Jeremiah Chapter 27
The sign of the yokes
1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 “ This is what the Lord says to me: ‘Make yourself straps and yokes and put them around your neck.
3 Send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 Command them to say to their masters, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Say to your masters:
5 “ I made the earth and all the animals on it by my great power and outstretched arm, and I gave it to whomever I pleased.”’”
6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and even the beasts of the field I have given him to serve him.
7 And all the nations shall serve him, his son, and his grandson, until the time comes for his own land, and many nations and great kings shall subdue it.
8 And the nation and kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, says the Lord, until I have destroyed it by his hand.
9 And you shall not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your enchanters, who tell you, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”
10 For they are prophesying lies to you, to drive you far from your land, so that I may drive you out and you may perish.
11 But the nation that submits its neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let remain in its own land, declares the Lord, and it shall cultivate it and live there.
12 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Submit your necks to the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
13 Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has said concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you.”
15 For I did not send them, declares the Lord, and they prophesy falsely in my name, so that I may cast you out and you and the prophets who prophesy to you may perish.
16 I also spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the articles of the Lord’s house will soon return from Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you.
17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city be laid waste?
18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them pray now to the Lord of hosts, that the articles that remain in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.”
19 For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the pool, the bases, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city,
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not remove when he carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem:
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the articles that remain in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:
22 They shall be carried away to Babylon, and there they shall remain until the day that I visit them, declares the Lord; and afterward I will bring them back and restore them to this place.
Jeremiah Chapter 28
False prophecy of Hananiah
1 In the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying,
2 “ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place to carry to Babylon.
4 And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
5 Then Jeremiah the prophet answered Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were in the house of the Lord.
6 Jeremiah the prophet said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill your words, in which you prophesied that the articles of the Lord’s house and all the captives will be brought back from Babylon to this place.
7 Nevertheless, hear this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
8 The prophets who were before me and before you in former times prophesied war, affliction, and pestilence against many lands and against great kingdoms.
9 But the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, will be known as the prophet whom the Lord has truly sent.”
10 Then Hananiah the prophet removed the yoke from Jeremiah the prophet’s neck and broke it.
11 Then Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘In this way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.’” And Jeremiah went on his way.
12 After Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
13 “ Go and tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden yokes, but in their place you shall make yokes of iron.’”
14 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations, to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; and I have also given him the beasts of the field.”
15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Now listen, Hananiah: The Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am going to remove you from the face of the earth; you shall die this year, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”
17 So Hananiah died in the seventh month of that same year.
Jeremiah Chapter 29
Jeremiah's Letter to the Captives
1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon
2 (after King Jeconiah, the queen, the palace officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and engineers had departed from Jerusalem),
3 by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Marry and have sons and daughters; Give wives for your sons and husbands for your daughters, so that they may have sons and daughters; increase in number there, do not decrease.
7 Seek the peace of the city to which I have carried you into exile, and pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
8 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.
9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name; I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
15 But you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.”
16 But this is what the Lord says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go into exile with you:
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says: I am going to send a sword, famine, and plague against them, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.
18I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them a scorn to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and a horror, a derision and a reproach to all the nations among which I have cast them;
19 Because they did not listen to my words, declares the Lord, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, again and again; and you did not listen, declares the Lord.
20 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes.
22 And all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will curse them, saying, “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.
23 For they committed wickedness in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and spoke falsely in my name words that I did not command them; I know this and testify to it, declares the Lord.”
24 And you shall speak to Shemaiah the Nehelam, saying,
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: “You sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 ‘ The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be in charge in the house of the Lord of every madman who prophesies, putting him in the stocks and in the bridle.’”
27 Why then have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?
28 For he sent us from Babylon, saying, “The exile will be long; build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.”
29 Now Zephaniah the priest had read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
31 “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he made you trust in a lie,
32 therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he shall have no male to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for my people,’ declares the Lord, ‘because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”
Jeremiah Chapter 30
God promises that the captives will return
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, saying:
2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: “Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.
3 For behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”
4 These, then, are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
5 For thus says the Lord: “We have heard a voice of trembling, of terror, and not of peace.
6 Now inquire, and see if a man can bear children; for I have seen every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and every face has turned pale.
7 Alas, that day will be great, so that there is none like it; a time of trouble for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.”
8 “ On that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “I will break the yoke from your neck and snap your bonds. No longer will foreigners enslave you,
9 but they will serve the Lord their God and David, whom I will raise up for them to be king.
10 Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant,” declares the Lord, “or be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you and your descendants from afar, from the land of captivity. Jacob will return and have peace and security, with no one to make him afraid.
11 I am with you and will save you,” declares the Lord. “I will destroy all the nations among which I have scattered you, but I will not destroy you. I will discipline you in justice; I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
12 For this is what the Lord says: “Your wound is incurable and your injury grievous.
13 There is no one to plead your cause or heal you; there is no healing for you.”
14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have struck you like an enemy, with the scourge of a cruel adversary, because of the greatness of your wickedness and the multitude of your sins.
15 Why do you cry out because of your brokenness? Your pain is incurable, because of the greatness of your iniquity and your many sins I have done this to you.
16 But all who devour you will be consumed; all your adversaries will go into captivity; those who trampled you will be trampled down, and all who preyed on you I will make plunder.
17 But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord, because you have been called an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.
18 This is what the Lord says: “I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings. The city will be rebuilt on its hill, and the temple will stand in its proper place.
19 From them will come thanksgiving and the sound of a rejoicing nation. I will increase their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will multiply them, and they will not be diminished.
20 Their children will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppressed them.
21 From her will come her prince, and from among her will come her ruler. I will bring him near, and he will approach me, for who dares to approach me?” declares the Lord.
22 You will be my people, and I will be your God.
23 Behold, the storm of the Lord goes forth in fury; the storm that is brewing will rest on the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has accomplished the purposes of his heart; in the latter days you will understand this.
Jeremiah Chapter 31
1 At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
2 This is what the Lord says: “The people who escaped the sword found favor in the wilderness, when Israel went to find rest.”
3 The Lord appeared to me in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
4 I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dances.
5 Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the planters will plant and enjoy their fruit.
6 For the days will come when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will call out, “Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.”
7 For this is what the Lord says: “Rejoice greatly in Jacob, and shout for joy among the nations; Proclaim, praise, and say: “O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.”
8 Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north, and gather them from the ends of the earth; among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the woman in labor together; a great company shall return here.
9 They shall come weeping, but with mercy I will bring them back; I will lead them beside streams of water, on a level path in which they will not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and proclaim it in the coastlands far away, and say: “He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.
11 For the Lord has redeemed Jacob; he has redeemed him from the hand of him who is stronger than he.”
12 They will come with shouts of joy on the heights of Zion, and will rush to the goodness of the Lord—to the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their lives will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
13 Then the young women will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; I will turn their mourning into gladness, I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
14 I will satisfy the priests with plenty, and my people will be filled with my goodness, declares the Lord.
15 This is what the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and bitter mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
16 This is what the Lord says: “Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord. “They will return from the land of the enemy.”
