Jeremiah 26 (The
Message)
1 At the beginning of the
reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this Message came from God to
Jeremiah: 2 "God's Message: Stand in the court of God's Temple and preach
to the people who come from all over Judah to worship in God's Temple. Say
everything I tell you to say to them. Don't hold anything back. 3 Just maybe
they'll listen and turn back from their bad lives. Then I'll reconsider the
disaster that I'm planning to bring on them because of their evil behavior. 4
"Say to them, 'This is God's Message: If you refuse to listen to me and
live by my teaching that I've revealed so plainly to you, 5 and if you continue
to refuse to listen to my servants the prophets that I tirelessly keep on sending
to you - but you've never listened! Why would you start now? 6 - then I'll make
this Temple a pile of ruins like Shiloh, and I'll make this city nothing but a
bad joke worldwide.'" 7 Everybody there - priests, prophets, and people -
heard Jeremiah preaching this Message in the Temple of God. 8 When Jeremiah had
finished his sermon, saying everything God had commanded him to say, the
priests and prophets and people all grabbed him, yelling, "Death! You're
going to die for this! 9 How dare you preach - and using God's name! - saying
that this Temple will become a heap of rubble like Shiloh and this city be
wiped out without a soul left in it!" All the people mobbed Jeremiah right
in the Temple itself. 10 Officials from the royal court of Judah were told of this.
They left the palace immediately and came to God's Temple to investigate. They
held court on the spot, at the New Gate entrance to God's Temple. 11 The
prophets and priests spoke first, addressing the officials, but also the
people: "Death to this man! He deserves nothing less than death! He has
preached against this city - you've heard the evidence with your own
ears." 12 Jeremiah spoke next, publicly addressing the officials before
the crowd: "God sent me to preach against both this Temple and city
everything that's been reported to you. 13 So do something about it! Change the
way you're living, change your behavior. Listen obediently to the Message of
your God. Maybe God will reconsider the disaster he has threatened. 14 "As
for me, I'm at your mercy - do whatever you think is best. 15 But take warning:
If you kill me, you're killing an innocent man, and you and the city and the
people in it will be liable. I didn't say any of this on my own. God sent me
and told me what to say. You've been listening to God speak, not
Jeremiah." 16 The court officials, backed by the people, then handed down
their ruling to the priests and prophets: "Acquittal. No death sentence
for this man. He has spoken to us with the authority of our God." 17 Then
some of the respected leaders stood up and addressed the crowd: 18 "In the
reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, Micah of Moresheth preached to the people of
Judah this sermon: This is God-of-the-Angel-Armies' Message for you:
"'Because of people like you, Zion will be turned back into farmland,
Jerusalem end up as a pile of rubble, and instead of the Temple on the
mountain, a few scraggly scrub pines.' 19 "Did King Hezekiah or anyone
else in Judah kill Micah of Moresheth because of that sermon? Didn't Hezekiah
honor him and pray for mercy from God? And then didn't God call off the
disaster he had threatened? "Friends, we're at the brink of bringing a
terrible calamity upon ourselves." 20 (At another time there had been a
man, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, who had preached similarly in
the name of God. He preached against this same city and country just as
Jeremiah did. 21 When King Jehoiakim and his royal court heard his sermon, they
determined to kill him. Uriah, afraid for his life, went into hiding in Egypt.
22 King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Achbor with a posse of men after him. 23
They brought him back from Egypt and presented him to the king. And the king
had him killed. They dumped his body unceremoniously outside the city. 24 But
in Jeremiah's case, Ahikam son of Shaphan stepped forward and took his side,
preventing the mob from lynching him.)
Jeremiah 27 (The
Message)
1 Early in the reign of
Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah received this Message from God:
2 "Make a harness and a yoke and then harness yourself up. 3 Send a
message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Send it through their
ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give
them this charge to take back to their masters: 'This is a Message from
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. Tell your masters: 5 "'I'm the
one who made the earth, man and woman, and all the animals in the world. I did
it on my own without asking anyone's help and I hand it out to whomever I will.
6 Here and now I give all these lands over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon. I have made even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations will
be under him, then his son, and then his grandson. Then his country's time will
be up and the tables will be turned: Babylon will be the underdog servant. 8
But until then, any nation or kingdom that won't submit to Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon must take the yoke of the king of Babylon and harness up. I'll
punish that nation with war and starvation and disease until I've got them
where I want them. 9 "'So don't for a minute listen to all your prophets
and spiritualists and fortunetellers, who claim to know the future and who tell
you not to give in to the king of Babylon. 10 They're handing you a line of
lies, barefaced lies, that will end up putting you in exile far from home. I
myself will drive you out of your lands, and that'll be the end of you. 11 But
the nation that accepts the yoke of the king of Babylon and does what he says,
I'll let that nation stay right where it is, minding its own business.'"
12 Then I gave this same message to Zedekiah king of Judah: "Harness
yourself up to the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people. Live
a long life! 13 Why choose to get killed or starve to death or get sick and
die, which is what God has threatened to any nation that won't throw its lot in
with Babylon? 14 Don't listen to the prophets who are telling you not to submit
to the king of Babylon. They're telling you lies, preaching lies. 15 God's Word
on this is, 'I didn't send those prophets, but they keep preaching lies,
claiming I sent them. If you listen to them, I'll end up driving you out of
here and that will be the end of you, both you and the lying prophets.'"
16 And finally I spoke to the priests and the people at large: "This is
God's Message: Don't listen to the preaching of the prophets who keep telling
you, 'Trust us: The furnishings, plundered from God's Temple, are going to be
returned from Babylon any day now.' That's a lie. 17 Don't listen to them.
Submit to the king of Babylon and live a long life. Why do something that will
destroy this city and leave it a heap of rubble? 18 If they are real prophets
and have a Message from God, let them come to God-of-the-Angel-Armies in prayer
so that the furnishings that are still left in God's Temple, the king's palace,
and Jerusalem aren't also lost to Babylon. 19 That's because
God-of-the-Angel-Armies has already spoken about the Temple furnishings that
remain - the pillars, the great bronze basin, the stands, and all the other
bowls and chalices 20 that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn't take when he
took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim off to Babylonian exile along with all the
leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 He said that the furnishings left behind in
the Temple of God and in the royal palace and in Jerusalem 22 will be taken off
to Babylon and stay there until, in God's words, 'I take the matter up again
and bring them back where they belong.'"
Jeremiah 28 (The
Message)
1 Later that same year (it
was in the fifth month of King Zedekiah's fourth year) Hananiah son of Azzur, a
prophet from Gibeon, confronted Jeremiah in the Temple of God in front of the
priests and all the people who were there. 2 Hananiah said: 3 Before two years
are out I'll have all the furnishings of God's Temple back here, all the things
that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon plundered and hauled off to Babylon. 4 I'll
also bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the exiles
who were taken off to Babylon.' God's Decree. 'Yes, I will break the king of
Babylon's yoke. You'll no longer be in harness to him.'" 5 Prophet Jeremiah
stood up to Prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people who
were in God's Temple that day. 6 Prophet Jeremiah said, "Wonderful! Would
that it were true - that God would validate your preaching by bringing the
Temple furnishings and all the exiles back from Babylon. 7 But listen to me,
listen closely. Listen to what I tell both you and all the people here today: 8
The old prophets, the ones before our time, preached judgment against many
countries and kingdoms, warning of war and disaster and plague. 9 So any
prophet who preaches that everything is just fine and there's nothing to worry
about stands out like a sore thumb. We'll wait and see. If it happens, it
happens - and then we'll know that God sent him." 10 At that, Hananiah
grabbed the yoke from Jeremiah's shoulders and smashed it. 11 And then he
addressed the people: "This is God's Message: In just this way I will
smash the yoke of the king of Babylon and get him off the neck of all the
nations - and within two years." Jeremiah walked out. 12 Later, sometime
after Hananiah had smashed the yoke from off his shoulders, Jeremiah received
this Message from God: 13 "Go back to Hananiah and tell him, 'This is
God's Message: You smashed the wooden yoke-bars; now you've got iron yoke-bars.
14 This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's own God: I've put
an iron yoke on all these nations. They're harnessed to Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon. They'll do just what he tells them. Why, I'm even putting him in
charge of the wild animals.'" 15 So prophet Jeremiah told prophet
Hananiah, "Hold it, Hananiah! God never sent you. You've talked the whole
country into believing a pack of lies! 16 And so God says, 'You claim to be
sent? I'll send you all right - right off the face of the earth! Before the year
is out, you'll be dead because you fomented sedition against God.'" 17
Prophet Hananiah died that very year, in the seventh month.
Jeremiah 29 (The
Message)
1 This is the letter that the
prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to what was left of the elders among the
exiles, to the priests and prophets and all the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar had
taken to Babylon from Jerusalem, 2 including King Jehoiachin, the queen mother,
the government leaders, and all the skilled laborers and craftsmen. 3 The
letter was carried by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom
Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter
said: 4 This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, to all
the exiles I've taken from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and make
yourselves at home. "Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country. 6
"Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have
children so that you'll thrive in that country and not waste away. 7 "Make
yourselves at home there and work for the country's welfare. "Pray for
Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for
you." 8 Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: "Don't let all those so-called
preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with
their lies. Don't pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with
to please you. 9 They're a bunch of liars preaching lies - and claiming I sent
them! I never sent them, believe me." God's Decree! 10 This is God's Word
on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day
before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back
home. 11 I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care
of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12
"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13
"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. 14 I'll make sure you won't
be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you.
I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you" - God's
Decree - "bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into
exile. You can count on it. 15 "But for right now, because you've taken up
with these newfangled prophets who set themselves up as 'Babylonian
specialists,' spreading the word 'God sent them just for us!' 16 God is setting
the record straight: As for the king still sitting on David's throne and all
the people left in Jerusalem who didn't go into exile with you, they're facing
bad times. 17 God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, 'Watch this! Catastrophe is on the
way: war, hunger, disease! They're a barrel of rotten apples. 18 I'll rid the
country of them through war and hunger and disease. The whole world is going to
hold its nose at the smell, shut its eyes at the horrible sight. They'll end up
in slum ghettos 19 because they wouldn't listen to a thing I said when I sent
my servant-prophets preaching tirelessly and urgently. No, they wouldn't listen
to a word I said.'" God's Decree. 20 "And you - you exiles whom I
sent out of Jerusalem to Babylon - listen to God's Message to you. 21 As far as
Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are concerned, the 'Babylonian
specialists' who are preaching lies in my name, I will turn them over to
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will kill them while you watch. 22 The
exiles from Judah will take what they see at the execution and use it as a
curse: 'God fry you to a crisp like the king of Babylon fried Zedekiah and Ahab
in the fire!' 23 Those two men, sex predators and prophet-impostors, got what
they deserved. They pulled every woman they got their hands on into bed - their
neighbors' wives, no less - and preached lies claiming it was my Message. I
never sent those men. I've never had anything to do with them." God's
Decree. "They won't get away with a thing. I've witnessed it all." 24
And this is the Message for Shemaiah the Nehelamite: 25 "God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
the God of Israel, says: You took it on yourself to send letters to all the
people in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and the company
of priests. In your letter you told Zephaniah that 26 God set you up as priest
replacing priest Jehoiadah. He's put you in charge of God's Temple and made you
responsible for locking up any crazy fellow off the street who takes it into
his head to be a prophet. 27 "So why haven't you done anything about
muzzling Jeremiah of Anathoth, who's going around posing as a prophet? 28 He's
gone so far as to write to us in Babylon, 'It's going to be a long exile, so
build houses and make yourselves at home. Plant gardens and prepare Babylonian
recipes.'" 29 The priest Zephaniah read that letter to the prophet
Jeremiah. 30 Then God told Jeremiah, 31 "Send this Message to the exiles.
Tell them what God says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah is preaching
lies to you. I didn't send him. He is seducing you into believing lies. 32 So
this is God's verdict: I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole
family. He's going to end up with nothing and no one. No one from his family
will be around to see any of the good that I am going to do for my people
because he has preached rebellion against me." God's Decree.
