherds of my sheep — for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for," says the Lord.
2 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: "Instead of leading my flock to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them.
3 But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from wherever I have driven them. I will bring them back into their own fold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number.
4 Then I will appoint responsible shepherds to care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one of them will be lost or missing," says the Lord.
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7 "In that day," says the Lord, "when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.'
8 Instead, they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.' Then they will live in their own land."
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26 How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say.
27 By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get my people to forget me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal.
28 Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between chaff and wheat!
29 Does not my word burn like fire?" asks the Lord. "Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes rock to pieces?
30 "Therefore," says the Lord, "I stand against these prophets who get their messages from each other —
31 these smooth-tongued prophets who say, 'This prophecy is from the Lord!'
32 Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people," says the Lord.
33 "Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, 'What prophecy has the Lord burdened you with now?' You must reply, 'You are the burden! The Lord says he will abandon you!'
34 If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, 'I have a prophecy from the Lord,' I will punish that person along with his entire family.
35 You should keep asking each other, 'What is the Lord's answer?' or 'What is the Lord saying?'
36 But stop using this phrase, 'prophecy from the Lord.' For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the Lord Almighty.
37 "This is what you should say to the prophets: 'What is the Lord's answer?' or 'What is the Lord saying?'
38 But suppose they respond, 'This is a prophecy from the Lord!' Then you should say, 'This is what the Lord says: Because you have used this phrase, "prophecy from the Lord," even though I warned you not to use it,
39 I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my presence, along with this city that I gave to you and your ancestors.
40 And I will make you an object of ridicule, and your name will be infamous throughout the ages.' "
1 After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the princes of Judah and all the skilled craftsmen, the Lord gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem.
2 One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with figs that were spoiled and could not be eaten.
3 Then the Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I replied, "Figs, some very good and some very bad."
4 Then the Lord gave me this message:
5 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians.
6 I have sent them into captivity for their own good. I will see that they are well treated, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them.
7 I will give them hearts that will recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.
8 "But the rotten figs," the Lord said, "represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like spoiled figs, too rotten to eat.
9 I will make them an object of horror and evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I send them.
10 I will send war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors."
1 This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.
2 Jeremiah the prophet said to the people in Judah and Jerusalem,
3 "For the past twenty-three years — from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now — the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.
4 "Again and again, the Lord has sent you his prophets, but you have not listened or even tried to hear.
5 Each time the message was this: 'Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the Lord gave to you and your ancestors forever.
6 Do not make me angry by worshiping the idols you have made. Then I will not harm you.'
7 "But you would not listen to me," says the Lord. "You made me furious by worshiping your idols, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.
8 And now the Lord Almighty says: Because you have not listened to me,
9 I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the other nations near you. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.
10 I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your businesses will fail, and all your homes will stand silent and dark.
11 This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 "Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins, says the Lord. I will make the country of the Babylonians an everlasting wasteland.
13 I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book — all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.
14 Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people."
15 Then the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, "Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
16 When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them."
17 So I took the cup of anger from the Lord and made all the nations drink from it — every nation the Lord sent me to.
18 I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.
19 I went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh, his officials, his princes, and his people. They, too, drank from that terrible cup,
20 along with all the foreigners living in that land. So did all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.
21 Then I went to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
22 and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.
23 I went to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.
24 I went to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,
25 and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.
26 And I went to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other — all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the Lord's anger.
27 Then the Lord said to me, "Now tell them, 'The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit, and you will fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.'
28 And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, 'The Lord Almighty says: You must drink from it. You cannot escape!
29 I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city where my own name is honored. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken!'
30 "Now prophesy all these things, and say to them,
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1 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.
2 The Lord said, "Stand out in front of the Temple of the Lord, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word.
3 Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will be able to withhold the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.
4 "Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: If you will not listen to me and obey the law I have given you,
5 and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets — for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them —
6 then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.' "
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the Lord's Temple.
8 But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted.
9 "What right do you have to prophesy in the Lord's name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed?" And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.
10 When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court.
11 The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. "This man should die!" they said. "You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city."
12 Then Jeremiah spoke in his own defense. "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this Temple and this city," he said. "The Lord gave me every word that I have spoken.
13 But if you stop your sinning and begin to obey the Lord your God, he will cancel this disaster that he has announced against you.
14 As for me, I am helpless and in your power — do with me as you think best.
15 But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the Lord sent me to speak every word you have heard."
16 Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, "This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God."
17 Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to the people there.
18 They said, "Think back to the days when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, 'This is what the Lord Almighty says:
19 But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the Lord. They begged him to have mercy on them. Then the Lord held back the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. If we kill Jeremiah, who knows what will happen to us?"
20 (At this time, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the Lord. And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did.
21 When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plot and escaped to Egypt.
22 Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah.