17 There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children will return to their own land.
18I have heard Ephraim lamenting: “You chastised me, and I was chastised like an untrained calf; restore me, and I will be restored, for you are the Lord my God.
19 For after I strayed, I repented; and after I acknowledged my sin, I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the reproach of my youth.
20 Is not Ephraim my precious son, the child in whom I delight? Though I spoke of him, I remember him continually. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,” declares the Lord.
21 Set up road signs, erect high pillars, take careful note of the highway. Return by the way that you came, Virgin Israel, return to these your cities.
22 How long will you wander, O wayward daughter? For the Lord will create a new thing on the earth: A woman will surround a man.
23 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes, they will again use this word in the land of Judah and in its towns: ‘The Lord bless you, you righteous dwelling place, you holy mountain.’
24 There Judah and all its towns will be inhabited by farmers and those who move about with their flocks.
25 For I will satisfy the weary and replenish the faint.
26 Then I awoke and saw, and my sleep was pleasant.”
The new pact
27 “ The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to overthrow, destroy, and afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.
29 “ In those days they will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes will be set on edge.
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 No longer shall they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
35 Thus says the Lord, who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the laws of the moon and the stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name:
36 If these decrees vanish from my sight, declares the Lord, then the descendants of Israel shall cease to be a nation before me forever.
37 This is what the Lord says: “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.
38 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the city will be rebuilt for the Lord, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39 The measuring line will go out ahead of him over the hill of Gareb and around Goah.
40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes, and all the plain as far as the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate on the east, will be holy to the Lord; it will never again be uprooted or destroyed.”
Jeremiah Chapter 32
Jeremiah buys the field of Hanamel
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2 Now the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard that was in the house of the king of Judah.
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with him face to face, and his eyes shall see his eyes;
5 and he shall carry Zedekiah off to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him; And if you fight against the Chaldeans, it will not go well for you, declares the Lord.
6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
7 ‘ Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for you have the right to buy it.”
’ 8 So Hanamel the son of my uncle came to me in the courtyard of the guard, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
9 So I bought the field of Hanamel the son of my uncle, which was in Anathoth, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver.
10 I wrote the deed and sealed it, and had it certified by witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales.”
11 Then I took the deed of sale, sealed according to law and custom, and the open copy.
12 And I gave the deed of sale to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the presence of Hanamel, my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who had signed the deed of sale, and in the presence of all the Jews who were in the courtyard of the guard.
13 And I commanded Baruch before them, saying,
14 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this sealed deed of sale and this open deed, and put them in a clay jar, that they may be preserved for many days.
15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses, fields, and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
16 And after I had given the deed of sale to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying,
17 O Lord God! Behold, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; nothing is too hard for you.
18You show mercy to thousands, but punish the children for the sin of the parents. You are the great and mighty God; the Lord Almighty is his name. You
are great in counsel and magnificent in deed. Your eyes are open to all the ways of mankind, to reward each person according to their conduct and according to what their deeds deserve. You performed signs and wonders in Egypt, both in Israel and among all people, and you have made a name for yourself, as it is today. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.
22 You gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23 They entered it and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice or follow your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore, you have brought all this evil upon them.
24 Look, they have attacked the city with battering rams to capture it, and the city is about to be handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, famine, and pestilence. What you said has come to pass, and you are seeing it.
25 O Lord God, have you said to me, “Buy the field for money and call on witnesses,” even though the city is handed over to the Chaldeans?
26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for me?
28 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it.
29 And the Chaldeans who attack this city shall come and set it on fire and burn it, also the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, provoking me to anger.
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger with the work of their hands, says the Lord.
31 So this city has been a source of anger and wrath to me from the day it was built until this day, that I must remove it from my presence,
32 because of all the wickedness of the people of Israel and the people of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 They turned their backs on me, and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen to my correction.
34 Instead, they set up their abominations in the house that bears my name, defiling it.
35 They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, which I did not command, nor did it enter my mind that they should do such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.
36 And yet, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning this city, of which you say, “It shall be handed over to the king of Babylon by the sword, famine, and plague”:
37 Behold, I will gather them from all the lands to which I have driven them in my anger, my wrath, and my great indignation, and I will bring them back to this place and settle them securely.
38 They shall be my people, and I will be their God.
39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may never depart from me.
41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul.
42 For thus says the Lord: As I brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.
43And they shall possess an inheritance in this land of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or beast, given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’
44 They shall buy inheritances with money, and draw up deeds, seal them, and put witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes, says the Lord.
Jeremiah Chapter 33
Restoration of Jerusalem's Prosperity
1 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, saying,
2 “ This is what the Lord says—he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it, the Lord is his name:
3 ‘ Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down with battering rams and axes—
5 (because they came to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of the men I struck down in my anger and wrath, for I hid my face from this city because of all its wickedness):
6 I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal them and reveal to them abundant peace and security.
7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were before.”
8 I will cleanse them from all the wickedness they have committed against me, and I will forgive all their sins by which they have sinned against me and by which they have rebelled against me.
9 Then it will be to me a name of joy, praise, and honor before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good things I do for them; and they will fear and tremble at all the goodness and peace I provide for them.
10 This is what the Lord says: In this place, which you say is deserted, without people or animals, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are desolate, without people or inhabitants or animals,
11 there will again be heard the voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, the voice of those saying, “Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever”; the voice of those bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at the beginning, says the Lord.
12 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will again be shepherds’ huts to graze their flocks.
13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks will again pass by the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.
14 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.
17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.
18 Nor shall the priests and Levites lack a man to offer burnt offerings before me, to kindle grain offerings, and to perform sacrifices continually.
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come into their seasons,
21 then my covenant with my servant David may also be broken, so that he will have no son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levites and priests, my ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me.
23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 “Have you not seen what these people are saying: ‘The Lord has rejected the two families he chose’? They have despised my people and have disregarded them so much that they no longer consider them a nation.
25 This is what the Lord says: ‘If my covenant does not stand day and night, and if I do not establish the laws of heaven and earth,
26 then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, so that I will not choose from his descendants anyone to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”
Jeremiah Chapter 34
Jeremiah admonishes Zedekiah
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his rule, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities:
2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
3 You will not escape from his hand; you will be captured and handed over to him. The king of Babylon will see you with his eyes, and he will speak to you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.”’
4 “But hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah: This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword.”
5 You will die in peace, and just as spices were burned for your ancestors, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you, and they will lament for you, saying, “Alas, my lord!” For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.
6 Now Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem.
7 The army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, against Lachish and Azekah; for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained.
Violation of the covenant to free the Hebrew servants
8 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them;
9 that each man should set free his male and female slaves, both Hebrew and Hebrew, and that no one should treat the Jews, their brethren, as slaves.
10 And when all the princes and all the people heard that they had agreed to the covenant to set free each man his male and female slave, and that no one should treat them as slaves anymore, they obeyed and set them free.
11 But afterward they repented and brought back the male and female slaves they had set free and subjected them to slavery.