Jeremiah 30 (The
Message)
1 This is the Message
Jeremiah received from God: 2 "God's Message, the God of Israel: 'Write
everything I tell you in a book. 3 "'Look. The time is coming when I will
turn everything around for my people, both Israel and Judah. I, God, say so.
I'll bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors, and they'll take up
ownership again.'" 4 This is the way God put it to Israel and Judah: 5
"God's Message: "'Cries of panic are being heard. The peace has been shattered.
6 Ask around! Look around! Can men bear babies? So why do I see all these
he-men holding their bellies like women in labor, Faces contorted, pale as
death? 7 The blackest of days, no day like it ever! A time of deep trouble for
Jacob - but he'll come out of it alive. 8 "'And then I'll enter the
darkness. I'll break the yoke from their necks, Cut them loose from the
harness. No more slave labor to foreigners! 9 They'll serve their God and the
David-King I'll establish for them. 10 "'So fear no more, Jacob, dear servant.
Don't despair, Israel. Look up! I'll save you out of faraway places, I'll bring
your children back from exile. Jacob will come back and find life good, safe
and secure. 11 I'll be with you. I'll save you. I'll finish off all the godless
nations Among which I've scattered you, but I won't finish you off. I'll punish
you, but fairly. I won't send you off with just a slap on the wrist.' 12
"This is God's Message: "'You're a burned-out case, as good as dead.
13 Everyone has given up on you. You're hopeless. 14 All your fair-weather
friends have skipped town without giving you a second thought. But I delivered
the knockout blow, a punishment you will never forget, Because of the enormity
of your guilt, the endless list of your sins. 15 So why all this self-pity,
licking your wounds? You deserve all this, and more. Because of the enormity of
your guilt, the endless list of your sins, I've done all this to you. 16
"'Everyone who hurt you will be hurt; your enemies will end up as slaves.
Your plunderers will be plundered; your looters will become loot. 17 As for
you, I'll come with healing, curing the incurable, Because they all gave up on
you and dismissed you as hopeless - that good-for-nothing Zion.' 18
"Again, God's Message: "'I'll turn things around for Jacob. I'll
compassionately come in and rebuild homes. The town will be rebuilt on its old
foundations; the mansions will be splendid again. 19 Thanksgivings will pour
out of the windows; laughter will spill through the doors. Things will get
better and better. Depression days are over. They'll thrive, they'll flourish.
The days of contempt will be over. 20 They'll look forward to having children
again, to being a community in which I take pride. I'll punish anyone who hurts
them, 21 and their prince will come from their own ranks. One of their own
people shall be their leader. Their ruler will come from their own ranks. I'll
grant him free and easy access to me. Would anyone dare to do that on his own,
to enter my presence uninvited?' God's Decree. 22 "'And that's it: You'll
be my very own people, I'll be your very own God.'" 23 Look out! God's
hurricane is let loose, his hurricane blast, Spinning the heads of the wicked
like dust devils! 24 God's raging anger won't let up Until he's made a clean
sweep completing the job he began. When the job's done you'll see it's been
well done.
Jeremiah 31 (The
Message)
1 "And when that
happens" - God's Decree - "it will be plain as the sun at high noon:
I'll be the God of every man, woman, and child in Israel and they shall be my
very own people." 2 This is the way God put it: "They found grace out
in the desert, these people who survived the killing. Israel, out looking for a
place to rest, 3 met God out looking for them!" God told them, "I've
never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! 4 And
so now I'll start over with you and build you up again, dear virgin Israel.
You'll resume your singing, grabbing tambourines and joining the dance. 5
You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards on the Samaritan
hillsides, And sit back and enjoy the fruit - oh, how you'll enjoy those
harvests! 6 The time's coming when watchmen will call out from the hilltops of
Ephraim: 'On your feet! Let's go to Zion, go to meet our God!'" 7 Oh yes,
God says so: "Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob! Announce
the good news to the number-one nation! Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say, 'God
has saved his people, saved the core of Israel.' 8 "Watch what comes next:
"I'll bring my people back from the north country And gather them up from
the ends of the earth, gather those who've gone blind And those who are lame
and limping, gather pregnant women, Even the mothers whose birth pangs have
started, bring them all back, a huge crowd! 9 "Watch them come! They'll come
weeping for joy as I take their hands and lead them, Lead them to fresh flowing
brooks, lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths. Yes, it's because I'm
Israel's Father and Ephraim's my firstborn son! 10 "Hear this, nations!
God's Message! Broadcast this all over the world! Tell them, 'The One who
scattered Israel will gather them together again. From now on he'll keep a
careful eye on them, like a shepherd with his flock.' 11 I, God, will pay a
stiff ransom price for Jacob; I'll free him from the grip of the Babylonian
bully. 12 The people will climb up Zion's slopes shouting with joy, their faces
beaming because of God's bounty - Grain and wine and oil, flocks of sheep,
herds of cattle. Their lives will be like a well-watered garden, never again
left to dry up. 13 Young women will dance and be happy, young men and old men
will join in. I'll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort,
invading their grief with joy. 14 I'll make sure that their priests get three
square meals a day and that my people have more than enough.'" God's
Decree. 15 Again, God's Message: "Listen to this! Laments coming out of
Ramah, wild and bitter weeping. It's Rachel weeping for her children, Rachel
refusing all solace. Her children are gone, gone - long gone into exile."
16 But God says, "Stop your incessant weeping, hold back your tears.
Collect wages from your grief work." God's Decree. "They'll be coming
back home! 17 There's hope for your children." God's Decree. 18 "I've
heard the contrition of Ephraim. Yes, I've heard it clearly, saying, 'You
trained me well. You broke me, a wild yearling horse, to the saddle. Now put
me, trained and obedient, to use. You are my God. 19 After those years of
running loose, I repented. After you trained me to obedience, I was ashamed of
my past, my wild, unruly past. Humiliated, I beat on my chest. Will I ever live
this down?' 20 "Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take
pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my heart bursts with longing for him!
Everything in me cries out for him. Softly and tenderly I wait for him."
God's Decree. 21 "Set up signposts to mark your trip home. Get a good map.
Study the road conditions. The road out is the road back. Come back, dear
virgin Israel, come back to your hometowns. 22 How long will you flit here and
there, indecisive? How long before you make up your fickle mind? God will
create a new thing in this land: A transformed woman will embrace the
transforming God!" 23 Message from Israel's God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
"When I've turned everything around and brought my people back, the old
expressions will be heard on the streets: 'God bless you!' . . . 'O True Home!'
. . . 'O Holy Mountain!' 24 All Judah's people, whether in town or country,
will get along just fine with each other. 25 I'll refresh tired bodies; I'll
restore tired souls. 26 Just then I woke up and looked around - what a pleasant
and satisfying sleep! 27 "Be ready. The time's coming" - God's Decree
- "when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer
plants seed. 28 And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and
tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they
start over, building and planting. 29 "When that time comes you won't hear
the old proverb anymore, Parents ate the green apples, their children got the
stomachache. 30 "No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green
apples, you're the one who gets sick. 31 "That's right. The time is coming
when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. 32 It won't be a
repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to
lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did
my part as their Master." God's Decree. 33 "This is the brand-new
covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law
within them - write it on their hearts! - and be their God. And they will be my
people. 34 They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other
about God. They'll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and
the slow. I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I'll forget they ever
sinned!" God's Decree. If This Ordered Cosmos Ever Fell to Pieces 35 God's
Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun and brightens the night
with moon and stars, Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth, whose name is
God-of-the-Angel-Armies: 36 "If this ordered cosmos ever fell to pieces,
fell into chaos before me" - God's Decree - "Then and only then might
Israel fall apart and disappear as a nation before me." 37 God's Message:
"If the skies could be measured with a yardstick and the earth explored to
its core, Then and only then would I turn my back on Israel, disgusted with all
they've done." God's Decree. 38 "The time is coming" - it's
God's Decree - "when God's city will be rebuilt, rebuilt all the way from
the Citadel of Hanamel to the Corner Gate. 39 The master plan will extend west
to Gareb Hill and then around to Goath. 40 The whole valley to the south where
incinerated corpses are dumped - a death valley if there ever was one! - and
all the terraced fields out to the Brook Kidron on the east as far north as the
Horse Gate will be consecrated to me as a holy place. "This city will
never again be torn down or destroyed."
Jeremiah 32 (The
Message)
1 The Message Jeremiah
received from God in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah. It was the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of
Babylon was holding Jerusalem under siege. Jeremiah was shut up in jail in the
royal palace. 3 Zedekiah, king of Judah, had locked him up, complaining,
"How dare you preach, saying, 'God says, I'm warning you: I will hand this
city over to the king of Babylon and he will take it over. 4 Zedekiah king of
Judah will be handed over to the Chaldeans right along with the city. He will
be handed over to the king of Babylon and forced to face the music. 5 He'll be
hauled off to Babylon where he'll stay until I deal with him. God's Decree.
Fight against the Babylonians all you want - it won't get you anywhere.'"
6 Jeremiah said, "God's Message came to me like this: 7 Prepare yourself!
Hanamel, your uncle Shallum's son, is on his way to see you. He is going to
say, 'Buy my field in Anathoth. You have the legal right to buy it.' 8
"And sure enough, just as God had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me while
I was in jail and said, 'Buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin,
for you have the legal right to keep it in the family. Buy it. Take it over.' "That
did it. I knew it was God's Message. 9 "So I bought the field at Anathoth
from my cousin Hanamel. I paid him seventeen silver shekels. 10 I followed all
the proper procedures: In the presence of witnesses I wrote out the bill of
sale, sealed it, and weighed out the money on the scales. 11 Then I took the
deed of purchase - the sealed copy that contained the contract and its
conditions and also the open copy - 12 and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah,
the son of Mahseiah. All this took place in the presence of my cousin Hanamel
and the witnesses who had signed the deed, as the Jews who were at the jail
that day looked on. 13 "Then, in front of all of them, I told Baruch, 14
'These are orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: Take these
documents - both the sealed and the open deeds - and put them for safekeeping
in a pottery jar. 15 For God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says,
"Life is going to return to normal. Homes and fields and vineyards are
again going to be bought in this country."' 16 "And then, having
handed over the legal documents to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to God, 17
'Dear God, my Master, you created earth and sky by your great power - by merely
stretching out your arm! There is nothing you can't do. 18 You're loyal in your
steadfast love to thousands upon thousands - but you also make children live
with the fallout from their parents' sins. Great and powerful God, named
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, 19 determined in purpose and relentless in following
through, you see everything that men and women do and respond appropriately to
the way they live, to the things they do. 20 "'You performed signs and
wonders in the country of Egypt and continue to do so right into the present,
right here in Israel and everywhere else, too. You've made a reputation for
yourself that doesn't diminish. 21 You brought your people Israel out of Egypt
with signs and wonders - a powerful deliverance! - by merely stretching out
your arm. 22 You gave them this land and solemnly promised to their ancestors a
bountiful and fertile land. 23 But when they entered the land and took it over,
they didn't listen to you. They didn't do what you commanded. They wouldn't
listen to a thing you told them. And so you brought this disaster on them. 24
"'Oh, look at the siege ramps already set in place to take the city.
