OEB JER section

Dishonest Attitude of the Jews to the Liberation of their Slaves: To be Punished by the Liberation of Disaster upon Themselves

8 The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the King Zedekiah had covenanted with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty – 9 each man to set free his Hebrew slave, whether male or female, so that no one of Jewish descent should serve as slave any longer. 10 Now all the princes and all the people kept the covenant they had entered into to liberate their several male and female slaves and to treat them as slaves no longer: they kept it and set them free. 11 Afterwards, however, they turned and forced back into slavery the male and female slaves whom they had liberated.

12 Then there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah, 13 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: When I brought your forefathers out of the land of Egypt, that house of slavery, I Myself made this covenant 14 that at the end of six years they were to release any Hebrew brother who had sold himself to them – after six years of service, they were to set him free: your forefathers, however, would not listen or incline their ear to Me. 15 But you have in these days acted in a very different spirit; you have done what I desired in each proclaiming liberty to his (enslaved) neighbour; in My presence you made a covenant in the House that is called by My name. 16 Now, however, you have turned round and dishonoured My name by forcing back again into slavery the several male and female slaves you had set free to dispose of themselves as they would.

17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: You have disobeyed My injunction to make a proclamation of liberty, each of you to his (enslaved) neighbour. Well, then, saith Jehovah: You shall have your proclamation of liberty from Me – (liberty) to the sword, pestilence and famine – and I will make you an object of consternation to every kingdom in the world. 18 As for the men that broke the covenant they had made in My presence, when they passed between the pieces of the calf they had cut in two – 19 I mean the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf they had cut in two – 20 I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies and of those that seek their life, and their dead bodies shall be devoured by the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21 Further, Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes, I will deliver into the hands of their enemies and of those that seek their life, and into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon which (for the moment) has raised the siege and left you.

22 Mark this well, saith Jehovah, I will issue My word of command and bring them back to this city; they shall assault it and take it and burn it with fire, and the cities of Judah I will turn into an uninhabited desolation.

35 In the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah received the following message from Jehovah: 2 Go to the clan of the Rechabites, talk with them, bring them into one of the chambers (of the Temple) and offer them wine to drink. 3 So I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaz-ziniah, with his brothers and all his sons and the whole Rechabite clan, 4 and brought them into the Temple chamber belonging to the sons of Hanan, the son of Yigdaliah, the man of God, that was adjacent to the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the Keeper of the Threshold. 5 I then set before the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups and told them to drink. 6 "No," they said, "we will drink no wine; for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, laid a charge upon us and our children to drink no wine, 7 to build no houses, to sow no seed, to plant and possess no vineyard for ever, but to spend all our days in tents, so that we might live long on the land where as strangers we dwell. 8 In full obedience, therefore, to this charge of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, we have drunk no wine all our life long, neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters. 9 We have built no houses to live in, we have owned neither vineyard, field, nor seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and faithfully fulfilled all the instructions of our ancestors Jonadab. 11 It was only when the land was invaded by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, that we decided to come to Jerusalem, to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies; that is why we are (now) living in Jerusalem."

12 Then there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah: 13 "Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem: Should this not be a lesson to you to obey My words, saith Jehovah? 14 The injunction that Jonadab the son of Rechab laid upon his sons to drink no wine has been steadily observed: in obedience to that ancestral charge they have abstained to this day. But when I spoke to you early and late, you refused to listen. 15 Early and late I sent you all My servants the prophets with the message to each man of you that, if you would abandon your wicked ways, amend your conduct, and no longer indulge in the service of other gods, you should continue in the land that I gave your forefathers; but you would not incline your ear or listen to Me. 16 Unlike the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab, who have steadily observed the injunctions of their ancestor, this people has refused to listen to Me. 17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: See! I am about to bring upon Judah and upon all the citizens of Jerusalem all the misery with which I have threatened them, because they refused to listen to My words or respond to My call." 18 But to the clan of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the injunction of your ancestor Jonadab, keeping all his commandments and fulfiling all his instructions, 19 Jonadab, the son of Rechab shall never want a man to minister to Me, while the earth stands.