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
13 “ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:
14 At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his fellow Hebrew who has been sold to him; he shall serve him for six years, and then he shall send him away free. But your ancestors did not listen to me or pay attention.
15 And you had today repented and done what was right in my eyes, proclaiming liberty to your neighbor, and you had made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name.
16 But you have turned away and profaned my name, and have taken back, each of you, your male and female slaves, whom you had set free at your own will, and have made them your slaves, both men and women.
17 Therefore, thus says the Lord: “Because you have not listened to me to proclaim liberty to your brother and to your neighbor, behold, I proclaim liberty,” declares the Lord, “to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine; And I will make you a reproach before all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 And I will hand over the men who transgressed my covenant, who have not carried out the words of the covenant they made before me, by cutting the calf in two and passing between the two pieces—
19 the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the officials and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf—
20 I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives; and their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives, and to the army of the king of Babylon, who has departed from you.
22 Behold, I will command, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city, and they shall fight against it and take it, and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
Jeremiah chapter 35
Obedience of the Rechabites
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2 “ Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”
3 So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, all his sons, and the whole clan of the Rechabites;
4 and I brought them to the house of the Lord, to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was next to the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.
5 And I set before the sons of the clan of the Rechabites bowls and cups full of wine, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”
6 But they said, “We will not drink wine; For Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, “You shall never drink wine, neither you nor your children;
7 nor build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor possess them; but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days on the face of the land where you dwell.”
8 And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters;
9 and to build no houses for our dwelling, nor to have vineyards, nor inheritance, nor seed.
10 So we dwell in tents, and we have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
11 However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, “Come, let us hide in Jerusalem from the army of the Chaldeans and from the army of the Syrians.” So we remained in Jerusalem.
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
13 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Go and tell the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Will you never learn to obey my words?’ declares the Lord.
14 The word of Jonadab son of Rechab, who commanded his sons not to drink wine, has been kept; they have not drunk it to this day, because they obeyed their father’s command. Yet I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
15 I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again, saying, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and amend your deeds. Do not follow other gods to serve them, and you will live in the land I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you have not listened to me.”
16 The descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have kept the command their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me.
17 Therefore, this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I am going to bring on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster I have spoken against them, because I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rechabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his commands and did everything he told you,
19 therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab son of Rechab will never fail to have a man to serve me forever.’”
Jeremiah Chapter 36
The king burns the scroll
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
2 “ Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the time I began speaking to you in the days of Josiah until now.
3 Perhaps the people of Judah will hear about all the disaster I plan to bring on them and turn from their wicked ways, and I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
4 So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll, at Jeremiah’s instruction, all the words the Lord had spoken to him.
5 Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I have been forbidden to go into the house of the Lord.
6 But you go in and read from this scroll, which you have written at my request, the words of the Lord, to the people in the house of the Lord on a fast day. And you shall read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come from their towns.
7 Perhaps their prayer will reach the Lord, and each of them will turn from their evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.
8 So Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord.
9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, they proclaimed a fast before the Lord for all the people of Jerusalem and for all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem.
10 Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entrance of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of the people.
11 Now Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, having heard from the book all the words of the Lord,
12 went down to the king’s house, to the chamber of the scribe. And behold, all the princes were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
13 And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book in the hearing of the people.
14 Then all the princes sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to tell Baruch, “Take the scroll from which you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.
15 And they said to him, “Now sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
16When they heard all these words, each man turned to his companion in amazement and said to Baruch, “We will certainly tell the king all these words.”
17 Then they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now how you wrote all these words from Jeremiah’s mouth.”
18 Baruch said to them, “He dictated all these words to me from his mouth, and I wrote them down with ink in the book.”
19 Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”
20 So they went to the king, to the court, having laid the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they told the king all these words.
21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he got it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who were with the king.
22 Now the king was in the winter palace in the ninth month, and a brazier was burning before him.
23 When Jehudi had read three or four pages of it, the king tore it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire in the brazier, until the whole scroll was consumed by the fire in the brazier.
24 Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid, nor did they tear their clothes.
25 Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
26 The king also commanded Jerahmeel son of Hammelech, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.
27 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll, the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s word:
28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
29 Then say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned this scroll, saying, “Why did you write on it, saying, “The king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land, leaving neither man nor beast in it”?”’
30 Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his body will be exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.
31 I will punish him and his descendants and his officials for his wickedness; And I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they did not listen.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah the scribe; and he wrote on it, at Jeremiah’s word, all the words of the book that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many other similar words were added to them.
Jeremiah Chapter 37
Imprisonment of Jeremiah
1 Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king over the land of Judah.
2 But neither he nor his officials nor the people of the land obeyed the words of the Lord, which he had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 So King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to tell Jeremiah the prophet, “Pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4 Jeremiah was going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.
5 When Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and news of this reached the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
7 “ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, “Pharaoh’s army, which came out to help you, has returned to its own land in Egypt.
8 The Chaldeans will return and attack this city, capture it, and burn it down.”’
9 This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not deceive yourselves by saying, “Surely the Chaldeans will withdraw from us,” for they will not withdraw.
10 Even if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only wounded men remained, each man would rise from his tent and burn this city down.
11 Now it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans withdrew from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,
12 that Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin, to get away from the people.
13 And when he came to the Benjamin Gate, there was a commander named Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, who seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.”
14 But Jeremiah said, “That’s not true; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But he would not listen to him, but Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him before the princes.
15 And the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made it a prison.
16 So Jeremiah went into the cistern and into the vaults. And Jeremiah had been there for many days,
17 King Zedekiah sent for him and brought him out. Then the king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah replied, “There is.” He added, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”
18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What have I done wrong against you, your officials, and this people, that you have put me in prison?
19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’?
20 Now therefore, hear me, my lord the king; let my plea come before you, and do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21 Then King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was kept in the courtyard of the guard, and given a loaf of bread every day from the Bakers’ Street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
Jeremiah Chapter 38
Jeremiah in the cistern
1 Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,
2 “ Thus says the Lord: ‘Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, or by famine, or by plague; but whoever deserts to the Chaldeans will live, for his life will be given to him as plunder, and he will live.’
3 Thus says the Lord: ‘This city will surely be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’
” 4 Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for by speaking such words he is weakening the hands of the fighting men who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people. This man does not seek the peace of this people, but their harm.”
5 And King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.”
6 So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchijah son of Hammelech, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
7 When Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern, and the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,
8 Ebed-melech went out of the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying,
9 “My lord the king, these men have done wrong in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into the cistern, for he will die of hunger there, because there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11 So Ebed-melech took the men and went into the king’s house, to the treasury below, and took some old rags and shabby, threadbare garments and lowered them with ropes into the cistern for Jeremiah.
12 Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and shabby, threadbare garments under his armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.
13 Thus they lifted Jeremiah out of the cistern with ropes, and Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
Zedekiah secretly consults Jeremiah
14 Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet, and brought him to the third entrance of the house of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; do not hide anything from me.”