23 They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.)
24 Ahikam son of Shaphan also stood with Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.
1 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah.
2 The Lord said to me, "Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs.
3 Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem.
4 Give them this message for their masters: 'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
5 By my great power I have made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose.
6 Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.
7 All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until his time is up. But then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon.
8 So you must submit to Babylon's king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon's yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the Lord. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.
9 " 'Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, "The king of Babylon will not conquer you."
10 They are all liars, and I will drive you from your land and send you far away to die.
11 But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the Lord, have spoken!' "
12 Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. "If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon and his people," I said.
13 "Why do you insist on dying — you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the Lord will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon's king?
14 Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, 'The king of Babylon will not conquer you.' They are liars.
15 This is what the Lord says: I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die — you and all these prophets, too."
16 Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, "This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold utensils taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie!
17 Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed?
18 If they really are the Lord's prophets, let them pray to the Lord Almighty about the gold utensils that are still left in the Lord's Temple and in the king's palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem. Let them pray that these remaining articles will not be carried away with you to Babylon!
19 "For this is what the Lord Almighty says about the bronze pillars in front of the Temple, the bronze Sea in the Temple courtyard, the bronze water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles.
20 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other important people of Judah and Jerusalem.
21 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the precious things kept in the Temple and in the palace of Judah's king:
22 They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them, says the Lord. But someday I will bring them back to Jerusalem again."
1 One day in late summer of that same year — the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah — Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said,
2 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks.
3 Within two years, I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon.
4 And I will bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
5 Jeremiah responded to Hananiah as they stood in front of all the priests and people at the Temple.
6 He said, "Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the Lord does everything you say. I hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple and all our loved ones.
7 But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people.
8 The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of war, famine, and disease.
9 So a prophet who predicts peace must carry the burden of proof. Only when his predictions come true can it be known that he is really from the Lord."
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it.
11 And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, "The Lord has promised that within two years he will break the yoke of oppression from all the nations now subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon." At that, Jeremiah left the Temple area.
12 Soon afterward the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
13 "Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but you have replaced it with a yoke of iron.
14 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.' "
15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, but the people believe your lies.
16 Therefore, the Lord says you must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the Lord."
17 Two months later, Hananiah died.
1 Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.
2 This was after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah, and all the craftsmen had been deported from Jerusalem.
3 He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah's ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah's letter said:
4 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:
5 "Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food you produce.
6 Marry, and have children. Then find spouses for them, and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!
7 And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the Lord for that city where you are held captive, for if Babylon has peace, so will you."
8 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, "Do not let the prophets and mediums who are there in Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams
9 because they prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them," says the Lord.
10 "The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.
11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.
13 If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.
14 I will be found by you," says the Lord. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land."
15 You may claim that the Lord has raised up prophets for you in Babylon.
16 But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David's throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem — your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon.
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says: "I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like rotting figs — too bad to eat.
18 Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery.
19 For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through my prophets. And you who are in exile have not listened either," says the Lord.
20 Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, all you captives there in Babylon.
21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about your prophets — Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah — who are telling you lies in my name: "I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for a public execution.
22 Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that whenever the Judean exiles want to curse someone they will say, 'May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!'
23 For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have lied in my name. I am a witness to this," says the Lord.
24 The Lord sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon:
25 "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You said to Zephaniah,
26 'The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the Lord. You are responsible to put anyone who claims to be a prophet in the stocks and neck irons.
27 So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you?
28 Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said we should build homes and plan to stay for many years. He said we should plant fruit trees, because we will be here to eat the fruit for many years to come.' "
29 But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah's letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him.
30 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
31 "Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, 'This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies,
32 I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has taught you to rebel against me. I, the Lord, have spoken!' "
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
2 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah.
3 For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it and live here again. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
4 This is the message the Lord gave concerning Israel and Judah:
5 "This is what the Lord says:
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27 "The time will come," says the Lord, "when I will greatly increase the population and multiply the number of cattle here in Israel and Judah.
28 In the past I uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will plant it and build it up," says the Lord.
29 "The people will no longer quote this proverb: 'The parents eat sour grapes, but their children's mouths pucker at the taste.'
30 All people will die for their own sins — those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.
31 "The day will come," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife," says the Lord.
33 "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the Lord. "I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their family, saying, 'You should know the Lord.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me," says the Lord. "And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins."
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38 "The time is coming," says the Lord, "when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39 A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah.
40 And the entire area — including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the Horse Gate — will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be captured or destroyed."
1 The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.
2 Jerusalem was under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.
3 King Zedekiah had put him there because he continued to give this prophecy: "This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon.