Killing and starvation and disease are on our doorstep. The Babylonians are
attacking! The Word you spoke is coming to pass - it's daily news! 25 And yet
you, God, the Master, even though it is certain that the city will be turned
over to the Babylonians, also told me, Buy the field. Pay for it in cash. And
make sure there are witnesses.'" 26 Then God's Message came again to
Jeremiah: 27 "Stay alert! I am God, the God of everything living. Is there
anything I can't do? 28 So listen to God's Message: No doubt about it, I'm
handing this city over to the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
He'll take it. 29 The attacking Chaldeans will break through and burn the city
down: All those houses whose roofs were used as altars for offerings to Baal
and the worship of who knows how many other gods provoked me. 30 It isn't as if
this were the first time they had provoked me. The people of Israel and Judah
have been doing this for a long time - doing what I hate, making me angry by
the way they live." God's Decree. 31 "This city has made me angry
from the day they built it, and now I've had my fill. I'm destroying it. I
can't stand to look any longer 32 at the wicked lives of the people of Israel
and Judah, deliberately making me angry, the whole lot of them - kings and
leaders and priests and preachers, in the country and in the city. 33 They've
turned their backs on me - won't even look me in the face! - even though I took
great pains to teach them how to live. They refused to listen, refused to be
taught. 34 Why, they even set up obscene god and goddess statues in the Temple
built in my honor - an outrageous desecration! 35 And then they went out and
built shrines to the god Baal in the valley of Hinnom, where they burned their
children in sacrifice to the god Molech - I can hardly conceive of such evil! -
turning the whole country into one huge act of sin. 36 "But there is also
this Message from me, the God of Israel, to this city of which you have said,
'In killing and starvation and disease this city will be delivered up to the
king of Babylon': 37 "'Watch for this! I will collect them from all the
countries to which I will have driven them in my anger and rage and
indignation. Yes, I'll bring them all back to this place and let them live here
in peace. 38 They will be my people, I will be their God. 39 I'll make them of
one mind and heart, always honoring me, so that they can live good and whole
lives, they and their children after them. 40 What's more, I'll make a covenant
with them that will last forever, a covenant to stick with them no matter what,
and work for their good. I'll fill their hearts with a deep respect for me so
they'll not even think of turning away from me. 41 "'Oh how I'll rejoice
in them! Oh how I'll delight in doing good things for them! Heart and soul,
I'll plant them in this country and keep them here!' 42 "Yes, this is
God's Message: 'I will certainly bring this huge catastrophe on this people,
but I will also usher in a wonderful life of prosperity. I promise. 43 Fields
are going to be bought here again, yes, in this very country that you assume is
going to end up desolate - gone to the dogs, unlivable, wrecked by the
Babylonians. 44 Yes, people will buy farms again, and legally, with deeds of
purchase, sealed documents, proper witnesses - and right here in the territory
of Benjamin, and in the area around Jerusalem, around the villages of Judah and
the hill country, the Shephelah and the Negev. I will restore everything that
was lost.' God's Decree."
Jeremiah 33 (The
Message)
1 While Jeremiah was still
locked up in jail, a second Message from God was given to him: 2 "This is
God's Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known
everywhere as God: 3 'Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous
and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.' 4 "This
is what God, the God of Israel, has to say about what's going on in this city,
about the homes of both people and kings that have been demolished, about all
the ravages of war 5 and the killing by the Chaldeans, and about the streets
littered with the dead bodies of those killed because of my raging anger -
about all that's happened because the evil actions in this city have turned my
stomach in disgust. 6 "But now take another look. I'm going to give this
city a thorough renovation, working a true healing inside and out. I'm going to
show them life whole, life brimming with blessings. 7 I'll restore everything
that was lost to Judah and Jerusalem. I'll build everything back as good as new.
8 I'll scrub them clean from the dirt they've done against me. I'll forgive
everything they've done wrong, forgive all their rebellions. 9 And Jerusalem
will be a center of joy and praise and glory for all the countries on earth.
They'll get reports on all the good I'm doing for her. They'll be in awe of the
blessings I am pouring on her. 10 "Yes, God's Message: 'You're going to
look at this place, these empty and desolate towns of Judah and streets of
Jerusalem, and say, "A wasteland. Unlivable. Not even a dog could live
here." 11 But the time is coming when you're going to hear laughter and
celebration, marriage festivities, people exclaiming, "Thank
God-of-the-Angel-Armies. He's so good! His love never quits," as they
bring thank offerings into God's Temple. I'll restore everything that was lost
in this land. I'll make everything as good as new.' I, God, say so. 12
"God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: 'This coming desolation, unfit for even a
stray dog, is once again going to become a pasture for shepherds who care for
their flocks. 13 You'll see flocks everywhere - in the mountains around the
towns of the Shephelah and Negev, all over the territory of Benjamin, around
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah - flocks under the care of shepherds who keep
track of each sheep.' God says so. A Fresh and True Shoot from the David-Tree
14 "'Watch for this: The time is coming' - God's Decree - 'when I will
keep the promise I made to the families of Israel and Judah. 15 When that time
comes, I will make a fresh and true shoot sprout from the David-Tree. He will
run this country honestly and fairly. He will set things right. 16 That's when
Judah will be secure and Jerusalem live in safety. The motto for the city will
be, "God Has Set Things Right for Us." 17 God has made it clear that
there will always be a descendant of David ruling the people of Israel 18 and
that there will always be Levitical priests on hand to offer burnt offerings,
present grain offerings, and carry on the sacrificial worship in my
honor.'" 19 God's Message to Jeremiah: 20 "God says, 'If my covenant
with day and my covenant with night ever fell apart so that day and night
became haphazard and you never knew which was coming and when, 21 then and only
then would my covenant with my servant David fall apart and his descendants no
longer rule. The same goes for the Levitical priests who serve me. 22 Just as
you can't number the stars in the sky nor measure the sand on the seashore,
neither will you be able to account for the descendants of David my servant and
the Levites who serve me.'" 23 God's Message to Jeremiah: 24 "Have
you heard the saying that's making the rounds: 'The two families God chose,
Israel and Judah, he disowned'? And have you noticed that my people are treated
with contempt, with rumors afoot that there's nothing to them anymore? 25
"Well, here's God's response: 'If my covenant with day and night wasn't in
working order, if sky and earth weren't functioning the way I set them going,
26 then, but only then, you might think I had disowned the descendants of Jacob
and of my servant David, and that I wouldn't set up any of David's descendants
over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it is, I will give
them back everything they've lost. The last word is, I will have mercy on them.'"
Jeremiah 34 (The
Message)
1 God's Message to Jeremiah
at the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon mounted an all-out attack on
Jerusalem and all the towns around it with his armies and allies and everyone
he could muster: 2 "I, God, the God of Israel, direct you to go and tell
Zedekiah king of Judah: 'This is God's Message. Listen to me. I am going to
hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he is going to burn it to the
ground. 3 And don't think you'll get away. You'll be captured and be his prisoner.
You will have a personal confrontation with the king of Babylon and be taken
off with him, captive, to Babylon. 4 "'But listen, O Zedekiah king of
Judah, to the rest of the Message of God. You won't be killed. 5 You'll die a
peaceful death. They will honor you with funeral rites as they honored your
ancestors, the kings who preceded you. They will properly mourn your death,
weeping, "Master, master!" This is a solemn promise. God's
Decree.'" 6 The prophet Jeremiah gave this Message to Zedekiah king of Judah
in Jerusalem, gave it to him word for word. 7 It was at the very time that the
king of Babylon was mounting his all-out attack on Jerusalem and whatever
cities in Judah that were still standing - only Lachish and Azekah, as it
turned out (they were the only fortified cities left in Judah). 8 God delivered
a Message to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people of
Jerusalem to decree freedom 9 to the slaves who were Hebrews, both men and
women. The covenant stipulated that no one in Judah would own a fellow Jew as a
slave. 10 All the leaders and people who had signed the covenant set free the
slaves, men and women alike. 11 But a little while later, they reneged on the
covenant, broke their promise and forced their former slaves to become slaves
again. 12 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: 13 "God, the God
of Israel, says, 'I made a covenant with your ancestors when I delivered them
out of their slavery in Egypt. At the time I made it clear: 14 "At the end
of seven years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has had to sell
himself to you. After he has served six years, set him free." But your
ancestors totally ignored me. 15 "'And now, you - what have you done?
First you turned back to the right way and did the right thing, decreeing
freedom for your brothers and sisters - and you made it official in a solemn
covenant in my Temple. 16 And then you turned right around and broke your word,
making a mockery of both me and the covenant, and made them all slaves again,
these men and women you'd just set free. You forced them back into slavery. 17
"'So here is what I, God, have to say: You have not obeyed me and set your
brothers and sisters free. Here is what I'm going to do: I'm going to set you
free - God's Decree - free to get killed in war or by disease or by starvation.
I'll make you a spectacle of horror. People all over the world will take one
look at you and shudder. 18 Everyone who violated my covenant, who didn't do
what was solemnly promised in the covenant ceremony when they split the young
bull into two halves and walked between them, 19 all those people that day who
walked between the two halves of the bull - leaders of Judah and Jerusalem,
palace officials, priests, and all the rest of the people - 20 I'm handing the
lot of them over to their enemies who are out to kill them. Their dead bodies
will be carrion food for vultures and stray dogs. 21 "'As for Zedekiah
king of Judah and his palace staff, I'll also hand them over to their enemies,
who are out to kill them. The army of the king of Babylon has pulled back for a
time, 22 but not for long, for I'm going to issue orders that will bring them
back to this city. They'll attack and take it and burn it to the ground. The
surrounding cities of Judah will fare no better. I'll turn them into ghost
towns, unlivable and unlived in.'" God's Decree.
Jeremiah 35 (The
Message)
1 The Message that Jeremiah
received from God ten years earlier, during the time of Jehoiakim son of Josiah
king of Israel: 2 "Go visit the Recabite community. Invite them to meet
with you in one of the rooms in God's Temple. And serve them wine." 3 So I
went and got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, along with all his
brothers and sons - the whole community of the Recabites as it turned out - 4
and brought them to God's Temple and to the meeting room of Hanan son of
Igdaliah, a man of God. It was next to the meeting room of the Temple officials
and just over the apartment of Maaseiah son of Shallum, who was in charge of
Temple affairs. 5 Then I set out chalices and pitchers of wine for the
Recabites and said, "A toast! Drink up!" 6 But they wouldn't do it.
"We don't drink wine," they said. "Our ancestor Jonadab son of
Recab commanded us, 'You are not to drink wine, you or your children, ever. 7
Neither shall you build houses or settle down, planting fields and gardens and
vineyards. Don't own property. Live in tents as nomads so that you will live
well and prosper in a wandering life.' 8 "And we've done it, done
everything Jonadab son of Recab commanded. We and our wives, our sons and
daughters, drink no wine at all. 9 We don't build houses. We don't have
vineyards or fields or gardens. 10 We live in tents as nomads. We've listened
to our ancestor Jonadab and we've done everything he commanded us. 11 "But
when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded our land, we said, 'Let's go to
Jerusalem and get out of the path of the Chaldean and Aramean armies, find
ourselves a safe place.' That's why we're living in Jerusalem right now."
12 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: 13
"God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, wants you to go tell the
people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem that I say, 'Why won't you learn
your lesson and do what I tell you?' God's Decree. 14 'The commands of Jonadab
son of Recab to his sons have been carried out to the letter. He told them not
to drink wine, and they haven't touched a drop to this very day. They honored
and obeyed their ancestor's command. But look at you! I have gone to a lot of
trouble to get your attention, and you've ignored me. 15 I sent prophet after
prophet to you, all of them my servants, to tell you from early morning to late
at night to change your life, make a clean break with your evil past and do
what is right, to not take up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry of a god that
comes down the pike, but settle down and be faithful in this country I gave
your ancestors. 16 The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab carried out to the
letter what their ancestor commanded them, but this people ignores me.' 17
"So here's what is going to happen. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of
Israel, says, 'I will bring calamity down on the heads of the people of Judah
and Jerusalem - the very calamity I warned you was coming - because you turned
a deaf ear when I spoke, turned your backs when I called.'" 18 Then,
turning to the Recabite community, Jeremiah said, "And this is what
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says to you: Because you have done
what Jonadab your ancestor told you, obeyed his commands and followed through
on his instructions, 19 receive this Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the
God of Israel: There will always be a descendant of Jonadab son of Recab at my
service! Always!'"
Jeremiah 36 (The
Message)
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim
son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah received this Message from God: 2
"Get a scroll and write down everything I've told you regarding Israel and
Judah and all the other nations from the time I first started speaking to you
in Josiah's reign right up to the present day. 3 "Maybe the community of
Judah will finally get it, finally understand the catastrophe that I'm planning
for them, turn back from their bad lives, and let me forgive their perversity
and sin." 4 So Jeremiah called in Baruch son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated
and Baruch wrote down on a scroll everything that God had said to him. 5 Then
Jeremiah told Baruch, "I'm blacklisted. I can't go into God's Temple, 6 so
you'll have to go in my place. Go into the Temple and read everything you've written
at my dictation. Wait for a day of fasting when everyone is there to hear you.