15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely kill me? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”
16 So King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made us, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who are seeking your life.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender yourself to the princes of the king of Babylon, you and your household will live, and this city will not be burned down.
18 But if you do not surrender yourself to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans, and they will burn it down, and you will not escape.’”
19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they hand me over to them and they mock me.”
20 Jeremiah replied, “They will not hand you over. Now obey the voice of the Lord that I speak to you, and it will go well with you, and you will live.
21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me:
22 Behold, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah will be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon. They will say, ‘Your friends have deceived you and prevailed against you; they have sunk your feet in the mire and turned back.’
23 All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hands. You will be taken captive by the king of Babylon, and he will burn this city with fire.”
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know these words, and you will not die.
25 But if the princes hear that I have spoken to you, and come to you and say, ‘Tell us now what you spoke to the king about; do not hide it from us, and we will not kill you, and also what the king said to you,’
26 you shall say to them, ‘I begged the king not to make me return to Jonathan’s house, lest I die there.’”
27 So all the princes came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he answered them according to all that the king had commanded him. Then they left him, because the matter had not been heard.
28 So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured; and he was there when Jerusalem was captured.
Jeremiah Chapter 39
Fall of Jerusalem
1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the wall of the city.
3 All the princes of the king of Babylon entered and encamped at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the other princes of the king of Babylon.
4 When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the fighting men saw them, they fled and went out of the city by night through the gate in the middle of the city by way of the king’s garden, and the king went out by way of the Arabah.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and brought him up to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon was, and he pronounced judgment on him.
6 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons in his presence at Riblah, and the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.
7 He gouged out King Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon.
8 The Chaldeans set fire to the king’s house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had joined him, and all the other remaining people.
10 But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah the poor of the people who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields.
Nebuchadnezzar takes care of Jeremiah
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar had commanded Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, concerning Jeremiah, saying,
12 “Take him and look after him, and do him no harm, but do to him as he tells you.”
13 So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and Nebusazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the princes of the king of Babylon sent;
14 and they sent and took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the guard, and delivered him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to bring him home; and he lived among the people.
God promises to deliver Ebed-melech
15 Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was confined in the courtyard of the guard, saying,
16 “Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am bringing my words upon this city for evil and not for good, and this shall be done on that day before your very eyes.
17 But on that day I will deliver you, declares the Lord, and you shall not be handed over to those whom you fear.
18 For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be given to you as a prize, because you trusted in me, declares the Lord.”’
Jeremiah Chapter 40
Jeremiah and the remnant with Gedaliah
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent him from Ramah, when he found him bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported to Babylon.
2 So the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord your God pronounced this disaster against this place,
3 and the Lord has brought it about and done it as he said, because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey his voice; therefore this has happened to you.
4 And now I have released you today from the chains that were on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take care of you; but if it seems bad to you to come with me to Babylon, stay away. Look, the whole land is before you; go wherever seems best and most convenient for you to go.”
5 If you prefer to stay, return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over all the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people; or go wherever you think best to go. The captain of the guard gave him provisions and a present and sent him on his way.
6 So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who remained in the land.
7 When all the commanders of the army who were in the camp, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern the land, and that he had entrusted to him the men, women, children, and the poor of the land who had not been taken captive to Babylon,
8 they immediately went to Gedaliah at Mizpah; That is, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of a Maacathite, they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans; live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.
10 And behold, I am staying at Mizpah to face the Chaldeans who will come against us; but you take the wine, the summer produce, and the oil, and put them in your storehouses, and remain in the cities you have captured.”
11 Likewise, all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and those who were in all the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had left some in Judah, and that he had set Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them,
12 all these Jews then returned from all the places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and abundant fruit.
Ishmael's Conspiracy Against Gedaliah
13 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the fighting men who were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
14 They said to him, “Do you not know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah secretly at Mizpah, saying, “I will go now and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he kill you? All the Jews who have gathered around you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish.”
16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do this, for what you say about Ishmael is false.”
Jeremiah Chapter 41
1 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with some of the king’s officials and ten men with him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate together there at Mizpah.
2 Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.
3 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.
4 The day after he killed Gedaliah, before anyone knew it,
5 some men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria—eighty men with shaved beards, torn clothes, and cut wounds—and they were carrying grain offerings and incense to take to the house of the Lord.
6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”
7 When they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern, he and the men who were with him.
8 But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.” So he spared them and did not kill them among their brothers.
9 The cistern into which Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed because of Gedaliah was the same one King Asa had dug because of Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
10 Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had entrusted to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. So Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and went to join the Ammonites.
11 Now Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the fighting force who were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done.
12 So they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon.
13 And it happened that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the fighting men who were with him, they rejoiced.
14 And all the people whom Ishmael had brought captive from Mizpah returned and went with Johanan the son of Kareah.
15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped before Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.
16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the fighting men who were with him took all the remnant of the people he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah, whom he had brought from Mizpah after he had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam—men of war, women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan had brought from Gibeon.
17 They went and settled in Gerutchimam, which is near Bethlehem, so that they might go and enter Egypt,
18 because of the Chaldeans; for they feared them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.
Jeremiah Chapter 42
Message to Johanan
1 Then all the officers of the fighting men came, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, both small and great.
2 They said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please accept our plea before you, and pray to the Lord your God for us, for all this remnant—for we are left but a few, as you see us—
3 that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go and what we should do.”
4 Jeremiah the prophet replied, “I have heard you. I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked, and whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you; I will not withhold anything from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a faithful and truthful witness between us if we do not do everything the Lord your God sends you to do.”
6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that by obeying the voice of the Lord our God it may go well with us.
7 At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
8 He summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the officers of the fighting men who were with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says—to whom you sent me to present your petitions before him:
10 If you will remain in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am sorry for the disaster I have brought on you.
11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not be afraid of him,” declares the Lord, “for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.”
12 and I will have mercy on you, and he will have mercy on you and bring you back to your own land.
13 But if you say, “We will not live in this land,” thus disobeying the voice of the Lord your God,
14 saying, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor suffer famine, and there we will live,”
15 now therefore, hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to go to Egypt, and go to live there,
16 then the sword you dread will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you dread will pursue you there in Egypt, and there you will die.
17 All the men who turn their faces to go to Egypt to live there will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. Not one of them will be left alive, nor will anyone escape the disaster I will bring on them.
18 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Just as my anger and wrath were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will become an object of desolation and horror, a curse and a reproach, and you will never see this place again.”
19 The Lord has spoken to you, remnant of Judah: “Do not go to Egypt. Know for certain that I am warning you today.”
20 Why have you led yourselves astray? You sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray to the Lord our God for us, and tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.”
21 And I have declared it to you today, and you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor all the things for which he sent me to you.
22 Now therefore, know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desired to go and live.
Jeremiah Chapter 43
Emigration to Egypt
1 When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of the Lord their God, all these words by which the Lord their God had sent him to them,
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah, and all the proud men, said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there.’
3 But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans, to kill us and carry us off to Babylon.”
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the officers of the fighting men and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to remain in the land of Judah.