4 King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to the king of Babylon to be judged and sentenced.
5 I will take Zedekiah to Babylon and will deal with him there. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed."
6 At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said,
7 "Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, 'Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.' "
8 Then, just as the Lord had said he would, Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, "Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself." Then I knew for sure that the message I had heard was from the Lord.
9 So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it.
10 I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.
11 Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,
12 and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there.
13 Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,
14 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.
15 For the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields."
16 Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the Lord:
17 "O Sovereign Lord! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you!
18 You are loving and kind to thousands, though children suffer for their parents' sins. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord Almighty.
19 You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You are very aware of the conduct of all people, and you reward them according to their deeds.
20 You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt — things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name very great, as it is today.
21 "You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with great power and overwhelming terror.
22 You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before — a land flowing with milk and honey.
23 Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your law. They have hardly done one thing you told them to! That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.
24 "See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Because of war, famine, and disease, the city has been handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said it would.
25 And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field — paying good money for it before these witnesses — even though the city will soon belong to the Babylonians."
26 Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
27 "I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?
28 I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
29 The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses, where the people caused my fury to rise by offering incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
30 Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds," says the Lord.
31 "From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.
32 "The sins of Israel and Judah — the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets — stir up my anger.
33 My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Day after day, year after year, I taught them right from wrong, but they would not listen or obey.
34 They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.
35 They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!
36 "Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, 'It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.' But this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
37 I will surely bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety.
38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.
39 And I will give them one heart and mind to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.
40 "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, promising not to stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.
41 I will rejoice in doing good to them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.
42 Just as I have sent all these calamities upon them, so I will do all the good I have promised them. I, the Lord, have spoken!
43 "Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, 'It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a land where people and animals have all disappeared.'
44 Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold — deeds signed and sealed and witnessed — in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the Lord gave him this second message:
2 "The Lord, the Maker of the heavens and earth — the Lord is his name — says this:
3 Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here.
4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Though you have torn down the houses of this city and even the king's palace to get materials to strengthen the walls against the siege weapons of the enemy,
5 the Babylonians will still enter. The men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my terrible anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness.
6 "Nevertheless, the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem's damage and give her prosperity and peace.
7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and rebuild their cities.
8 I will cleanse away their sins against me, and I will forgive all their sins of rebellion.
9 Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see the good I do for my people and will tremble with awe!
10 "This is what the Lord says: You say, 'This land has been ravaged, and the people and animals have all disappeared.' Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah's other towns, there will be heard once more
11 the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the Lord. They will sing, 'Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good. His faithful love endures forever!' For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past, says the Lord.
12 "This is what the Lord Almighty says: This land — though it is now desolate and the people and animals have all disappeared — will once more see shepherds leading sheep and lambs.
13 Once again their flocks will prosper in the towns of the hill country, the foothills of Judah, the Negev, the land of Benjamin, the vicinity of Jerusalem, and all the towns of Judah. I, the Lord, have spoken!
14 "The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good I have promised them.
15 At that time I will bring to the throne of David a righteous descendant, and he will do what is just and right throughout the land.
16 In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And their motto will be 'The Lord is our righteousness!'
17 For this is what the Lord says: David will forever have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel.
18 And there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me."
19 Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
20 "If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that they do not come on their usual schedule,
21 only then will my covenant with David, my servant, be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me.
22 And as the stars cannot be counted and the sand on the seashores cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David, my servant, and the Levites who minister before me."
23 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
24 "Have you heard what people are saying? — 'The Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!' They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation.
25 But this is the Lord's reply: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws of night and day, of earth and sky.
26 I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David's descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them."
1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all the armies from the kingdoms he ruled, and he fought against Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. At that time this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 "Go to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it.
3 You will not escape his grasp but will be taken into captivity. You will stand before the king of Babylon to be judged and sentenced. Then you will be exiled to Babylon.'
4 "But listen to this promise from the Lord, O Zedekiah, king of Judah. This is what the Lord says: 'You will not be killed in war
5 but will die peacefully among your people. They will burn incense in your memory, just as they did for your ancestors. They will weep for you and say, "Alas, our king is dead!" This I have decreed, says the Lord.' "
6 So Jeremiah the prophet delivered the message to King Zedekiah of Judah.
7 At this time the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah — the only cities of Judah with their walls still standing.
8 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people, proclaiming freedom for the slaves.
9 He had ordered all the people to free their Hebrew slaves — both men and women. No one was to keep a fellow Judean in bondage.
10 The officials and all the people had obeyed the king's command,
11 but later they changed their minds. They took back the people they had freed, making them slaves again.
12 So the Lord gave them this message through Jeremiah:
13 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors long ago when I rescued them from their slavery in Egypt.
14 I told them that every Hebrew slave must be freed after serving six years. But this was never done.
15 Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in my Temple.