And make sure that all the people who come from the Judean villages hear you. 7
"Maybe, just maybe, they'll start praying and God will hear their prayers.
Maybe they'll turn back from their bad lives. This is no light matter. God has
certainly let them know how angry he is!" 8 Baruch son of Neriah did
everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do. In the Temple of God he read
the Message of God from the scroll. 9 It came about in December of the fifth
year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah that all the people of Jerusalem,
along with all the people from the Judean villages, were there in Jerusalem to
observe a fast to God. 10 Baruch took the scroll to the Temple and read out
publicly the words of Jeremiah. He read from the meeting room of Gemariah son
of Shaphan the secretary of state, which was in the upper court right next to
the New Gate of God's Temple. Everyone could hear him. 11 The moment Micaiah
the son of Gemariah heard what was being read from the scroll - God's Message!
- 12 he went straight to the palace and to the chambers of the secretary of
state where all the government officials were holding a meeting: Elishama the
secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of
Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other government officials. 13
Micaiah reported everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll as the
officials listened. 14 Immediately they dispatched Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son
of Semaiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch, ordering him, "Take the scroll that
you have read to the people and bring it here." So Baruch went and
retrieved the scroll. 15 The officials told him, "Sit down. Read it to us,
please." Baruch read it. 16 When they had heard it all, they were upset.
They talked it over. "We've got to tell the king all this." 17 They
asked Baruch, "Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Was it at
Jeremiah's dictation?" 18 Baruch said, "That's right. Every word right
from his own mouth. And I wrote it down, word for word, with pen and ink."
19 The government officials told Baruch, "You need to get out of here. Go
into hiding, you and Jeremiah. Don't let anyone know where you are!" 20
The officials went to the court of the palace to report to the king, having put
the scroll for safekeeping in the office of Elishama the secretary of state. 21
The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the office of
Elishama the secretary. Jehudi then read it to the king and the officials who
were in the king's service. 22 It was December. The king was sitting in his
winter quarters in front of a charcoal fire. 23 After Jehudi would read three
or four columns, the king would cut them off the scroll with his pocketknife and
throw them in the fire. He continued in this way until the entire scroll had
been burned up in the fire. 24 Neither the king nor any of his officials showed
the slightest twinge of conscience as they listened to the messages read. 25
Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah tried to convince the king not to burn the
scroll, but he brushed them off. 26 He just plowed ahead and ordered Prince
Jerahameel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest
Jeremiah the prophet and his secretary Baruch. But God had hidden them away. 27
After the king had burned the scroll that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's
dictation, Jeremiah received this Message from God: 28 "Get another blank
scroll and do it all over again. Write out everything that was in that first
scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. 29 "And send this personal
message to Jehoiakim king of Judah: 'God says, You had the gall to burn this
scroll and then the nerve to say, "What kind of nonsense is this written
here - that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and kill
everything in it?" 30 "'Well, do you want to know what God says about
Jehoiakim king of Judah? This: No descendant of his will ever rule from David's
throne. His corpse will be thrown in the street and left unburied, exposed to
the hot sun and the freezing night. 31 I will punish him and his children and
the officials in his government for their blatant sin. I'll let loose on them
and everyone in Jerusalem the doomsday disaster of which I warned them but they
spit at.'" 32 So Jeremiah went and got another scroll and gave it to
Baruch son of Neriah, his secretary. At Jeremiah's dictation he again wrote
down everything that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. There were
also generous additions, but of the same kind of thing.
Jeremiah 37 (The
Message)
1 King Zedekiah son of
Josiah, a puppet king set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in
the land of Judah, was now king in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2 But
neither he nor his officials nor the people themselves paid a bit of attention
to the Message God gave by Jeremiah the prophet. 3 However, King Zedekiah sent
Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to
Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Pray for us - pray hard! - to the Master,
our God." 4 Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in
those days. This was before he had been put in jail. 5 Pharaoh's army was
marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the
Egyptians were coming and pulled back. 6 Then Jeremiah the prophet received
this Message from God: 7 "I, the God of Israel, want you to give this
Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should
do. Tell him, 'Get this: Pharaoh's army, which is on its way to help you, isn't
going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they'll leave and go
home to Egypt. 8 And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their
attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. 9 I, God, am telling you:
Don't kid yourselves, reassuring one another, "The Babylonians will leave
in a few days." I tell you, they aren't leaving. 10 Why, even if you
defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few
wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn
this city to the ground.'" 11 When the Chaldean army pulled back from
Jerusalem, 12 Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin
to take care of some personal business. 13 When he got to the Benjamin Gate,
the officer on guard there, Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, grabbed
Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him, "You're deserting to the
Chaldeans!" 14 "That's a lie," protested Jeremiah. "I
wouldn't think of deserting to the Chaldeans." 15 The police were furious
with Jeremiah. They beat him up and threw him into jail in the house of
Jonathan the secretary of state. (They were using the house for a prison cell.)
16 So Jeremiah entered an underground cell in a cistern turned into a dungeon.
He stayed there a long time. 17 Later King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to
him. The king questioned him privately, "Is there a Message from
God?" "There certainly is," said Jeremiah. "You're going to
be turned over to the king of Babylon." 18 Jeremiah continued speaking to
King Zedekiah: "Can you tell me why you threw me into prison? What crime
did I commit against you or your officials or this people? 19 And tell me,
whatever has become of your prophets who preached all those sermons saying that
the king of Babylon would never attack you or this land? 20 Listen to me,
please, my master - my king! Please don't send me back to that dungeon in the
house of Jonathan the secretary. I'll die there!" 21 So King Zedekiah
ordered that Jeremiah be assigned to the courtyard of the palace guards. He was
given a loaf of bread from Bakers' Alley every day until all the bread in the
city was gone. And that's where Jeremiah remained - in the courtyard of the
palace guards.
Jeremiah 38 (The
Message)
1 Shaphatiah son of Mattan,
Gedaliah son of Pashur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malkijah
heard what Jeremiah was telling the people, namely: 2 "This is God's
Message: 'Whoever stays in this town will die - will be killed or starve to
death or get sick and die. But those who go over to the Babylonians will save
their necks and live.' 3 "And, God's sure Word: 'This city is destined to
fall to the army of the king of Babylon. He's going to take it over.'" 4
These officials told the king, "Please, kill this man. He's got to go!
He's ruining the resolve of the soldiers who are still left in the city, as
well as the people themselves, by spreading these words. This man isn't looking
after the good of this people. He's trying to ruin us!" 5 King Zedekiah
caved in: "If you say so. Go ahead, handle it your way. You're too much
for me." 6 So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of
Malkijah the king's son that was in the courtyard of the palace guard. They
lowered him down with ropes. There wasn't any water in the cistern, only mud.
Jeremiah sank into the mud. 7 Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, a court official
assigned to the royal palace, heard that they had thrown Jeremiah into the
cistern. While the king was holding court in the Benjamin Gate, 8 Ebed-melek
went immediately from the palace to the king and said, 9 "My master, O
king - these men are committing a great crime in what they're doing, throwing
Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern and leaving him there to starve. He's as
good as dead. There isn't a scrap of bread left in the city." 10 So the
king ordered Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, "Get three men and pull Jeremiah
the prophet out of the cistern before he dies." 11 Ebed-melek got three
men and went to the palace wardrobe and got some scraps of old clothing, which
they tied together and lowered down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12
Ebed-melek the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, "Put these scraps of old
clothing under your armpits and around the ropes." Jeremiah did what he
said. 13 And so they pulled Jeremiah up out of the cistern by the ropes. But he
was still confined in the courtyard of the palace guard. 14 Later, King
Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third
entrance of the Temple of God. The king said to Jeremiah, "I'm going to
ask you something. Don't hold anything back from me." 15 Jeremiah said,
"If I told you the whole truth, you'd kill me. And no matter what I said,
you wouldn't pay any attention anyway." 16 Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah
right there, but in secret, "As sure as God lives, who gives us life, I
won't kill you, nor will I turn you over to the men who are trying to kill
you." 17 So Jeremiah told Zedekiah, "This is the Message from God,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: 'If you will turn yourself over to
the generals of the king of Babylon, you will live, this city won't be burned
down, and your family will live. 18 But if you don't turn yourself over to the
generals of the king of Babylon, this city will go into the hands of the
Chaldeans and they'll burn it down. And don't for a minute think there's any
escape for you.'" 19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "But I'm afraid
of the Judeans who have already deserted to the Chaldeans. If they get hold of
me, they'll rough me up good." 20 Jeremiah assured him, "They won't
get hold of you. Listen, please. Listen to God's voice. I'm telling you this
for your own good so that you'll live. 21 But if you refuse to turn yourself
over, this is what God has shown me will happen: 22 Picture this in your mind -
all the women still left in the palace of the king of Judah, led out to the
officers of the king of Babylon, and as they're led out they are saying:
"'They lied to you and did you in, those so-called friends of yours; And
now you're stuck, about knee-deep in mud, and your "friends," where
are they now?' 23 "They'll take all your wives and children and give them
to the Chaldeans. And you, don't think you'll get out of this - the king of
Babylon will seize you and then burn this city to the ground." 24 Zedekiah
said to Jeremiah, "Don't let anyone know of this conversation, if you know
what's good for you. 25 If the government officials get wind that I've been
talking with you, they may come and say, 'Tell us what went on between you and
the king, what you said and what he said. Hold nothing back and we won't kill
you.' 26 If this happens, tell them, 'I presented my case to the king so that
he wouldn't send me back to the dungeon of Jonathan to die there.'" 27 And
sure enough, all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him. He responded as
the king had instructed. So they quit asking. No one had overheard the
conversation 28 Jeremiah lived in the courtyard of the palace guards until the
day that Jerusalem was captured.
Jeremiah 39 (The
Message)
1 In the ninth year and tenth
month of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his
entire army and laid siege to Jerusalem. 2 In the eleventh year and fourth
month, on the ninth day of Zedekiah's reign, they broke through into the city.
3 All the officers of the king of Babylon came and set themselves up as a
ruling council from the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Simmagar, Nebushazban
the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, along with all the other officials of
the king of Babylon. 4 When Zedekiah king of Judah and his remaining soldiers
saw this, they ran for their lives. They slipped out at night on a path in the
king's garden through the gate between two walls and headed for the wilderness,
toward the Jordan Valley. 5 The Babylonian army chased them and caught Zedekiah
in the wilderness of Jericho. They seized him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon at Riblah in the country of Hamath. Nebuchadnezzar decided his
fate. 6 The king of Babylon killed all the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah right
before his eyes and then killed all the nobles of Judah. 7 After Zedekiah had
seen the slaughter, Nebuchadnezzar blinded him, chained him up, and then took
him off to Babylon. 8 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal palace,
the Temple, and all the homes of the people. They leveled the walls of
Jerusalem. 9 Nebuzaradan, commander of the king's bodyguard, rounded up
everyone left in the city, along with those who had surrendered to him, and
herded them off to exile in Babylon. 10 He didn't bother taking the few poor
people who had nothing. He left them in the land of Judah to eke out a living
as best they could in the vineyards and fields. 11 Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon gave Nebuzaradan captain of the king's bodyguard special orders
regarding Jeremiah: 12 "Look out for him. Make sure nothing bad happens to
him. Give him anything he wants." 13 So Nebuzaradan, chief of the king's
bodyguard, along with Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and
all the chief officers of the king of Babylon, 14 sent for Jeremiah, taking him
from the courtyard of the royal guards and putting him under the care of
Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be taken home. And so he was
able to live with the people. 15 Earlier, while Jeremiah was still in custody
in the courtyard of the royal guards, God's Message came to him: 16 "Go
and speak with Ebed-melek the Ethiopian. Tell him, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the
God of Israel, says, Listen carefully: I will do exactly what I said I would do
to this city - bad news, not good news. When it happens, you will be there to
see it. 17 But I'll deliver you on that doomsday. You won't be handed over to
those men whom you have good reason to fear. 18 Yes, I'll most certainly save
you. You won't be killed. You'll walk out of there safe and sound because you
trusted me.'" God's Decree.