Jeremiah’s Prophecies Committed to Writing, Publicly Read in the Temple, and Contemptuously Burned by King Jehoiakim

36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah received the following message from Jehovah: 2 Take a book-roll, and write on it all the messages I have communicated to thee with regard to Israel and Judah and all nations, from My first message to thee in the days of Josiah right on to the present day. 3 It may be that, when the people of Judah hear of all the misery I am planning to bring upon them, they will severally abandon their wicked ways, and receive at My hands pardon for their guilt and sin.

4 Then Jeremiah summoned Baruch, the son of Neriah, who wrote down on a book-roll to Jeremiah’s dictation all the messages Jehovah had communicated to him. 5 Thereafter Jeremiah gave instructions to Baruch in the following terms: "Seeing that I am personally under restraint and debarred from access to the Temple, 6 do you go and, on the day appointed for fasting, read aloud in the Temple the messages of Jehovah in the hearing of the people from the roll which you have written to my dictation; read them also in the hearing of the Judeans who come from their respective country towns. 7 It may be that they will humbly supplicate Jehovah, and severally abandon their wicked ways: for great is the anger and fury with which Jehovah has threatened this people." 8 In accordance, therefore with his instructions from Jeremiah the prophet, Baruch read aloud from the book the words of Jehovah in the Temple.

9 Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, a sacred fast was proclaimed by all the people resident in Jerusalem, and all those also present from the country towns of Judah. 10 Then in the hearing of all the people Baruch read from the book the messages of Jeremiah from the room that belonged to Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the Secretary of State, which was situated in the upper court at the entrance to the new Temple gate. 11 Now when Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard the messages of Jehovah as they were read from the book, 12 he went down to the palace to the room of the Secretary of State, and there he found the whole court seated – Elishama, the Secretary and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elanthan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and indeed the whole court. 13 Micaiah proceeded to inform them of all the words he had heard Baruch read out of the book in the hearing of the people. 14 The whole court accordingly despatched a messenger to Baruch, namely one Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, with instructions to Baruch to appear, bringing with him the roll from which he had read in the hearing of the people. So Baruch, the son of Neriah, appeared before them with the roll in his hand.

15 Then they told him to sit down and read it in their hearing; so Baruch read while they listened. 16 When they had heard it all, they turned to one another in consternation, exclaiming to Baruch that they were bound to inform the king of all this. 17 They then asked Baruch to explain how he had written all these words. 18 Baruch replied that Jeremiah had dictated them all to him, and he had written them down with ink in the book. 19 "Well, then," said the princes to Baruch, "go into hiding, you and Jeremiah, and let nobody know where you are." 20 After they had deposited the roll in the chamber of Elishama the Secretary, they visited the king in his apartment, and reported the whole matter to him.

21 The king then despatched Jehudi to fetch the roll; and, when he had brought it from Elishama’s chamber, he read it in the hearing of the king and of all the courtiers who were in attendance upon him. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house, and the fire on the brazier was burning before him; 23 and every three or four columns that Jehudi read, the king would cut up with his penknife and fling into the fire that was on the brazier, till the whole roll was consumed in the fire that was on the brazier. 24 But there was no sense of horror either on the part of the king or of any of his ministers as they listened to all these words, nor did they rend their garments. 25 Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, however, had entreated the king not to burn the roll, but he would not listen to them. 26 Then the king commanded the royal prince Jerachmeel, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to fetch Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Jehovah kept them in concealment.

27 After the king had burned the roll containing the words written by Baruch to Jeremiah’s dictation, Jeremiah received this message from Jehovah, 28 "Once more take another roll, and write on it all the words that were on the first roll that was consigned to the flames by Jehoiakim, king of Judah, 29 Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast taken it upon thee to burn this roll and to demand my reason for recording the threat that the king of Babylon would assuredly come and destroy this land, and clear it of man and beast. 30 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah: Never a man shall he have to sit upon the throne of David; his dead body shall be flung out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night. 31 I will punish him, his descendants, and his ministers, for their sins; and I will bring upon them and upon the citizens of Jerusalem all the misery with which I threatened them in vain."

32 Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it to Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the book that had been burned by Jehoiakim; and it was supplemented by many messages of a similar kind.

OEB by section JER 34:8

Dishonest Attitude of the Jews to the Liberation of their Slaves: To be Punished by the Liberation of Disaster upon Themselves