16 But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, making them slaves once again.
17 "Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Since you have not obeyed me by setting your countrymen free, I will set you free to be destroyed by war, famine, and disease. You will be considered a disgrace by all the nations of the earth.
18 Because you have refused the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.
19 Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people — for you have broken your oath.
20 I will give you to your enemies, and they will kill you. Your bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.
21 I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials to the army of the king of Babylon. And though Babylon's king has left this city for a while,
22 I will call the Babylonian armies back again. They will fight against this city and will capture and burn it. I will see to it that all the towns of Judah are destroyed and left completely empty."
1 This is the message the Lord gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah:
2 "Go to the settlement where the families of the Recabites live, and invite them to the Lord's Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms, and offer them some wine."
3 So I went to see Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah and all his brothers and sons — representing all the Recabite families.
4 I took them to the Temple, and we went into the room assigned to the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. This room was located next to the one used by the palace officials, directly above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the Temple gatekeeper.
5 I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink,
6 but they refused. "No," they said. "We don't drink wine, because Jehonadab son of Recab, our ancestor, gave us this command: 'You and your descendants must never drink wine.
7 And do not build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.'
8 So we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine since then, nor have our wives, our sons, or our daughters.
9 We haven't built houses or owned vineyards or farms or planted crops.
10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed all the commands of Jehonadab, our ancestor.
11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon arrived in this country, we were afraid of the Babylonian and Aramean armies. So we decided to move to Jerusalem. That is why we are here."
12 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
13 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and say to the people in Judah and Jerusalem, 'Come and learn a lesson about how to obey me.
14 The Recabites do not drink wine because their ancestor Jehonadab told them not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you refuse to listen or obey.
15 I have sent you prophet after prophet to tell you to turn from your wicked ways and to stop worshiping other gods, so that you might live in peace here in the land I gave to you and your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or obey.
16 The families of Recab have obeyed their ancestor completely, but you have refused to listen to me.'
17 "Therefore, the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Because you refuse to listen or answer when I call, I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the disasters I have threatened."
18 Then Jeremiah turned to the Recabites and said, "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You have obeyed your ancestor Jehonadab in every respect, following all his instructions.
19 Because of this, Jehonadab son of Recab will always have descendants who serve me. I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have spoken!"
1 During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king in Judah, the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
2 "Get a scroll, and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message you have given, right up to the present time.
3 Perhaps the people of Judah will repent if they see in writing all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings."
4 So Jeremiah sent for Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down all the prophecies that the Lord had given him.
5 Then Jeremiah said to Baruch, "I am a prisoner here and unable to go to the Temple.
6 So you go to the Temple on the next day of fasting, and read the messages from the Lord that are on this scroll. On that day people will be there from all over Judah.
7 Perhaps even yet they will turn from their evil ways and ask the Lord's forgiveness before it is too late. For the Lord's terrible anger has been pronounced against them."
8 Baruch did as Jeremiah told him and read these messages from the Lord to the people at the Temple.
9 This happened on the day of sacred fasting held in late autumn, during the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah. People from all over Judah came to attend the services at the Temple on that day.
10 Baruch read Jeremiah's words to all the people from the Temple room of Gemariah son of Shaphan. This room was just off the upper courtyard of the Temple, near the New Gate entrance.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan heard the messages from the Lord,
12 he went down to the secretary's room in the palace where the administrative officials were meeting. Elishama the secretary was there, along with Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the others with official responsibilities.
13 When Micaiah told them about the messages Baruch was reading to the people,
14 the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi, to ask Baruch to come and read the messages to them, too. So Baruch took the scroll and went to them.
15 "Sit down and read the scroll to us," the officials said, and Baruch did as they requested.
16 By the time Baruch had finished reading, they were badly frightened. "We must tell the king what we have heard," they said.
17 "But first, tell us how you got these messages. Did they come directly from Jeremiah?"
18 So Baruch explained, "Jeremiah dictated them to me word by word, and I wrote down his words with ink on this scroll."
19 "You and Jeremiah should both hide," the officials told Baruch. "Don't tell anyone where you are!"
20 Then the officials left the scroll for safekeeping in the room of Elishama the secretary and went to tell the king.
21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama's room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by.
22 It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm.
23 Whenever Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took his knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up.
24 Neither the king nor his officials showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard.
25 Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he wouldn't listen.
26 Then the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden them.
27 After the king had burned Jeremiah's scroll, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message. He said,
28 "Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned.
29 Then say to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and everything in it.
30 Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied — exposed to hot days and frosty nights.
31 I will punish him and his family and his officials because of their sins. I will pour out on them and on all the people of Judah and Jerusalem all the disasters I have promised, for they would not listen to my warnings.' "
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to his secretary Baruch. He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. Only this time, he added much more!