Jeremiah 40 (The
Message)
1 God's Message to Jeremiah
after Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard set him free at Ramah. When
Nebuzaradan came upon him, he was in chains, along with all the other captives
from Jerusalem and Judah who were being herded off to exile in Babylon. 2 The
captain of the bodyguard singled out Jeremiah and said to him, "Your God
pronounced doom on this place. 3 God came and did what he had warned he'd do
because you all sinned against God and wouldn't do what he told you. So now
you're all suffering the consequences. 4 "But today, Jeremiah, I'm setting
you free, taking the chains off your hands. If you'd like to come to Babylon
with me, come along. I'll take good care of you. But if you don't want to come
to Babylon with me, that's just fine, too. Look, the whole land stretches out
before you. Do what you like. Go and live wherever you wish. 5 If you want to
stay home, go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. The king of
Babylon made him governor of the cities of Judah. Stay with him and your
people. Or go wherever you'd like. It's up to you." The captain of the
bodyguard gave him food for the journey and a parting gift, and sent him off. 6
Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and made his home with him
and the people who were left behind in the land. Take Care of the Land 7 When
the army leaders and their men, who had been hiding out in the fields, heard
that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor of
the land, putting him in charge of the men, women, and children of the poorest
of the poor who hadn't been taken off to exile in Babylon, 8 they came to
Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of
Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and
Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, accompanied by their men. 9 Gedaliah son of
Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, promised them and their men, "You have nothing
to fear from the Chaldean officials. Stay here on the land. Be subject to the
king of Babylon. You'll get along just fine. 10 "My job is to stay here in
Mizpah and be your advocate before the Chaldeans when they show up. Your job is
to take care of the land: Make wine, harvest the summer fruits, press olive
oil. Store it all in pottery jugs and settle into the towns that you have taken
over." 11 The Judeans who had escaped to Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other
countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and
made Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, governor over them. 12 They all
started coming back to Judah from all the places where they'd been scattered.
They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah and went to work gathering in a
huge supply of wine and summer fruits. 13 One day Johanan son of Kareah and all
the officers of the army who had been hiding out in the backcountry came to
Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and told him, "You know, don't you, that Baaliss
king of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?" But Gedaliah
son of Ahikam didn't believe them. 15 Then Johanan son of Kareah took Gedaliah
aside privately in Mizpah: "Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah.
No one needs to know about it. Why should we let him kill you and plunge the
land into anarchy? Why let everyone you've taken care of be scattered and
what's left of Judah destroyed?" 16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam told
Johanan son of Kareah, "Don't do it. I forbid it. You're spreading a false
rumor about Ishmael."
Jeremiah 41 (The
Message)
1 But in the seventh month,
Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, came. He had royal blood in his
veins and had been one of the king's high-ranking officers. He paid a visit to
Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah with ten of his men. As they were eating
together, 2 Ishmael and his ten men jumped to their feet and knocked Gedaliah
down and killed him, killed the man the king of Babylon had appointed governor
of the land. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah in
Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were stationed there. 4 On the
second day after the murder of Gedaliah - no one yet knew of it - 5 men arrived
from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, eighty of them, with their beards shaved,
their clothing ripped, and gashes on their bodies. They were pilgrims carrying
grain offerings and incense on their way to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem.
6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to welcome them, weeping ostentatiously.
When he greeted them he invited them in: "Come and meet Gedaliah son of
Ahikam." 7 But as soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael son of
Nethaniah and his henchmen slaughtered the pilgrims and dumped the bodies in a
cistern. 8 Ten of the men talked their way out of the massacre. They bargained
with Ishmael, "Don't kill us. We have a hidden store of wheat, barley,
olive oil, and honey out in the fields." So he held back and didn't kill
them with their fellow pilgrims. 9 Ishmael's reason for dumping the bodies into
a cistern was to cover up the earlier murder of Gedaliah. The cistern had been
built by king Asa as a defense against Baasha king of Israel. This was the
cistern that Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled with the slaughtered men. 10
Ishmael then took everyone else in Mizpah, including the king's daughters
entrusted to the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam by Nebuzaradan the captain of
the bodyguard, as prisoners. Rounding up the prisoners, Ishmael son of
Nethaniah proceeded to take them over into the country of Ammon. 11 Johanan son
of Kareah and all the army officers with him heard about the atrocities
committed by Ishmael son of Nethaniah. 12 They set off at once after Ishmael
son of Nethaniah. They found him at the large pool at Gibeon. 13 When all the
prisoners from Mizpah who had been taken by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah
and the army officers with him, they couldn't believe their eyes. They were so
happy! 14 They all rallied around Johanan son of Kareah and headed back home.
15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah got away, escaping from Johanan with eight men
into the land of Ammon. 16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers
with him gathered together what was left of the people whom Ishmael son of
Nethaniah had taken prisoner from Mizpah after the murder of Gedaliah son of
Ahikam - men, women, children, eunuchs - and brought them back from Gibeon. 17
They set out at once for Egypt to get away from the Chaldeans, stopping on the
way at Geruth-kimham near Bethlehem. 18 They were afraid of what the Chaldeans
might do in retaliation of Ishmael son of Nethaniah's murder of Gedaliah son of
Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor of the country.
Jeremiah 42 (The
Message)
1 All the army officers, led
by Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, accompanied by all the
people, small and great, 2 came to Jeremiah the prophet and said, "We have
a request. Please listen. Pray to your God for us, what's left of us. You can
see for yourself how few we are! 3 Pray that your God will tell us the way we
should go and what we should do." 4 Jeremiah the prophet said, "I
hear your request. And I will pray to your God as you have asked. Whatever God
says, I'll pass on to you. I'll tell you everything, holding nothing back."
5 They said to Jeremiah, "Let God be our witness, a true and faithful
witness against us, if we don't do everything that your God directs you to tell
us. 6 Whether we like it or not, we'll do it. We'll obey whatever our God tells
us. Yes, count on us. We'll do it." 7 Ten days later God's Message came to
Jeremiah. 8 He called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers
with him, including all the people, regardless of how much clout they had. 9 He
then spoke: "This is the Message from God, the God of Israel, to whom you
sent me to present your prayer. 10 He says, 'If you are ready to stick it out
in this land, I will build you up and not drag you down, I will plant you and
not pull you up like a weed. I feel deep compassion on account of the doom I have
visited on you. 11 You don't have to fear the king of Babylon. Your fears are
for nothing. I'm on your side, ready to save and deliver you from anything he
might do. 12 I'll pour mercy on you. What's more, he will show you mercy! He'll
let you come back to your very own land.' 13 "But do not say, 'We're not
staying around this place,' refusing to obey the command of your God 14 and
saying instead, 'No! We're off to Egypt, where things are peaceful - no wars,
no attacking armies, plenty of food. We're going to live there.' If 15 what's
left of Judah is headed down that road, then listen to God's Message. This is
what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: 'If you have determined to go to Egypt and
make that your home, 16 then the very wars you fear will catch up with you in
Egypt and the starvation you dread will track you down in Egypt. You'll die
there! 17 Every last one of you who is determined to go to Egypt and make it
your home will either be killed, starve, or get sick and die. No survivors, not
one! No one will escape the doom that I'll bring upon you.' 18 "This is
the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: 'In the same way
that I swept the citizens of Jerusalem away with my anger and wrath, I'll do
the same thing all over again in Egypt. You'll end up being cursed, reviled,
ridiculed, and mocked. And you'll never see your homeland again. 19 '"God
has plainly told you, you leftovers from Judah, 'Don't go to Egypt.' Could
anything be plainer? I warn you this day 20 that you are living out a fantasy.
You're making a fatal mistake. "Didn't you just now send me to your God,
saying, 'Pray for us to our God. Tell us everything that God says and we'll do
it all'? 21 "Well, now I've told you, told you everything he said, and you
haven't obeyed a word of it, not a single word of what your God sent me to tell
you. 22 So now let me tell you what will happen next: You'll be killed, you'll
starve to death, you'll get sick and die in the wonderful country where you've
determined to go and live."
Jeremiah 43 (The
Message)
1 When Jeremiah finished
telling all the people the whole Message that their God had sent him to give
them - all these words - 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah,
backed by all the self-important men, said to Jeremiah, "Liar! Our God
never sent you with this message telling us not to go to Egypt and live there.
3 Baruch son of Neriah is behind this. He has turned you against us. He's
playing into the hands of the Babylonians so we'll either end up being killed
or taken off to exile in Babylon." 4 Johanan son of Kareah and the army
officers, and the people along with them, wouldn't listen to God's Message that
they stay in the land of Judah and live there. 5 Johanan son of Kareah and the
army officers gathered up everyone who was left from Judah, who had come back
after being scattered all over the place - 6 the men, women, and children, the
king's daughters, all the people that Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had
left in the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and last but
not least, Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 They entered the
land of Egypt in total disobedience of God's Message and arrived at the city of
Tahpanhes. 8 While in Tahpanhes, God's Word came to Jeremiah: 9 "Pick up
some large stones and cover them with mortar in the vicinity of the pavement
that leads up to the building set aside for Pharaoh's use in Tahpanhes. Make
sure some of the men of Judah are watching. 10 "Then address them: 'This
is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: Be on the lookout! I'm sending for and
bringing Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon - my servant, mind you! - and he'll
set up his throne on these very stones that I've had buried here and he'll
spread out his canopy over them. 11 He'll come and absolutely smash Egypt,
sending each to his assigned fate: death, exile, slaughter. 12 He'll burn down
the temples of Egypt's gods. He'll either burn up the gods or haul them off as
booty. Like a shepherd who picks lice from his robes, he'll pick Egypt clean.
And then he'll walk away without a hand being laid on him. 13 He'll shatter the
sacred obelisks at Egypt's House of the Sun and make a huge bonfire of the
temples of Egypt's gods.'"
Jeremiah 44 (The
Message)
1 The Message that Jeremiah
received for all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, who had their
homes in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and the land of Pathros: 2 "This is what
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: 'You saw with your own eyes
the terrible doom that I brought down on Jerusalem and the Judean cities. Look
at what's left: ghost towns of rubble and smoking ruins, 3 and all because they
took up with evil ways, making me angry by going off to offer sacrifices and
worship the latest in gods - no-gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors
knew the first thing about. 4 Morning after morning and long into the night I
kept after you, sending you all those prophets, my servants, begging you,
"Please, please - don't do this, don't fool around in this loathsome
gutter of gods that I hate with a passion." 5 But do you think anyone paid
the least bit of attention or repented of evil or quit offering sacrifices to
the no-gods? Not one. 6 So I let loose with my anger, a firestorm of wrath in
the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and left them in ruins and
wasted. And they're still in ruins and wasted.' 7 "This is the Message of
God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: 'So why are you ruining your
lives by amputating yourselves - man, woman, child, and baby - from the life of
Judah, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected? 8 And why do you deliberately
make me angry by what you do, offering sacrifices to these no-gods in the land
of Egypt where you've come to live? You'll only destroy yourselves and make
yourselves an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the
nations of the earth. 9 "'Have you so soon forgotten the evil lives of
your ancestors, the evil lives of the kings of Judah and their wives, to say
nothing of your own evil lives, you and your wives, the evil you flaunted in
the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? 10 And to this day, there's not
a trace of remorse, not a sign of reverence, nobody caring about living by what
I tell them or following my instructions that I've set out so plainly before
you and your parents! 11 So this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies decrees: 12
I'm going to take what's left of Judah, those who have decided to go to Egypt
and live there, and finish them off. In Egypt they will either be killed or
starve to death. The same fate will fall upon both the obscure and the
important. Regardless of their status, they will either be killed or starve.