5 Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the officers of the fighting men took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Judah.
6 They took men, women, and children, the king’s daughters, and all the people whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.
7 They went into the land of Egypt, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, and they came as far as Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 “ Take large stones in your hand and cover them with mortar in the brickwork that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah.
10 Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his canopy over them.
11 He will come and destroy the land of Egypt; Those destined for death, to death; those destined for captivity, to captivity; and those destined for the sword, to the sword.
12 He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt and burn them down, and he will take them captive. He will cleanse the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak, and he will go out from there in peace.
13 He will also break down the pillars at Beth-shemesh, which is in the land of Egypt, and he will burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.
Jeremiah Chapter 44
Jeremiah prophesies to the Jews in Egypt
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros, saying:
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, they are desolate to this day; there is no one living in them,
3 because of the evil they committed to provoke me to anger, by going and burning incense to other gods, which neither they nor their ancestors had known.
4 And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, early and again, saying, “Do not do this abominable thing that I hate.”
5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods.
6 Therefore my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned against the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and they were left desolate and desolate, as they are this day.
7 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you do such great evil against yourselves, that man and woman, boy and nursing child, should be destroyed from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant?
8 You provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live, so that you may perish and become a curse and a reproach to all the nations of the earth?
9 Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors, the sins of the kings of Judah, the sins of their wives, your own sins, and the sins of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 To this day they have not humbled themselves, nor have they been afraid, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes, which I set before you and before your ancestors.
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn my face against you for disaster and to destroy all Judah.
12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have turned their faces to go to Egypt to live there, and in Egypt they will all be consumed. They will fall by the sword, they will be eaten by famine, They will die by the sword and by famine, from the least to the greatest, and they will be an object of execration, horror, cursing, and reproach.
13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt as I punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence.
14And of the remnant of Judah who went to the land of Egypt to live there, none will escape, nor will any be left alive to return to the land of Judah, to which they long to return and live there; for only a few fugitives will return.
15 Then all those who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, and all the women who were present, a great assembly, and all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
16 “The word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you;
17 but we will certainly do everything that has gone out of our mouths, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, as we and our fathers, our kings and our princes have done in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and we had plenty of food, and we were happy, and we saw no evil.”
18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything; we are consumed by the sword and by famine.
19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ consent?
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—to the men and women and all the people who had answered him this—saying,
21 “Has the Lord not remembered and not recalled the incense that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land?
22 The Lord could no longer tolerate it because of the wickedness of your deeds, because of the abominations you had committed; Therefore, your land has become a desolation, a horror, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.
23 Because you burned incense and sinned against the Lord, and did not obey the voice of the Lord, nor walk in his law, his statutes, or his testimonies; therefore, this evil has come upon you, as it is to this day.
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have spoken with your mouths, and with your hands you have carried it out, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ You have indeed confirmed your vows and performed them.”
26 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who live in Egypt: I have sworn by my great name, declares the Lord, that no one in Judah will ever again invoke my name in all Egypt, saying, “As the Lord God lives.”
27 I am watching over them for evil and not for good. All the people of Judah who are in Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by famine until they are utterly destroyed.
28 But a few will survive the sword and return from Egypt to Judah. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to Egypt to live there will know whose word will prevail, mine or theirs.
29 This will be the sign to you, declares the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.
30Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I delivered Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.
Jeremiah Chapter 45
Jeremiah Chapter 45
1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote in the book these words from Jeremiah’s mouth, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying:
2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, Baruch:
3 You said, “Woe to me now! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with groaning, and I find no rest.”
4 Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will destroy those I have built and uproot those I have planted—this whole land.’
5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them, for behold, I will bring disaster on all flesh, says the Lord; but I will give you your life as plunder in all the places to which you go.”
Jeremiah Chapter 46
Prophecies about Egypt
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet, concerning the nations.
2 Concerning Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon destroyed in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3 Prepare shield and buckler, and come out to battle!
4 Harness your horses and mount up, you cavalrymen, and put on your helmets; polish your spears, put on your armor.
5 Why did I see them retreating, turning back? Their mighty men are routed, and they flee without looking back; terror is on every side, declares the Lord.
6 Let not the swift flee, nor the mighty escape; on the north bank of the Euphrates they stumble and fall.
7 Who is this that rises like a river, whose waters rush like rivers?
8 Egypt is enlarged like a river, and the waters surge like rivers. He said, “I will go up and cover the land; I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.”
9 “Up you horses, and be tumultuous, chariots, and let the warriors go forth—the Ethiopians and the men of Put who take up the shield, and the men of Lud who take up and bend the bow!”
10 But that day will be a day of vengeance for the Lord God Almighty, to take vengeance on his enemies. The sword will devour and be satiated and drunk with their blood, for it will be a sacrifice to the Lord God Almighty in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
11 “ Go up to Gilead and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt; you will use many remedies in vain; there is no cure for you.”
12 The nations have heard of your reproach, and your cry has filled the earth; for warrior stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen together.
13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to devastate the land of Egypt:
14 “Proclaim in Egypt, and declare in Migdol; declare also in Memphis and Tahpanhes; say, ‘Arise, prepare yourselves, for a sword will devour your land.’
15 Why has your stronghold been overthrown? It could not stand, for the Lord pushed it down.
16 He multiplied the slain, and each fell upon his companion; and they said, ‘Arise, and let us return to our people, to the land of our birth; let us flee from the victorious sword.’
17 There they cried, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is destroyed; he has let the appointed time pass.’
18 “ As surely as I live,” says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, “like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so he will come.”
19 Prepare for yourself the goods of captivity, O inhabitant daughter of Egypt; for Memphis shall be deserted, and shall be laid waste until no inhabitant remains.
20 Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but destruction is coming from the north.
21 Her hired soldiers are also in her midst, like fattened calves; for they too have turned back, they have all fled without stopping, because the day of their destruction has come upon them, the time of their punishment.
22 Their voice will go out like that of a serpent, for the enemies will come, and with axes they will come against her like woodcutters.
23 They will cut down her forests, says the Lord, though they are impenetrable; for they will be more numerous than locusts, they will be without number.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be given into the hands of the people of the north.
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has said: Behold, I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, and her gods and her kings; Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants; but afterward it shall be inhabited as in former days, says the Lord.
27 But you, do not fear, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return and be at rest and prosperous, and no one shall make him afraid.
28 But you, O Jacob my servant, do not fear, says the Lord, for I am with you; for I will destroy all the nations among which I have scattered you, but I will not utterly destroy you. I will discipline you in justice; I will by no means leave you unpunished.
Jeremiah Chapter 47
Prophecy concerning the Philistines
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh destroyed Gaza.
2 Thus says the Lord: “Behold, waters are rising from the north and will become a torrent; they will flood the land and everything in it, the city and all who live in it. People will cry out, and everyone who lives in the land will wail.
3 Because of the sound of their horses’ hooves, the noise of their chariots, and the rumble of their wheels, the parents neglected their children because their hands were too weak.