1 Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim as the king of Judah. He was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
2 But neither King Zedekiah nor his officials nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah.
3 Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, "Please pray to the Lord our God for us."
4 Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned, so he could come and go as he pleased.
5 At this time the army of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah. When the Babylonian army heard about it, they withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem.
6 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
7 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask me what is going to happen, that Pharaoh's army is about to return to Egypt, though he came here to help you.
8 Then the Babylonians will come back and capture this city and burn it to the ground.
9 The Lord says: Do not fool yourselves that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren't!
10 Even if you were to destroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded survivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the ground!"
11 When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's approaching army,
12 Jeremiah started to leave the city on his way to the land of Benjamin, to see the property he had bought.
13 But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him and said, "You are defecting to the Babylonians!" The sentry making the arrest was Irijah son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah.
14 "That's not true!" Jeremiah protested. "I had no intention of doing any such thing." But Irijah wouldn't listen, and he took Jeremiah before the officials.
15 They were furious with Jeremiah and had him flogged and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary. Jonathan's house had been converted into a prison.
16 Jeremiah was put into a dungeon cell, where he remained for many days.
17 Later King Zedekiah secretly requested that Jeremiah come to the palace, where the king asked him, "Do you have any messages from the Lord?" "Yes, I do!" said Jeremiah. "You will be defeated by the king of Babylon."
18 Then Jeremiah asked the king, "What crime have I committed? What have I done against you, your officials, or the people that I should be imprisoned like this?
19 Where are your prophets now who told you the king of Babylon would not attack you?
20 Listen, my lord the king, I beg you. Don't send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for I will die there."
21 So King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon. Instead, he was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. The king also commanded that Jeremiah be given a loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was put in the palace prison.
1 Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people. He was saying,
2 "This is what the Lord says: Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live.
3 The Lord also says: The city of Jerusalem will surely be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it."
4 So these officials went to the king and said, "Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people, too. This man is a traitor!"
5 So King Zedekiah agreed. "All right," he said. "Do as you like. I will do nothing to stop you."
6 So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.
7 But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important palace official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate,
8 so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him.
9 "My lord the king," he said, "these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone."
10 So the king told Ebed-melech, "Take along thirty of my men, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."
11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope.
12 Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, "Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes." Then when Jeremiah was ready,
13 they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard — the palace prison — where he remained.
14 One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah to meet him at the third entrance of the Lord's Temple. "I want to ask you something," the king said. "And don't try to hide the truth."
15 Jeremiah said, "If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won't listen to me anyway."
16 So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, "As surely as the Lord our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead."
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "The Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: If you surrender to Babylon, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned.
18 But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground."
19 "But I am afraid to surrender," the king said, "for the Babylonians will hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me?"
20 Jeremiah replied, "You won't be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.
21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me:
22 All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying, 'What fine friends you have! They have betrayed and misled you. When your feet sank in the mud, they left you to your fate!'
23 All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned."
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Don't tell anyone you told me this, or you will die!
25 My officials may hear that I spoke to you. Then they may say to you, 'Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don't tell us, we will kill you.'
26 If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan's dungeon, for fear you would die there."
27 Sure enough, it wasn't long before the king's officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king's instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king.
28 And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
1 It was in January during the ninth year of King Zedekiah's reign that King Nebuchadnezzar and his army returned to besiege Jerusalem.
2 Two and a half years later, on July 18, the Babylonians broke through the wall, and the city fell.
3 All the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, and Nebo-sarsekim, a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king's adviser, and many others.
4 King Zedekiah and his royal guard saw the Babylonians in the city gate, so they fled when the darkness of night arrived. They went out through a gate between the two walls behind the king's garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.
5 But the Babylonians chased the king and caught him on the plains of Jericho. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.
6 He made Zedekiah watch as they killed his sons and all the nobles of Judah.
7 Then he gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in chains, and sent him away to exile in Babylon.
8 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned Jerusalem, including the palace, and tore down the walls of the city.
9 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent to Babylon the remnant of the population as well as those who had defected to him.
10 But Nebuzaradan left a few of the poorest people in Judah, and he assigned them fields and vineyards to care for.
11 King Nebuchadnezzar had told Nebuzaradan to find Jeremiah.
12 "See that he isn't hurt," he had said. "Look after him well, and give him anything he wants."
13 So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and Nebushazban, a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king's adviser, and the other officers of Babylon's king
14 sent messengers to bring Jeremiah out of the prison. They put him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who was to take him back to his home. So Jeremiah stayed in Judah among his own people.
15 The Lord had given the following message to Jeremiah while he was still in prison:
16 "Say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 'The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will do to this city everything I have threatened. I will send disaster, not prosperity. You will see its destruction,
17 but I will rescue you from those you fear so much.