You'll end up cursed, reviled, ridiculed, and mocked. 13 I'll give those who
are in Egypt the same medicine I gave those in Jerusalem: massacre, starvation,
and disease. 14 None of those who managed to get out of Judah alive and get
away to Egypt are going to make it back to the Judah for which they're so
homesick. None will make it back, except maybe a few fugitives.'" Making
Goddess Cookies 15 The men who knew that their wives had been burning
sacrifices to the no-gods, joined by a large crowd of women, along with
virtually everyone living in Pathros of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16
"We're having nothing to do with what you tell us is God's Message. 17
We're going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and
pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our
ancestors, our kings and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the
streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. We had a good life then - lots of
food, rising standard of living, and no bad luck. 18 But the moment we quit
sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything
fell apart. We've had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since. 19
" And then the women chimed in: "Yes! Absolutely! We're going to keep
at it, offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to
her. Aren't our husbands behind us? They like it that we make goddess cookies
and pour out our offerings to her." 20 Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting
the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said,
21 "The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government
officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah
and the streets of Jerusalem - don't you think God noticed? He noticed, all
right. 22 And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn't take your evil behavior and
your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley,
a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. 23 This doom
has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you
sinned against God! You refused to listen to him, wouldn't live the way he
directed, ignored the covenant conditions." 24 Jeremiah kept going, but
now zeroed in on the women: "Listen, all you who are from Judah and living
in Egypt - please, listen to God's Word. 25 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of
Israel, says: 'You women! You said it and then you did it. You said,
"We're going to keep the vows we made to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven
and pour out offerings to her, and nobody's going to stop us!"' 26 But
also listen to what God has to say about it, all you who are from Judah but
live in Egypt: 'I swear by my great name, backed by everything I am - this is
God speaking! - that never again shall my name be used in vows, such as
"As sure as the Master, God, lives!" by anyone in the whole country
of Egypt. 27 I've targeted each one of you for doom. The good is gone for good.
28 The few who get out of Egypt alive and back to Judah will be very few,
hardly worth counting. Then that ragtag bunch that left Judah to live in Egypt
will know who had the last word. 29 "'And this will be the evidence: I
will bring punishment right here, and by this you'll know that the decrees of
doom against you are the real thing. 30 Watch for this sign of doom: I will
give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill
him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who
was after him.
Jeremiah 45 (The
Message)
1 This is what Jeremiah told
Baruch one day in the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign as he was taking
dictation from the prophet: 2 "These are the words of God, the God of
Israel, to you, Baruch. 3 You say, 'These are bad times for me! It's one thing
after another. God is piling on the pain. I'm worn out and there's no end in
sight.' 4 "But God says, 'Look around. What I've built I'm about to wreck,
and what I've planted I'm about to rip up. 5 And I'm doing it everywhere - all
over the whole earth! So forget about making any big plans for yourself. Things
are going to get worse before they get better. But don't worry. I'll keep you
alive through the whole business.'"
Jeremiah 46 (The
Message)
1 God's Messages through the
prophet Jeremiah regarding the godless nations. 2 The Message to Egypt and the
army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the time it was defeated by
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon while camped at Carchemish on the Euphrates
River in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah: 3
"'Present arms! March to the front! 4 Harness the horses! Up in the
saddles! Battle formation! Helmets on, spears sharpened, armor in place!' 5 But
what's this I see? They're scared out of their wits! They break ranks and run
for cover. Their soldiers panic. They run this way and that, stampeding
blindly. It's total chaos, total confusion, danger everywhere!" God's
Decree. 6 "The swiftest runners won't get away, the strongest soldiers
won't escape. In the north country, along the River Euphrates, they'll stagger,
stumble, and fall. 7 "Who is this like the Nile in flood? like its streams
torrential? 8 Why, it's Egypt like the Nile in flood, like its streams
torrential, Saying, 'I'll take over the world. I'll wipe out cities and
peoples.' 9 Run, horses! Roll, chariots! Advance, soldiers from Cush and Put
with your shields, Soldiers from Lud, experts with bow and arrow. 10 "But
it's not your day. It's the Master's, me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies - the day
when I have it out with my enemies, The day when Sword puts an end to my
enemies, when Sword exacts vengeance. I, the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
will pile them on an altar - a huge sacrifice! - In the great north country,
along the mighty Euphrates. 11 "Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt, climb into the
mountains of Gilead, get healing balm. You will vainly collect medicines, for
nothing will be able to cure what ails you. 12 The whole world will hear your
anguished cries. Your wails fill the earth, As soldier falls against soldier
and they all go down in a heap." Egypt's Army Slithers like a Snake 13 The
Message that God gave to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon was on his way to attack Egypt: 14 "Tell Egypt, alert Migdol, post
warnings in Noph and Tahpanhes: 'Wake up! Be prepared! War's coming!' 15
"Why will your bull-god Apis run off? Because God will drive him off. 16
Your ragtag army will fall to pieces. The word is passing through the ranks,
'Let's get out of here while we still can. Let's head for home and save our
skins.' 17 When they get home they'll nickname Pharaoh 'Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.' 18
As sure as I am the living God" - the King's Decree,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies is his name - "A conqueror is coming: like Tabor,
singular among mountains; like Carmel, jutting up from the sea! 19 So pack your
bags for exile, you coddled daughters of Egypt, For Memphis will soon be
nothing, a vacant lot grown over with weeds. 20 "Too bad, Egypt, a
beautiful sleek heifer attacked by a horsefly from the north! 21 All her hired
soldiers are stationed to defend her - like well-fed calves they are. But when
their lives are on the line, they'll run off, cowards every one. When the going
gets tough, they'll take the easy way out. 22 "Egypt will slither and hiss
like a snake as the enemy army comes in force. They will rush in, swinging axes
like lumberjacks cutting down trees. 23 They'll level the country" - God's
Decree - "nothing and no one standing for as far as you can see. The
invaders will be a swarm of locusts, innumerable, past counting. 24 Daughter
Egypt will be ravished, raped by vandals from the north." 25
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, "Watch out when I visit
doom on the god Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, Pharaoh and those
who trust in him. 26 I'll turn them over to those who are out to kill them, to
Nebuchadnezzar and his military. Egypt will be set back a thousand years.
Eventually people will live there again." God's Decree. 27 But you, dear
Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear. Israel, there's no need to worry.
Look up! I'll save you from that far country, I'll get your children out of the
land of exile. Things are going to be normal again for Jacob, safe and secure,
smooth sailing. 28 Yes, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear. Depend
on it, I'm on your side. I'll finish off all the godless nations among which
I've scattered you, But I won't finish you off. I have more work left to do on you.
I'll punish you, but fairly. No, I'm not finished with you yet."
Jeremiah 47 (The
Message)
1 God's Message to the
prophet Jeremiah regarding the Philistines just before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. 2
This is what God says: "Look out! Water will rise in the north country,
swelling like a river in flood. The torrent will flood the land, washing away
city and citizen. Men and women will scream in terror, wails from every door
and window, 3 As the thunder from the hooves of the horses will be heard, the
clatter of chariots, the banging of wheels. Fathers, paralyzed by fear, won't
even grab up their babies 4 Because it will be doomsday for Philistines, one
and all, no hope of help for Tyre and Sidon. God will finish off the
Philistines, what's left of those from the island of Crete. 5 Gaza will be
shaved bald as an egg, Ashkelon struck dumb as a post. You're on your last
legs. How long will you keep flailing? 6 "Oh, Sword of God, how long will
you keep this up? Return to your scabbard. Haven't you had enough? Can't you
call it quits? 7 "But how can it quit when I, God, command the action?
I've ordered it to cut down Ashkelon and the seacoast."
Jeremiah 48 (The
Message)
1 The Message on Moab from
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: "Doom to Nebo! Leveled to the
ground! Kiriathaim demeaned and defeated, The mighty fortress reduced to a
molehill, 2 Moab's glory - dust and ashes. Conspirators plot Heshbon's doom:
'Come, let's wipe Moab off the map.' Dungface Dimon will loudly lament, as
killing follows killing. 3 Listen! A cry out of Horonaim: 'Disaster - doom and
more doom!' 4 Moab will be shattered. Her cries will be heard clear down in
Zoar. 5 Up the ascent of Luhith climbers weep, And down the descent from
Horonaim, cries of loss and devastation. 6 Oh, run for your lives! Get out
while you can! Survive by your wits in the wild! 7 You trusted in thick walls
and big money, yes? But it won't help you now. Your big god Chemosh will be
hauled off, his priests and managers with him. 8 A wrecker will wreck every city.
Not a city will survive. The valley fields will be ruined, the plateau pastures
destroyed, just as I told you. 9 Cover the land of Moab with salt. Make sure
nothing ever grows here again. Her towns will all be ghost towns. Nobody will
ever live here again. 10 Sloppy work in God's name is cursed, and cursed all
halfhearted use of the sword. 11 "Moab has always taken it easy - lazy as
a dog in the sun, Never had to work for a living, never faced any trouble,
Never had to grow up, never once worked up a sweat. 12 But those days are a
thing of the past. I'll put him to work at hard labor. That will wake him up to
the world of hard knocks. That will smash his illusions. 13 Moab will be as
ashamed of god Chemosh as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods, the calf-gods
she thought were so great. 14 For how long do you think you'll be saying,
'We're tough. We can beat anyone anywhere'? 15 The destruction of Moab has
already begun. Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now." The
King's Decree - his full name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies. 16 "Yes. Moab's
doom is on countdown, disaster targeted and launched. 17 Weep for Moab, friends
and neighbors, all who know how famous he's been. Lament, 'His mighty scepter
snapped in two like a toothpick, that magnificent royal staff!' 18 "Come
down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon. Sit in dog dung. The
destroyer of Moab will come against you. He'll wreck your safe, secure houses.
19 Stand on the roadside, pampered women of Aroer. Interview the refugees who
are running away. Ask them, 'What's happened? And why?' 20 Moab will be an
embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place. Wail and weep your eyes out!
Tell the bad news along the Arnon river. Tell the world that Moab is no more.
21 "My judgment will come to the plateau cities: on Holon, Jahzah, and
Mephaath; 22 on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; 23 on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul,
and Beth-meon; 24 on Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of Moab, far and near.
25 "Moab's link to power is severed. Moab's arm is broken." God's
Decree. The Sheer Nothingness of Moab 26 "Turn Moab into a drunken sot,
drunk on the wine of my wrath, a dung-faced drunk, filling the country with
vomit - Moab a falling-down drunk, a joke in bad taste. 27 Wasn't it you, Moab,
who made crude jokes over Israel? And when they were caught in bad company,
didn't you cluck and gossip and snicker? 28 "Leave town! Leave! Look for a
home in the cliffs, you who grew up in Moab. Try living like a dove who nests
high in the river gorge. 29 "We've all heard of Moab's pride, that
legendary pride, The strutting, bullying, puffed-up pride, the insufferable
arrogance. 30 I know" - God's Decree - "his rooster-crowing pride,
the inflated claims, the sheer nothingness of Moab. 31 But I will weep for Moab,
yes, I will mourn for the people of Moab. I will even mourn for the people of
Kir-heres. 32 I'll weep for the grapevines of Sibmah and join Jazer in her
weeping - Grapevines that once reached the Dead Sea with tendrils as far as
Jazer. Your summer fruit and your bursting grapes will be looted by brutal
plunderers, 33 Lush Moab stripped of song and laughter. And yes, I'll shut down
the winepresses, stop all the shouts and hurrahs of harvest. 34 "Heshbon
and Elealeh will cry out, and the people in Jahaz will hear the cries. They
will hear them all the way from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even
the waters of Nimrim will be dried up. 35 "I will put a stop in Moab"
- God's Decree - "to all hiking to the high places to offer burnt
sacrifices to the gods. 36 "My heart moans for Moab, for the men of
Kir-heres, like soft flute sounds carried by the wind. They've lost it all.
They've got nothing. 37 "Everywhere you look are signs of mourning: heads
shaved, beards cut, Hands scratched and bleeding, clothes ripped and torn. 38
"In every house in Moab there'll be loud lamentation, on every street in
Moab, loud lamentation. As with a pottery jug that no one wants, I'll smash
Moab to bits." God's Decree. 39 "Moab ruined! Moab shamed and ashamed
to be seen! Moab a cruel joke! The stark horror of Moab!" 40 God's verdict
on Moab. Indeed! "Look! An eagle is about to swoop down and spread its
wings over Moab. 41 The towns will be captured, the fortresses taken. Brave
warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth
to a baby. 42 There'll be nothing left of Moab, nothing at all, because of his
defiant arrogance against me. 43 "Terror and pit and trap are what you
have facing you, Moab." God's Decree. 44 "A man running in terror
will fall into a trap. A man climbing out of a pit will be caught in a trap.