4 Because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to destroy Tyre and Sidon, and all their remaining allies; for the Lord will destroy the Philistines and the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 Gaza is stripped bare, Ashkelon is destroyed, and the rest of its valley. How long will you slash yourself?
6 O sword of the Lord, how long will you rest?” Return to your sheath, rest and be still.
7 How can you rest? For the Lord has sent you against Ashkelon, and against the coastland; there he has set you.
Jeremiah Chapter 48
Prophecy concerning Moab
1 Concerning Moab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo! For she is destroyed and put to shame; Kiriathaim has been captured; Misgab has been confounded and dismayed.
2 Moab will no longer boast; at Heshbon they plotted evil against her, saying, ‘Come, let us cut her off from among the nations.’ You also, Madmenah, will be cut off; the sword will pursue you.”
3 A cry from Horonaim, destruction and great ruin!
4 Moab is broken; they have made the cry of her children be heard.
5 For on the ascent to Luhith, one who weeps goes up weeping; for on the descent to Horonaim, the enemy hears a cry of ruin.
6 Flee, save your lives, and be like a bush in the wilderness.
7 For because you trusted in your wealth and your treasures, you also will be captured; Chemosh will be taken into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
8 A destroyer will come to each of the cities, and no city will escape; the valley will be ruined, and the plain will be destroyed, as the Lord has said.
9 Give wings to Moab, that it may fly away; for its cities will be deserted, without inhabitant.
10 Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and has settled on his lees; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he ever gone into captivity; therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed.
12 Therefore the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send transferrs to him, and they will transfer him; they will empty his vessels and burst his skins.
13 Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
14 How then can you say, “We are mighty men, strong for battle”?
15 Moab is destroyed, its cities laid waste, and its chosen young men go down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
16 The destruction of Moab is near, and its calamity rushes on.
17 Pity him, all you who are around him; and all you who know his name, say, “How the mighty rod is broken, the beautiful staff!”
18 Come down from your glory, sit on the dry ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Stand by the wayside and see, O inhabitant of Aroer; Ask the one who is fleeing, the one who has escaped; tell her: What has happened?
20Moab is ashamed, for it has been broken; wail and cry out; proclaim in the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.
21 Judgment has come upon the land of the plain: upon Holon, upon Jahaz, upon Mephaath,
22 upon Dibon, upon Nebo, upon Beth-diblathaim,
23 upon Kiriathaim, upon Beth-gamul, upon Beth-meon,
24 upon Kerioth, upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, both far and near.
25 The power of Moab is cut off, and its arm is broken, says the Lord.
26 Make him drunk, for he has exalted himself against the Lord; let Moab wallow in his vomit, and let him also be an object of scorn.
27 And has not Israel become an object of scorn to you, as if taken by robbers? For when you spoke of him, you mocked him.
28 Leave the cities and dwell in the rocks, O inhabitants of Moab, and be like the dove that nests in the mouth of the cave.
29 We have heard of the pride of Moab, for he is very proud, arrogant, haughty, and proud of heart.
30 I know his anger, declares the Lord, but it will not prevail; his boasting will not profit him.
31 Therefore I will wail over Moab; I will cry out over all Moab, and wail over the men of Kir-hares.
32 With the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah; your branches have crossed the sea, they have reached the Sea of Jazer; the destroyer has come upon your harvest and your vintage.
33 Joy and gladness will be cut off from the fruitful fields of Moab; and I will cause the wine to fail from the winepresses; they will not tread with song; there will be no song.
34 The cry of Heshbon reaches to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz; from Zoar to Horonaim, a three-year-old heifer; for the waters of Nimrim also will be cut off.
35 And I will cut off from Moab, declares the Lord, those who sacrifice on the high places, and those who burn incense to their gods.
36 Therefore my heart will resound like a flute for Moab; my heart will resound like a flute for the men of Kir-hares, for the wealth they had amassed has perished.
37 For every head will be shaved, and every beard cut off; every hand will be covered with cuts, and sackcloth will cover every back.
38 On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there will be wailing all over; for I have broken Moab like a vessel that does not please, declares the Lord.
39 Wail! How broken it is! How Moab has turned its back and been put to shame! Moab has become an object of scorn and horror to all its surroundings.
40 For thus says the Lord: “Look, like an eagle it will fly, and spread its wings against Moab.
41 The cities will be taken, and the strongholds will be taken; and on that day the heart of the mighty men of Moab will be like the heart of a woman in distress.
42 Moab will be destroyed and will no longer be a nation, because it exalted itself against the Lord.
43 Terror and pit and snare await you, O inhabitant of Moab, declares the Lord.”
44 Whoever flees in fear will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for I will bring upon him, upon Moab, the year of his punishment, declares the Lord.
45 In the shadow of Heshbon, the fleeing men stood powerless; but fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon, and it burned up the corner of Moab, and the crown of the rebellious children.
46 Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity.
47 But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
Jeremiah Chapter 49
Prophecy concerning the Ammonites
1 Concerning the Ammonites. Thus says the Lord: “Has Israel no son? Has he no heir? Why has Milcom dispossessed Gad, and his people settled in its cities?
2 Therefore, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise a cry of war in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it will become a heap of ruins, and its cities will be burned with fire, and Israel will take as its inheritance those who took them,” says the Lord.
3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth, wail, and go around the high places, for Milcom has gone into captivity, his priests and his princes with him.
4 Why do you boast of the valleys? Your valley is ruined, O stubborn daughter, you who trust in your treasures, you who say, “Who will come against me?”
5 “Behold, I will bring terror upon you,” declares the Lord, the Lord of hosts, “from all around you; and you will be driven straight ahead, each one of you, with no one to gather the fugitives.
6 And after this I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the Lord.
Prophecy concerning Edom
7 Concerning Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Is there no more wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the wise? Has their wisdom decayed?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring upon Esau the destruction of him at the time of his punishment.
9 If grape gatherers had come against you, would they not have left gleanings? If robbers by night, would they not have carried off enough?
10 But I will strip Esau naked, I will uncover his hiding places, and he will not be able to hide himself; his descendants will be destroyed, his brothers and his neighbors, and he will be no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children, I will raise them; and your widows will put their trust in me.
12 For thus says the Lord: Behold, those who were not condemned to drink the cup will certainly drink it, and will you be acquitted altogether? You will not be acquitted, but you will certainly drink it.
13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah will be a desolation, a reproach, a wasteland, and a curse, and all its cities will be perpetual ruins.
14 I heard the report that the Lord had sent a messenger to the nations, saying, “Assemble yourselves and come against her, and go up to battle.”
15 Behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind.
16 Your arrogance has deceived you, and the pride of your heart. You who dwell in the clefts of the rocks, who hold the height of the mountain, though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.
17 And Edom will become a desolation; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all its calamities.
18 As happened in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no one will live there, nor will any human being dwell in it.
19 Behold, like a lion he will come up from the thickets of the Jordan against the beautiful and strong one; for very soon I will cause him to flee from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose; for who is like me, and who will challenge me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?