18 Because you trusted me, I will preserve your life and keep you safe. I, the Lord, have spoken!' "
1 The Lord gave a message to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being sent to exile in Babylon.
2 The captain of the guard called for Jeremiah and said, "The Lord your God has brought this disaster on this land,
3 just as he said he would. For these people have sinned against the Lord and disobeyed him. That is why it happened.
4 Now I am going to take off your chains and let you go. If you want to come with me to Babylon, you are welcome. I will see that you are well cared for. But if you don't want to come, you may stay here. The whole land is before you — go wherever you like.
5 If you decide to stay, then return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. He has been appointed governor of Judah by the king of Babylon. Stay there with the people he rules. But it's up to you; go wherever you like." Then Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and money and let him go.
6 So Jeremiah returned to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived in Judah with the few who were still left in the land.
7 The leaders of the Judean guerrilla bands in the countryside heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the poor people who were left behind in Judah, and that he hadn't exiled everyone to Babylon.
8 So they came to see Gedaliah at Mizpah. These are the names of the leaders who came: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, and all their men.
9 Gedaliah assured them that it would be safe for them to surrender to the Babylonians. "Stay here, and serve the king of Babylon," he said, "and all will go well for you.
10 As for me, I will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to meet with us. Settle in any town you wish, and live off the land. Harvest the grapes and summer fruits and olives, and store them away."
11 When the Judeans in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and the other nearby countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few people in Judah and that Gedaliah was the governor,
12 they began to return to Judah from the places to which they had fled. They stopped at Mizpah to discuss their plans with Gedaliah and then went out into the Judean countryside to gather a great harvest of grapes and other crops.
13 Soon after this, Johanan son of Kareah and the other guerrilla leaders came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
14 They said to him, "Did you know that Baalis, king of Ammon, has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to assassinate you?" But Gedaliah refused to believe them.
15 Later Johanan had a private conference with Gedaliah and volunteered to kill Ishmael secretly. "Why should we let him come and murder you?" Johanan asked. "What will happen then to the Judeans who have returned? Why should the few of us who are still left be scattered and lost?"
16 But Gedaliah said to Johanan, "I forbid you to do any such thing, for you are lying about Ishmael."
1 But in midautumn, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, arrived in Mizpah accompanied by ten men. Gedaliah invited them to dinner. While they were eating,
2 Ishmael and his ten men suddenly drew their swords and killed Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor.
3 Then they went out and slaughtered all the Judean officials and Babylonian soldiers who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah.
4 The next day, before anyone had heard about Gedaliah's murder,
5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had come to worship at the Temple of the Lord. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves, and had brought along grain offerings and incense.
6 Ishmael left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, "Oh, come and see what has happened to Gedaliah!"
7 But as soon as they were all inside the town, Ishmael and his men killed all but ten of them and threw their bodies into a cistern.
8 The other ten had talked Ishmael into letting them go by promising to bring him their stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey that they had hidden away.
9 The cistern where Ishmael dumped the bodies of the men he murdered was the large one made by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah to protect himself against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with corpses.
10 Ishmael made captives of the king's daughters and the other people who had been left under Gedaliah's care in Mizpah by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard. Taking them with him, he started back toward the land of Ammon.
11 But when Johanan son of Kareah and the rest of the guerrilla leaders heard what Ishmael had done,
12 they took all their men and set out to stop him. They caught up with him at the pool near Gibeon.
13 The people Ishmael had captured shouted for joy when they saw Johanan and his men.
14 And all the captives from Mizpah escaped and began to help Johanan.
15 Meanwhile, Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan into the land of Ammon.
16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and his officers led away all the people they had rescued — warriors, women, children, and palace officials.
17 They took them all to the village of Geruth-kimham near Bethlehem, where they prepared to leave for Egypt.
18 They were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they heard that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the Babylonian king.
1 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached
2 Jeremiah the prophet. They said, "Please pray to the Lord your God for us. As you know, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before.
3 Beg the Lord your God to show us what to do and where to go."
4 "All right," Jeremiah replied. "I will pray to the Lord your God, and I will tell you everything he says. I will hide nothing from you."
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do!
6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we send you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us."
7 Ten days later, the Lord gave his reply to Jeremiah.
8 So he called for Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers, and for all the people, from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, "You sent me to the Lord, the God of Israel, with your request, and this is his reply:
10 'Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry for all the punishment I have had to bring upon you.
11 Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore, says the Lord. For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power.
12 I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.'
13 "But if you refuse to obey the Lord your God and say, 'We will not stay here,'
14 and if you insist on going to live in Egypt where you think you will be free from war, famine, and alarms,
15 then this is what the Lord says to the remnant of Judah. The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'If you insist on going to Egypt,
16 the war and famine you fear will follow close behind you, and you will die there.