This is my agenda for Moab on doomsday." God's Decree. 45 "On the
outskirts of Heshbon, refugees will pull up short, worn out. Fire will flame
high from Heshbon, a firestorm raging from the capital of Sihon's kingdom. It
will burn off Moab's eyebrows, will scorch the skull of the braggarts. 46
That's all for you, Moab! You worshipers of Chemosh will be finished off! Your
sons will be trucked off to prison camps; your daughters will be herded into
exile. 47 But yet there's a day that's coming when I'll put things right in
Moab. "For now, that's the judgment on Moab."
Jeremiah 49 (The
Message)
1 God's Message on the
Ammonites: "Doesn't Israel have any children, no one to step into her
inheritance? So why is the god Milcom taking over Gad's land, his followers
moving into its towns? 2 But not for long! The time's coming" - God's
Decree - "When I'll fill the ears of Rabbah, Ammon's big city, with battle
cries. She'll end up a pile of rubble, all her towns burned to the ground. Then
Israel will kick out the invaders. I, God, say so, and it will be so. 3 Wail
Heshbon, Ai is in ruins. Villages of Rabbah, wring your hands! Dress in
mourning, weep buckets of tears. Go into hysterics, run around in circles! Your
god Milcom will be hauled off to exile, and all his priests and managers right
with him. 4 Why do you brag of your once-famous strength? You're a broken-down
has-been, a castoff Who fondles his trophies and dreams of glory days and
vainly thinks, 'No one can lay a hand on me.' 5 Well, think again. I'll face
you with terror from all sides." Word of the Master,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies. "You'll be stampeded headlong, with no one to
round up the runaways. 6 Still, the time will come when I will make things
right with Ammon." God's Decree. Strutting Across the Stage of History 7
The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom: "Is there nobody wise left
in famous Teman? no one with a sense of reality? Has their wisdom gone wormy
and rotten? 8 Run for your lives! Get out while you can! Find a good place to
hide, you who live in Dedan! I'm bringing doom to Esau. It's time to settle
accounts. 9 When harvesters work your fields, don't they leave gleanings? When
burglars break into your house, don't they take only what they want? 10 But
I'll strip Esau clean. I'll search out every nook and cranny. I'll destroy
everything connected with him, children and relatives and neighbors. There'll
be no one left who will be able to say, 11 'I'll take care of your orphans.
Your widows can depend on me.'" 12 Indeed. God says, "I tell you, if
there are people who have to drink the cup of God's wrath even though they
don't deserve it, why would you think you'd get off? You won't get off. You'll
drink it. Oh yes, you'll drink every drop. 13 And as for Bozrah, your capital,
I swear by all that I am" - God's Decree - "that that city will end
up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity - and all her
daughter-cities with her." 14 I've just heard the latest from God. He's
sent an envoy to the nations: "Muster your troops and attack Edom. Present
arms! Go to war!" 15 "Ah, Edom, I'm dropping you to last place among nations,
the bottom of the heap, kicked around. 16 You think you're so great - strutting
across the stage of history, Living high in the impregnable rocks, acting like
king of the mountain. You think you're above it all, don't you, like an eagle
in its aerie? Well, you're headed for a fall. I'll bring you crashing to the
ground." God's Decree. 17 "Edom will end up trash. Stinking,
despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. 18 She'll join Sodom and
Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history." God says so.
"No one will live there, no mortal soul move in there. 19 "Watch
this: Like a lion coming up from the thick jungle of the Jordan Looking for
prey in the mountain pastures, I will come upon Edom and pounce. I'll take my
pick of the flock - and who's to stop me? The shepherds of Edom are helpless
before me." 20 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against
Edom, the blueprint of what he's prepared for those who live in Teman:
"Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable - mere lambs and kids - will
be dragged off. Believe it or not, the flock in shock, helpless to help, will
watch it happen. 21 The very earth will shudder because of their cries, cries
of anguish heard at the distant Red Sea. 22 Look! An eagle soars, swoops down, spreads
its wings over Bozrah. Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to
fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby." The Blood Will Drain from the
Face of Damascus 23 The Message on Damascus: "Hamath and Arpad will be in
shock when they hear the bad news. Their hearts will melt in fear as they pace
back and forth in worry. 24 The blood will drain from the face of Damascus as
she turns to flee. Hysterical, she'll fall to pieces, disabled, like a woman in
childbirth. 25 And now how lonely - bereft, abandoned! The once famous city,
the once happy city. 26 Her bright young men dead in the streets, her brave
warriors silent as death. On that day" - Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
- 27 "I'll start a fire at the wall of Damascus that will burn down all of
Ben-hadad's forts." Find a Safe Place to Hide 28 The Message on Kedar and
the sheikdoms of Hazor who were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
This is God's Message: "On your feet! Attack Kedar! Plunder the Bedouin
nomads from the east. 29 Grab their blankets and pots and pans. Steal their
camels. Traumatize them, shouting, 'Terror! Death! Doom! Danger everywhere!' 30
Oh, run for your lives, You nomads from Hazor." God's Decree. "Find a
safe place to hide. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plans to wipe you out,
to go after you with a vengeance: 31 'After them,' he says. 'Go after these
relaxed nomads who live free and easy in the desert, Who live in the open with
no doors to lock, who live off by themselves.' 32 Their camels are there for
the taking, their herds and flocks, easy picking. I'll scatter them to the four
winds, these defenseless nomads on the fringes of the desert. I'll bring terror
from every direction. They won't know what hit them." God's Decree. 33
"Jackals will take over the camps of Hazor, camps abandoned to wind and
sand. No one will live there, no mortal soul move in there." The Winds
Will Blow Away Elam 34 God's Message to the prophet Jeremiah on Elam at the
outset of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. 35 This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies
says: "Watch this! I'll break Elam's bow, her weapon of choice, across my
knee. 36 Then I'll let four winds loose on Elam, winds from the four corners of
earth. I'll blow them away in all directions, landing homeless Elamites in every
country on earth. 37 They'll live in constant fear and terror among enemies who
want to kill them. I'll bring doom on them, my anger-fueled doom. I'll set
murderous hounds on their heels until there's nothing left of them. 38 And then
I'll set up my throne in Elam, having thrown out the king and his henchmen. 39
But the time will come when I make everything right for Elam again." God's
Decree.
Jeremiah 50 (The
Message)
1 The Message of God through
the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans: 2 "Get the word
out to the nations! Preach it! Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide:
Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame, god-Marduk exposed as a
fraud. All her god-idols shuffling in shame, all her play-gods exposed as cheap
frauds. 3 For a nation will come out of the north to attack her, reduce her
cities to rubble. Empty of life - no animals, no people - not a sound, not a
movement, not a breath. 4 "In those days, at that time" - God's
Decree - "the people of Israel will come, And the people of Judah with
them. Walking and weeping, they'll seek me, their God. 5 They'll ask directions
to Zion and set their faces toward Zion. They'll come and hold tight to God,
bound in a covenant eternal they'll never forget. 6 "My people were lost
sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains
where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of home,
couldn't remember where they came from. 7 Everyone who met them took advantage
of them. Their enemies had no qualms: 'Fair game' they said. 'They walked out
on God. They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.' 8
"But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Be rid of that Babylonian
country. On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don't you be led. Lead the way
home! 9 Do you see what I'm doing? I'm rallying a host of nations against
Babylon. They'll come out of the north, attack and take her. Oh, they know how
to fight, these armies. They never come home empty-handed. 10 Babylon is ripe
for picking! All her plunderers will fill their bellies!" God's Decree. 11
"You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn't you? You lived it
up, exploiting and using my people, Frisky calves romping in lush pastures,
wild stallions out having a good time! 12 Well, your mother would hardly be
proud of you. The woman who bore you wouldn't be pleased. Look at what's come
of you! A nothing nation! Rubble and garbage and weeds! 13 Emptied of life by
my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon
will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown. 14 Gang up on
Babylon! Pin her down! Throw everything you have against her. Hold nothing
back. Knock her flat. She's sinned - oh, how she's sinned, against me! 15 Shout
battle cries from every direction. All the fight has gone out of her. Her
defenses have been flattened, her walls smashed. 'Operation God's Vengeance.'
Pile on the vengeance! Do to her as she has done. Give her a good dose of her
own medicine! 16 Destroy her farms and farmers, ravage her fields, empty her
barns. And you captives, while the destruction rages, get out while the
getting's good, get out fast and run for home. 17 "Israel is a scattered
flock, hunted down by lions. The king of Assyria started the carnage. The king
of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Has completed the job, gnawing the bones
clean." 18 And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of
Israel, has to say: "Just watch! I'm bringing doom on the king of Babylon
and his land, the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria. 19 But Israel
I'll bring home to good pastures. He'll graze on the hills of Carmel and
Bashan, On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead. He will eat to his heart's
content. 20 In those days and at that time" - God's Decree - "they'll
look high and low for a sign of Israel's guilt - nothing; Search nook and
cranny for a trace of Judah's sin - nothing. These people that I've saved will
start out with a clean slate. 21 "Attack Merathaim, land of rebels! Go
after Pekod, country of doom! Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep." God's
Decree. "These are my orders. Do what I tell you. 22 "The thunderclap
of battle shakes the foundations! 23 The Hammer has been hammered, smashed and
splintered, Babylon pummeled beyond recognition. 24 I set out a trap and you
were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in
the steel grip of that trap! That's what you get for taking on God. 25 "I,
God, opened my arsenal. I brought out my weapons of wrath. The Master,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, has a job to do in Babylon. 26 Come at her from all
sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave
nothing! Leave no one! 27 Kill all her young turks. Send them to their doom!
Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday! The clock has finally run out on them. 28 And
here's a surprise: Runaways and escapees from Babylon Show up in Zion reporting
the news of God's vengeance, taking vengeance for my own Temple. 29 "Call
in the troops against Babylon, anyone who can shoot straight! Tighten the noose!
Leave no loopholes! Give her back as good as she gave, a dose of her own
medicine! Her brazen insolence is an outrage against God, The Holy of Israel.
30 And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets, her soldiers dead,
silent forever." God's Decree. 31 "Do you get it, Mister Pride? I'm
your enemy!" Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies. "Time's
run out on you: That's right: It's Doomsday. 32 Mister Pride will fall flat on
his face. No one will offer him a hand. I'll set his towns on fire. The fire
will spread wild through the country." 33 And here's more from
God-of-the-Angel-Armies: "The people of Israel are beaten down, the people
of Judah along with them. Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel. They
won't let go. 34 But the Rescuer is strong: God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Yes, I
will take their side, I'll come to their rescue. I'll soothe their land, but
rough up the people of Babylon. 35 "It's all-out war in Babylon" -
God's Decree - "total war against people, leaders, and the wise! 36 War to
the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all! War to the death on
her soldiers, cowards to a man! 37 War to the death on her hired killers,
gutless wonders! War to the death on her banks - looted! 38 War to the death on
her water supply - drained dry! A land of make-believe gods gone crazy -
hobgoblins! 39 The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions, night-owls
and vampire bats. No one will ever live there again. The land will reek with
the stench of death. 40 It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
the cities I did away with." God's Decree. "No one will live there
again. No one will again draw breath in that land, ever. 41 "And now,
watch this! People pouring out of the north, hordes of people, A mob of kings
stirred up from far-off places. 42 Flourishing deadly weapons, barbarians they
are, cruel and pitiless. Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers, they come
riding fierce stallions, In battle formation, ready to fight you, Daughter
Babylon! 43 Babylon's king hears them coming. He goes white as a ghost, limp as
a dishrag. Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight, like a
woman giving birth to a baby. 44 "And now watch this: Like a lion coming
up from the thick jungle of the Jordan, Looking for prey in the mountain
pastures, I'll take over and pounce. I'll take my pick of the flock - and who's
to stop me? All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me." 45 So,
listen to this plan that God has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what
he's prepared for dealing with Chaldea: Believe it or not, the young, the
vulnerable - mere lambs and kids - will be dragged off. Believe it or not, the
flock in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen. 46 When the shout goes up,
"Babylon's down!" the very earth will shudder at the sound. The news
will be heard all over the world.