20 Therefore, hear the counsel that the Lord has determined concerning Edom, and his purposes that he has determined concerning the inhabitants of Teman. Surely the least of their flock will be swept away, and their dwellings will be destroyed with them.
21 At the sound of their fall the earth will shake, and the cry of their voice will be heard in the Red Sea.
22 Behold, like an eagle he will rise and fly, and spread his wings against Bozrah; and the heart of the mighty men of Edom will be in that day like the heart of a woman in distress.
Prophecy concerning Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are dismayed, for they have heard bad news; they are melted away in the waters of faintness, they cannot be still.
24 Damascus is dismayed, she turns to flee; trembling and anguish have seized her, and pangs have taken hold of her, like a woman in labor.
25 How they have forsaken the praised city, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be killed on that day, says the Lord of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire on the wall of Damascus, and it will consume the houses of Ben-Hadad.
Prophecy concerning Cedar and Hazor
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon laid waste. Thus says the Lord: “Arise, go up against Kedar, and destroy the people of the East.
29 They shall take their tents and their livestock; their curtains and all their furnishings and their camels they shall take for themselves, and they shall cry out against them, ‘Terror on every side!’
30 Flee, go far away, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor, says the Lord; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has formed a plan against you.
31 Arise, go up against a peaceful nation, living securely, says the Lord, a nation without gates or bars, a nation that dwells alone.
32 Their camels shall be plunder, and the multitude of their livestock spoil; and I will scatter them to every wind, they shall be cast to the farthest corner; and I will bring their ruin from every side, says the Lord.”
33 Hazor will be a haunt of jackals, a desert forever; no one will live there, nor will any son of man inhabit it.
Prophecy concerning Elam
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of its strength.
36 I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and I will scatter them to all these winds; and there will not be a nation to which the fugitives of Elam will not go.
37 And I will make Elam tremble before its enemies and before those who seek its life; and I will bring disaster upon them, and the fierceness of my anger, says the Lord; and I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them.
38 And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy its king and its prince, says the Lord.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.
Jeremiah Chapter 50
Prophecy concerning Babylon
1 The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare among the nations, and proclaim; set up a standard, proclaim, and do not conceal; say, “Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is destroyed; her idols are laid waste, her sacred stones are broken in pieces.”
3 For a nation from the north has come up against her, and will lay her land desolate, so that neither man nor beast may dwell in it; they have fled and gone.
4 “In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the people of Israel will come together, they and the people of Judah together; they will come weeping as they go, and they will seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion, to the direction in which they will turn their faces, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’
6 My people were lost sheep; Their shepherds led them astray, they misled them on the mountains; they wandered from mountain to hill, forgetting their folds.
7 All who found them devoured them; and their enemies said, “We will not sin, for they have sinned against the Lord, the dwelling place of righteousness, against the Lord, the hope of their fathers.”
8 Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out from the land of the Chaldeans, and be like the male goats that go before the flock.
9 For I will raise up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north; from there they will prepare themselves against her, and she will be taken; their arrows are like those of a skilled warrior, who will not return empty-handed.
10 And Chaldea will be a plunder; all who plunder her will be filled, declares the Lord.
11 For you rejoiced, for you exulted in destroying my inheritance, for you gorged yourselves like a heifer in the grass, and neighed like stallions.
12 Your mother is greatly ashamed, she who bore you is disgraced; behold, she will be the least of the nations, a desert, a parched land, and a wasteland.
13 Because of the Lord’s wrath, she will not be inhabited, but will be utterly desolate; everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled and will scoff at her calamities.
14 Draw up your positions against Babylon all around, all you who draw the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Cry out against her all around; she has surrendered; her foundations have fallen, her walls are torn down, for it is the Lord’s vengeance. Take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done.
16 Destroy in Babylon those who sow and those who wield the sickle at harvest time; before the destroying sword, each will turn their face toward their own people, each will flee to their own land.
17Israel is a scattered flock; lions have scattered them; the king of Assyria devoured them first, and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon turned them to pieces.
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will bring Israel back to its pastureland, and it will graze on Carmel and Bashan; its soul will be satisfied on the hill country of Ephraim and in Gilead.
20 “In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sins of Israel will be sought, but they will not be found, nor the sins of Judah, but they will not be discovered, for I will forgive those I have spared.
21 “ Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod; destroy and put to death after them,” declares the Lord, “and do everything I have commanded you.”
22 The sound of war is in the land, and great destruction!
23 How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
24 I laid snares for you, and you were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found, and even captured, because you provoked the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his treasury and brought out the weapons of his wrath; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the ends of the earth; open her storehouses, make her a heap of ruins, and destroy her; let nothing be left to her.
27 Kill all her bulls; let them go to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.
28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to proclaim in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance for his temple.
29 Gather archers against Babylon, all who draw the bow; encamp against her all around; let none escape from her; repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done, for she has been arrogant against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her warriors will be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord.
31 Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one, declares the Lord, the Lord of hosts; for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.
32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall, and no one will lift him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, and burn up all his surroundings.
33 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The Israelites and the people of Judah were oppressed together; all their captors held them captive and refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is the Mighty One—the Lord Almighty is his name. He will surely plead their cause, to give rest to the land and to trouble the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord, “and against the inhabitants of Babylon, against her officials and her wise men.
36 A sword against the diviners, and they will be made fools of themselves; a sword against her warriors, and they will be broken.
37 A sword against her horses and her chariots and all the people in her midst, and they will become like women; a sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered.
38 A drought will be upon her waters, and they will dry up, for she is a land of idols, and they are deluded by images.”
39 Therefore, wild beasts of the desert and jackals will dwell there, and young ostriches will also dwell there; it will never again be inhabited or lived in for generations to come.
40 As in the destruction that God made of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no one will dwell there, nor will any human being live in it.
41 Behold, a people is coming from the north, a great nation, and many kings will arise from the ends of the earth.
42 They will wield bow and spear; they will be cruel and have no pity. Their voice will roar like the sea, and they will ride on horses; they will prepare themselves against you like men ready for battle, O daughter of Babylon.
43 When the king of Babylon heard the news, his hands grew weak; anguish seized him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
44Behold, like a lion he will come up from the thickets of the Jordan to the fortified dwelling; for very soon I will cause him to flee from it, and I will appoint him whom I choose; for who is like me? And who will challenge me? Or who is the shepherd who can stand against me?
45 Therefore, hear the purpose that the Lord has determined against Babylon, and the plans that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of her flock they will drag away, and their dwellings with them will be destroyed.
46 At the cry of the capture of Babylon the earth shook, and the cry was heard among the nations.
Jeremiah Chapter 51
Jehovah's judgments against Babylon
1 This is what the Lord says: “I am going to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon and against all who live in rebellion against me.
2 I will send winnowers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land, for the people will be against her on every side in the day of disaster.
3 I will say to the archer who bends his bow and to the one who boasts of his armor, ‘Spare no young men; destroy all her army.’
4 They will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans and be pierced through with spears in her streets.
5 For Israel and Judah have not been widowed by their God, the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee from Babylon! Save your lives, or you will be swept away because of her sin, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will repay her.”