17 That is the fate awaiting every one of you who insists on going to live in Egypt. Yes, you will die from war, famine, and disease. None of you will escape from the disaster I will bring upon you there.'
18 "For the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so they will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become an object of damnation, horror, cursing, and mockery. And you will never see your homeland again.'
19 "Listen, you remnant of Judah. The Lord has told you: 'Do not go to Egypt!' Don't forget this warning I have given you today.
20 For you were deceitful when you sent me to pray to the Lord your God for you, saying, 'Just tell us what the Lord our God says, and we will do it!'
21 And today I have told you exactly what he said, but you will not obey the Lord your God any better now than you have in the past.
22 So you can be sure that you will die from war, famine, and disease in Egypt, where you insist on going."
1 When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the Lord their God to all the people,
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, "You lie! The Lord our God hasn't forbidden us to go to Egypt!
3 Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, so we will stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile."
4 So Johanan and all the army officers and all the people refused to obey the Lord's command to stay in Judah.
5 Johanan and his officers took with them all the people who had returned from the nearby countries to which they had fled.
6 In the crowd were men, women, and children, the king's daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah. Also included were the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch.
7 The people refused to obey the Lord and went to Egypt, going as far as the city of Tahpanhes.
8 Then at Tahpanhes, the Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
9 "While the people of Judah are watching, bury large rocks between the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace here in Tahpanhes.
10 Then say to the people of Judah, 'The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will surely bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, here to Egypt. I will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden. He will spread his royal canopy over them.
11 And when he comes, he will destroy the land of Egypt. He will bring death to those destined for death; he will bring captivity to those destined for captivity; he will bring the sword against those destined for the sword.
12 He will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods, burning all their idols and carrying away the people as captives. He will pick clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks fleas from his cloak. And he himself will leave unharmed.
13 He will break down the sacred pillars standing in the temple of the sun in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of Egypt's gods.' "
1 This is the message Jeremiah received concerning the Judeans living in northern Egypt in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and throughout southern Egypt as well:
2 "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw what I did to Jerusalem and to all the towns of Judah. They now lie in ruins, and no one lives in them.
3 Because of all their wickedness, my anger rose high against them. They burned incense and worshiped other gods — gods that neither they nor you nor any of your ancestors have ever known.
4 "Again and again I sent my servants, the prophets, to plead with them, 'Don't do these horrible things that I hate so much.'
5 But my people would not listen or turn back from their wicked ways. They kept right on burning incense to these gods.
6 And so my fury boiled over and fell like fire on the towns of Judah and into the streets of Jerusalem, and now they are a desolate ruin.
7 "And now the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, asks you: Why are you destroying yourselves? For not one of you will survive — not a man, woman, or child among you who has come here from Judah, not even the babies in your arms.
8 Why arouse my anger by burning incense to the idols you have made here in Egypt? You will only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an object of cursing and mockery for all the nations of the earth.
9 Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors, the sins of the kings and queens of Judah, and the sins you and your wives committed in Judah and Jerusalem?
10 To this very hour you have shown no remorse or reverence. No one has chosen to follow my law and the decrees I gave to you and your ancestors before you.
11 "Therefore, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I have made up my mind to destroy every one of you!
12 I will take this remnant of Judah that insisted on coming here to Egypt, and I will consume them. They will fall here in Egypt, killed by war and famine. All will die, from the least to the greatest. They will be an object of damnation, horror, cursing, and mockery.
13 I will punish them in Egypt just as I punished them in Jerusalem, by war, famine, and disease.
14 Of those who fled to Egypt with dreams of returning home to Judah, only a handful will escape."
15 Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols — a great crowd of all the Judeans living in Pathros, the southern region of Egypt — answered Jeremiah,
16 "We will not listen to your messages from the Lord!
17 We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and sacrifice to her just as much as we like — just as we and our ancestors did before us, and as our kings and princes have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and had no troubles!
18 But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her, we have been in great trouble and have suffered the effects of war and famine."
19 "And," the women added, "do you suppose that we were worshiping the Queen of Heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, and making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not!"
20 Then Jeremiah said to all of them, men and women alike, who had given him that answer,
21 "Do you think the Lord did not know that you and your ancestors, your kings and officials, and all the people were burning incense to idols in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
22 It was because the Lord could no longer bear all the evil things you were doing that he made your land an object of cursing — a desolate ruin without a single inhabitant — as it is today.
23 The very reason all these terrible things have happened to you is because you have burned incense to idols and sinned against the Lord, refusing to obey him and follow his instructions, laws, and stipulations."
24 Then Jeremiah said to them all, including the women, "Listen to this message from the Lord, all you citizens of Judah who live in Egypt.