Jeremiah 51 (The
Message)
1 There's more. God says
more: "Watch this: I'm whipping up A death-dealing hurricane against
Babylon - 'Hurricane Persia' - against all who live in that perverse land. 2
I'm sending a cleanup crew into Babylon. They'll clean the place out from top
to bottom. When they get through there'll be nothing left of her worth taking
or talking about. They won't miss a thing. A total and final Doomsday! 3 Fighters
will fight with everything they've got. It's no holds barred. They will spare
nothing and no one. It's final and wholesale destruction - the end! 4 Babylon
littered with the wounded, streets piled with corpses. 5 It turns out that
Israel and Judah are not widowed after all. As their God,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well, committed to them even
though They filled their land with sin against Israel's most Holy God. 6
"Get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Run for your lives! Save your necks!
Don't linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her as I pay her back for
her sins. 7 Babylon was a fancy gold chalice held in my hand, Filled with the
wine of my anger to make the whole world drunk. The nations drank the wine and
they've all gone crazy. 8 Babylon herself will stagger and crash, senseless in
a drunken stupor - tragic! Get anointing balm for her wound. Maybe she can be
cured." 9 "We did our best, but she can't be helped. Babylon is past
fixing. Give her up to her fate. Go home. The judgment on her will be vast, a
skyscraper-memorial of vengeance. Your Lifeline Is Cut 10 "God has set
everything right for us. Come! Let's tell the good news Back home in Zion.
Let's tell what our God did to set things right. 11 "Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers! God has stirred up the kings of the Medes, infecting them
with war fever: 'Destroy Babylon!' God's on the warpath. He's out to avenge his
Temple. 12 Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Station guards around the
clock. Bring in reinforcements. Set men in ambush. God will do what he planned,
what he said he'd do to the people of Babylon. 13 You have more water than you
need, you have more money than you need - But your life is over, your lifeline
cut." 14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn: "I'll fill this
place with soldiers. They'll swarm through here like locusts chanting victory
songs over you." 15 By his power he made earth. His wisdom gave shape to
the world. He crafted the cosmos. 16 He thunders and rain pours down. He sends
the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches the wind
from his warehouse. 17 Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish! god-makers
embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds, dead sticks -
deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. 18 They're nothing but stale smoke. When the
smoke clears, they're gone. 19 But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing; he
put the whole universe together, With special attention to Israel. His name?
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! They'll Sleep and Never Wake Up 20 God says,
"You, Babylon, are my hammer, my weapon of war. I'll use you to smash
godless nations, use you to knock kingdoms to bits. 21 I'll use you to smash
horse and rider, use you to smash chariot and driver. 22 I'll use you to smash
man and woman, use you to smash the old man and the boy. I'll use you to smash
the young man and young woman, 23 use you to smash shepherd and sheep. I'll use
you to smash farmer and yoked oxen, use you to smash governors and senators. 24
"Judeans, you'll see it with your own eyes. I'll pay Babylon and all the
Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion." God's Decree. 25
"I'm your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer, you ravager of the whole earth.
I'll reach out, I'll take you in my hand, and I'll crush you till there's no
mountain left. I'll turn you into a gravel pit - 26 no more cornerstones cut
from you, No more foundation stones quarried from you! Nothing left of you but
gravel." 27 "Raise the signal in the land, blow the shofar-trumpet
for the nations. Consecrate the nations for holy work against her. Call
kingdoms into service against her. Enlist Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint
a field marshal against her, and round up horses, locust hordes of horses! 28
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her - the king of the Medes, his
leaders and people. 29 "The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain,
terrorized by my plans against Babylon, Plans to turn the country of Babylon
into a lifeless moonscape - a wasteland. 30 Babylon's soldiers have quit fighting.
They hide out in ruins and caves - Cowards who've given up without a fight,
exposed as cowering milksops. Babylon's houses are going up in flames, the city
gates torn off their hinges. 31 Runner after runner comes racing in, each on
the heels of the last, Bringing reports to the king of Babylon that his city is
a lost cause. 32 The fords of the rivers are all taken. Wildfire rages through
the swamp grass. Soldiers desert left and right. 33 I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
said it would happen: 'Daughter Babylon is a threshing floor at threshing time.
Soon, oh very soon, her harvest will come and then the chaff will fly!' 34
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon chewed up my people and spit out the
bones. He wiped his dish clean, pushed back his chair, and belched - a huge
gluttonous belch. 35 Lady Zion says, 'The brutality done to me be done to
Babylon!' And Jerusalem says, 'The blood spilled from me be charged to the
Chaldeans!' 36 Then I, God, step in and say, 'I'm on your side, taking up your
cause. I'm your Avenger. You'll get your revenge. I'll dry up her rivers, plug
up her springs. 37 Babylon will be a pile of rubble, scavenged by stray dogs
and cats, A dumping ground for garbage, a godforsaken ghost town.' 38 "The
Babylonians will be like lions and their cubs, ravenous, roaring for food. 39
I'll fix them a meal, all right - a banquet, in fact. They'll drink themselves
falling-down drunk. Dead drunk, they'll sleep - and sleep, and sleep . . . and
they'll never wake up." God's Decree. 40 "I'll haul these 'lions' off
to the slaughterhouse like the lambs, rams, and goats, never to be heard of
again. 41 "Babylon is finished - the pride of the whole earth is flat on
her face. What a comedown for Babylon, to end up inglorious in the sewer! 42
Babylon drowned in chaos, battered by waves of enemy soldiers. 43 Her towns
stink with decay and rot, the land empty and bare and sterile. No one lives in
these towns anymore. Travelers give them a wide berth. 44 I'll bring doom on
the glutton god-Bel in Babylon. I'll make him vomit up all he gulped down. No
more visitors stream into this place, admiring and gawking at the wonders of
Babylon. The wonders of Babylon are no more. 45 Run for your lives, my dear
people! Run, and don't look back! Get out of this place while you can, this
place torched by God's raging anger. 46 Don't lose hope. Don't ever give up
when the rumors pour in hot and heavy. One year it's this, the next year it's
that - rumors of violence, rumors of war. 47 Trust me, the time is coming when
I'll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place. I'll show up the whole country
as a sickening fraud, with dead bodies strewn all over the place. 48 Heaven and
earth, angels and people, will throw a victory party over Babylon When the
avenging armies from the north descend on her." God's Decree! Remember God
in Your Long and Distant Exile 49 "Babylon must fall - compensation for
the war dead in Israel. Babylonians will be killed because of all that
Babylonian killing. 50 But you exiles who have escaped a Babylonian death, get
out! And fast! Remember God in your long and distant exile. Keep Jerusalem
alive in your memory." 51 How we've been humiliated, taunted and abused,
kicked around for so long that we hardly know who we are! And we hardly know
what to think - our old Sanctuary, God's house, desecrated by strangers. 52
"I know, but trust me: The time is coming" - God's Decree -
"When I will bring doom on her no-god idols, and all over this land her
wounded will groan. 53 Even if Babylon climbed a ladder to the moon and pulled
up the ladder so that no one could get to her, That wouldn't stop me. I'd make
sure my avengers would reach her." God's Decree. 54 "But now listen!
Do you hear it? A cry out of Babylon! An unearthly wail out of Chaldea! 55 God
is taking his wrecking bar to Babylon. We'll be hearing the last of her noise -
Death throes like the crashing of waves, death rattles like the roar of
cataracts. 56 The avenging destroyer is about to enter Babylon: Her soldiers
are taken, her weapons are trashed. Indeed, God is a God who evens things out.
All end up with their just deserts. 57 "I'll get them drunk, the whole lot
of them - princes, sages, governors, soldiers. Dead drunk, they'll sleep - and
sleep and sleep . . . and never wake up." The King's Decree. His name?
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! 58 God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: "The city
walls of Babylon - those massive walls! - will be flattened. And those city
gates - huge gates! - will be set on fire. The harder you work at this empty
life, the less you are. Nothing comes of ambition like this but ashes." 59
Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when
Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. It was in the fourth year
of Zedekiah's reign. Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements. 60 Jeremiah
had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on
Babylon. 61 He told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, read this out in
public. 62 Read, 'You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that
nothing could live here, neither human nor animal - a wasteland to top all
wastelands, an eternal nothing.' 63 "When you've finished reading the
page, tie a stone to it, throw it into the River Euphrates, and watch it sink.
64 Then say, 'That's how Babylon will sink to the bottom and stay there after
the disaster I'm going to bring upon her.'"
Jeremiah 52 (The
Message)
1 Zedekiah was twenty-one
years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven
years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah. Her hometown
was Libnah. 2 As far as God was concerned, Zedekiah was just one more evil
king, a carbon copy of Jehoiakim. 3 The source of all this doom to Jerusalem
and Judah was God's anger. God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. 4
Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem with a full army. He set up camp and
sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. 5 He arrived on the
ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah's reign. The city was under siege for
nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah). 6 By the fourth month of
Zedekiah's eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad
that there wasn't so much as a crumb of bread for anyone. 7 Then the
Babylonians broke through the city walls. Under cover of the night darkness,
the entire Judean army fled through an opening in the wall (it was the gate
between the two walls above the King's Garden). They slipped through the lines
of the Babylonians who surrounded the city and headed for the Jordan into the Arabah
Valley, 8 but the Babylonians were in full pursuit. They caught up with them in
the Plains of Jericho. But by then Zedekiah's army had deserted and was
scattered. 9 The Babylonians captured Zedekiah and marched him off to the king
of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath, who tried and sentenced him on the spot. 10 The
king of Babylon then killed Zedekiah's sons right before his eyes. The summary
murder of his sons was the last thing Zedekiah saw, for they then blinded him.
The king of Babylon followed that up by killing all the officials of Judah. 11
Securely handcuffed, Zedekiah was hauled off to Babylon. The king of Babylon
threw him in prison, where he stayed until the day he died. 12 In the
nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon on the seventh day of the
fifth month, Nebuzaradan, the king of Babylon's chief deputy, arrived in
Jerusalem. 13 He burned the Temple of God to the ground, went on to the royal
palace, and then finished off the city. He burned the whole place down. 14 He
put the Babylonian troops he had with him to work knocking down the city walls.
15 Finally, he rounded up everyone left in the city, including those who had
earlier deserted to the king of Babylon, and took them off into exile. 16 He
left a few poor dirt farmers behind to tend the vineyards and what was left of
the fields. 17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze
washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in the Temple of God,
and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. 18 They also took the various
bronze-crafted liturgical accessories, as well as the gold and silver censers
and sprinkling bowls, used in the services of Temple worship. 19 The king's
deputy didn't miss a thing. He took every scrap of precious metal he could
find. 20 The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, the
twelve bronze bulls that supported the Sea, and the ten washstands that Solomon
had made for the Temple of God was enormous. They couldn't weigh it all! 21
Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high with a circumference of eighteen feet.
The pillars were hollow, the bronze a little less than an inch thick. 22 Each
pillar was topped with an ornate capital of bronze pomegranates and filigree,
which added another seven and a half feet to its height. 23 There were
ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced - in all, a hundred pomegranates worked
into the filigree. 24 The king's deputy took a number of special prisoners:
Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the associate priest, three wardens, 25 the
chief remaining army officer, seven of the king's counselors who happened to be
in the city, the chief recruiting officer for the army, and sixty men of
standing from among the people who were still there. 26 Nebuzaradan the king's
deputy marched them all off to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 And there at
Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon killed the lot of them in
cold blood. Judah went into exile, orphaned from her land. 28 3,023 men of
Judah were taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar in the seventh year of his reign.
29 832 from Jerusalem were taken in the eighteenth year of his reign. 30 745
men from Judah were taken off by Nebuzaradan, the king's chief deputy, in
Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year. The total number of exiles was 4,600. 31
When Jehoiachin king of Judah had been in exile for thirty-seven years,
Evil-Merodach became king in Babylon and let Jehoiachin out of prison. This
release took place on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. 32 The king
treated him most courteously and gave him preferential treatment beyond
anything experienced by the political prisoners held in Babylon. 33 Jehoiachin
took off his prison garb and from then on ate his meals in company with the
king. 34 The king provided everything he needed to live comfortably for the rest
of his life.
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