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand; she made all the earth drunk. The peoples drank her wine; therefore the nations were stunned.
8 In a moment Babylon has fallen and been broken. Wail over her; take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us each go to our own land, for her judgment has reached to heaven and is lifted up to the clouds.
10 The Lord has brought forth our righteous acts. Come, let us recount in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11 Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for his purpose is to destroy Babylon, for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple.
12 Set up a banner over the walls of Babylon; reinforce the guard; post sentinels; prepare ambushes! For the Lord has purposed, and will indeed carry out what he has said against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, “I will fill you with men like locusts, and they will raise a cry against you.”
15 He is the one who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
16 At his voice the waters in the heavens roar, and he makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with the rain, and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17 Every man is arrogant and has no knowledge; every craftsman is put to shame by his idols, for his images are lies; they have no breath.
18 They are worthless, a work of mockery; in the time of punishment they will perish.
19Jacob’s portion is not like them, for he is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the scepter of his inheritance; the Lord Almighty is his name.
20 You are my hammer and weapons of war; with you I will break nations and destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I will break horses and their riders, and with you I will break chariots and their riders.
22 With you I will break men and women; with you I will break old men and young men, young men and virgins.
23 With you I will break shepherds and their flocks; with you I will break farmers and their yokes; with you I will break officials and princes.
24 I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they did in Zion before your eyes, declares the Lord.
25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,” declares the Lord, “you who lay waste the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you and roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.
26 No one will take from you a corner stone, nor a foundation stone, for you will be a perpetual desolation,” declares the Lord.
27 “Raise a banner in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the peoples against her; gather against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a commander against her, bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 Prepare the nations against her: the kings of Media, their commanders, all their princes, and all the territory under their dominion.
29 The earth will quake and mourn, for the Lord has set in motion all the plan against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.”
30 The mighty men of Babylon ceased fighting; they shut themselves up in their strongholds. Their strength failed them; they became like women. Their houses are set on fire, their bars broken.
31 Messenger meets messenger, envoy meets envoy, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side.
32 The fords are captured, the ramparts burned with fire, and the men of war are dismayed.
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; in a little while, her harvest will come.”
34 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me, crushed me, and left me like an empty vessel; he swallowed me like a dragon, filled his belly with my delicacies, and cast me out.
35 “May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,” says the inhabitant of Zion; “and may my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I will plead your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her streams run dry.
37 Babylon will become heaps of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
38 They will all roar together like lions; they will growl like young lions.
39 In her heat I will prepare feasts for them and make them drunk, so that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,” declares the Lord.
40 I will lead them like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
41 How Babylon is captured, she who was praised throughout the earth is taken! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
42 The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43 Her cities were laid waste, the land dry and desolate, a land where no one will live, nor will any human being pass through it.
44 I will judge Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of her mouth what she has swallowed; no more nations will come to her, and the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 Come out from her, my people, and save each of you your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 Do not let your hearts faint, nor be afraid because of the rumor that will be heard throughout the land. In one year there will be a rumor, and in another year a rumor, and there will be violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will destroy the idols of Babylon, and all her land will be put to shame, and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 The heavens and the earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon; For destroyers will come against her from the north, declares the Lord.
49 Babylon will fall because of the slain of Israel, as the slain of all the earth fell because of Babylon.
50 You who escaped the sword, go, do not delay; remember the Lord for many days, and remember Jerusalem.
51 We are ashamed, for we have heard the insult; confusion has covered our faces, for foreigners have come against the sanctuaries of the house of the Lord.
52 Therefore, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will destroy her idols, and the wounded will groan throughout her land.
53 Though Babylon rises to heaven, and fortifies herself on high, destroyers will come against her from me, declares the Lord.
54 The cry of Babylon is heard, and the great destruction of the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord will destroy Babylon, and remove from her her great pride; And their waves will roar, and their voice will be like the sound of many waters.
56For a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon, and her mighty men have been captured; their bows have been broken; for the Lord, the God of retribution, will repay.
57 I will make her princes and her wise men, her commanders, her nobles and her mighty men drunk; they will sleep a perpetual sleep and will not wake up, says the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
58 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Babylon’s broad wall will be utterly torn down, and her high gates will be burned with fire; the peoples have labored in vain, and the nations have exhausted themselves, only to be burned with fire.”
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet sent to Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the chief chamberlain.
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that was to come upon Babylon, all the words that are written against Babylon.
61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive at Babylon and see and read all these things,
62 you shall say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you would destroy it, so that no one would live in it, neither man nor beast, but that it would be desolate forever.’
63 And when you have finished reading this book, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,
64 and you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon will sink, and she will not rise again from the disaster that I will bring upon her; and they will be destroyed.’ Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah Chapter 52
Reign of Zedekiah
1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.
3 So because the Lord was angry with Jerusalem and Judah, he drove them out of his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Fall of Jerusalem
4 So it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they encamped against it and built siege works against it on all sides.
5 And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine prevailed in the city, so that there was no bread for the people.
7 And a breach was made in the wall of the city, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls that was by the king’s garden, and they went by way of the Arabah, while the Chaldeans were still all around the city.
8 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army deserted him.
9 So they arrested the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.
10 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah at Riblah.
11 But the king of Babylon put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon; and he put him in prison until the day he died.
Captivity of Judah
12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and he destroyed every large building with fire.
14 The entire army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.
15 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive the poorest of the people, all the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and all the other multitude of the people.
16 But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left some of the poorest of the land for the vineyard workers and the farmers.
17 The Chaldeans broke down the bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, their bases, and the bronze Sea that was in the house of the Lord, and carried all the bronze to Babylon.
18 They also took the pots, shovels, snuffers, basins, spoons, and all the bronze utensils used in the ministry,
19 as well as the censers, basins, cups, pots, lampstands, plates, and bowls. The captain of the guard exchanged gold for gold and silver for silver.
20 The two pillars, the Sea, and the twelve bronze oxen that were under their bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the weight of all the bronze was beyond measure.
21 As for the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits encircled it. and their thickness was four fingers, and they were hollow.
22 The bronze capital on top of it was five cubits high, with a net and pomegranates all around it, all of bronze; the second pillar was like that with its pomegranates.
23 There were ninety-six pomegranates in each row; all of them totaled one hundred on the net all around.
24 The captain of the guard also took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and three court guards.
25 From the city he took an officer who was commander of the fighting men, seven of the king’s closest advisors who were in the city, the chief secretary of the army, who mustered the people of the land for war, and sixty men of the people who were found within the city.
26 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive from its land.
28 This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive: In the seventh year, 3,023 men of Judah.
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 people.
30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive 745 people of the men of Judah; all the people in total were 4,600.
Joachim is freed and receives honors in Babylon
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.
32 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
33 He also changed his prisoner’s clothes, and he ate bread at the king’s table continually all the days of his life.
34 A portion was continually given him by the king of Babylon every day all the days of his life until the day of his death.