25 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have said that you will never give up your devotion and sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, and you have proved it by your actions. Then go ahead and carry out your promises and vows to her!
26 "But listen to this message from the Lord, all you Judeans now living in Egypt: I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, that my name will no longer be spoken by any of the Judeans in the land of Egypt. None of you may invoke my name or use this oath: 'As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives!'
27 For I will watch over you to bring you disaster and not good. You will suffer war and famine until all of you are dead.
28 "Only a small number will escape death and return to Judah from Egypt. Then all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words are true, mine or theirs!
29 And this is the proof I give you, says the Lord, that all I have threatened will happen to you and that I will punish you here:
30 I will turn Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I turned King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
1 The prophet Jeremiah gave a message to Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, after Baruch had written down everything Jeremiah had dictated to him. He said,
2 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:
3 You have said, 'I am overwhelmed with trouble! Haven't I had enough pain already? And now the Lord has added more! I am weary of my own sighing and can find no rest.'
4 "Baruch, this is what the Lord says: I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted.
5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don't do it! But don't be discouraged. I will bring great disaster upon all these people, but I will protect you wherever you go. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
1 The following messages were given to Jeremiah the prophet from the Lord concerning foreign nations.
2 This message concerning Egypt was given in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, on the occasion of the battle of Carchemish when Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, and his army were defeated beside the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
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25 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him.
26 I will hand them over to those who want them killed — to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. But afterward the land will recover from the ravages of war. I, the Lord, have spoken!
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1 This is the Lord's message to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines of Gaza, before it was captured by the Egyptian army.
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21 All the cities of the plateau lie in ruins, too. Judgment has been poured out on them all — on Holon and Jahaz and Mephaath,
22 and on Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,
23 and on Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,
24 and on Kerioth and Bozrah — all the cities of Moab, far and near.
25 "The strength of Moab has ended. Her horns have been cut off, and her arms have been broken," says the Lord.
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12 And this is what the Lord says: "If the innocent must suffer, how much more must you! You will not go unpunished! You must drink this cup of judgment!
13 For I have sworn by my own name," says the Lord, "that Bozrah will become an object of horror and a heap of rubble; it will be mocked and cursed. All its towns and villages will be desolate forever."
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28 This message was given concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which were attacked by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. This is what the Lord says:
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1 The Lord gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.
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59 The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Zedekiah's staff officer, Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign.
60 Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon.
61 He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll.
62 Then say, 'Lord, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.'
63 Then, when you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone, and throw it into the Euphrates River.
64 Then say, 'In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.' " This is the end of Jeremiah's messages.
1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
2 But Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord's sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.
3 So the Lord, in his anger, finally banished the people of Jerusalem and Judah from his presence and sent them into exile. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.
5 Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign.
6 By July 18 of Zedekiah's eleventh year, the famine in the city had become very severe, with the last of the food entirely gone.
7 Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers made plans to escape from the city. But since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, they waited for nightfall and fled through the gate between the two walls behind the king's gardens. They made a dash across the fields, in the direction of the Jordan Valley.
8 But the Babylonians chased after them and caught King Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho, for by then his men had all abandoned him.
9 They brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where sentence was passed against him.
10 There at Riblah, the king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as all his sons were killed; they also killed all the other leaders of Judah.
11 Then they gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison for the rest of his life.
12 On August 17 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.
13 He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.
14 Then the captain of the guard supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
15 Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, then took as exiles some of the poorest of the people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and the troops who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon.
16 But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze water carts, and the bronze Sea that were at the Lord's Temple, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.
18 They also took all the pots, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze utensils used for making sacrifices at the Temple.
19 Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, also took the small bowls, firepans, basins, pots, lampstands, dishes, bowls used for drink offerings, and all the other utensils made of pure gold or silver.
20 The bronze from the two pillars, the water carts, and the Sea with the twelve bulls beneath it was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord's Temple in the days of King Solomon.
21 Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.
22 The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1/2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.
23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of one hundred on the network around the top.
24 The captain of the guard took with him as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, his assistant Zephaniah, and the three chief gatekeepers.
25 And of the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer of the Judean army, seven of the king's personal advisers, the army commander's chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment, and sixty other citizens.
26 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 And there at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.
28 The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was 3,023.
29 Then in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year he took 832 more.
30 In his twenty-third year he sent Nebuzaradan, his captain of the guard, who took 745 more — a total of 4,600 captives in all.
31 In the thirty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin's exile in Babylon, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.
32 He spoke pleasantly to Jehoiachin and gave him preferential treatment over all the other exiled kings in Babylon.
33 He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life.
34 The Babylonian king also gave him a regular allowance to cover his living expenses until the day of his death.