UST JER Chapter 21

◄ JER 21 ► ║ ═ ©

21 Yahweh gave me another message when King Zedekiah of Judah sent a man named Pashhur, whose father was Malkijah, and a priest named Zephaniah, whose father was Maaseiah, to talk to me. They pleaded with me, saying, 2 “The army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking Judah so please speak to Yahweh for us. Ask him if he will help us. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar’s army to leave by performing a miracle for us, like the miracles he performed previously.”

3 I replied to them, “Go back to King Zedekiah. Tell him this, 4 ‘This is what Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, says: “Pay attention! I will cause your weapons to be useless in fighting against the king of Babylon and his army that is outside the walls of Jerusalem, attacking. I will enable them to enter into the center of this city. 5 I myself will fight against your army with my very great power, because I am very angry with you. 6 I will send a very terrible plague on the people of this city, and on their domestic animals, and many of them will die.’ 7 Yahweh says, ‘After those things occur, I will enable the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and your other enemies, and the others who seek to kill you, to capture you, you Zedekiah who rule in Judah, and your officials, and all the other people who remain in this city and have not died from the plague, from enemy soldiers, and from starvation. I will allow Nebuchadnezzar’s army to slaughter those of you who remain; they will not act mercifully toward you at all or spare people.’

8 And tell this to this people: ‘Yahweh says that you must pay careful attention and decide whether you want to choose the way that will result in your dying or choose the way that will result in your staying alive. 9 Everyone who remains in Jerusalem will die because enemy soldiers will kill them or they will die from starvation or from diseases. But those who surrender to the army of Babylon that is surrounding your city will remain alive. They will escape dying. 10 This will happen because I, Yahweh, have decided to cause the inhabitants of this city to experience disasters and not to experience something good. I have decided to allow the army of the king of Babylon to capture this city and his army will destroy it completely by fire.’ ”

11 Yahweh also told me to say this to the family of the king of Judah: “Listen to this message from Yahweh. 12 This is what he says to you descendants of King David:

‘Every day, make fair decisions for the people whom you judge.

Help those whom people have robbed.

Rescue them from robbers and abusers.

If you do not do that,

I will be angry and punish you with a fire that will be impossible to extinguish,

because of all the sins that you have committed.

13 Know that I will oppose you people of Jerusalem,

you who live on top of a rocky hill above the valley.

I will oppose you people who boast, saying,

“No one can attack us and break through our defenses.”

14 I will punish you for your wicked deeds like you deserve to be punished;

It will be as though I will light a fire in your forests

that will burn up everything around you.’ ”