Jeremiah escaped death

26 Soon after Jehoiakim son of Josiah began to rule as king of Judah, Yahweh gave me, Jeremiah, this message. He said, 2 “This is what I, Yahweh, am telling you: Stand in the courtyard in front of my temple, and speak to all the people from the various cities in Judah who come there to worship me. Tell them everything that I command you to say to them. Do not leave anything out. 3 If you do tell them everything, perhaps they will pay attention and each of them will stop doing evil things. Then I will change my plans and not do to them the disastrous things that I was planning to do to them because of their evil actions.”

4 Yahweh also said, “Say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh says: If you do not pay attention to me in order to obey the teachings that I have given to you through Moses, 5 and if you do not listen to what my servants the prophets are saying -- the prophets whom I have sent to you again and again, though you have not payed attention to them -- 6 then I will destroy this temple like I destroyed the one at Shiloh. And I will cause Jerusalem to be a place whose name people in every nation on the earth will say when they curse someone.”

7 The priests, the prophets, and many other people listened as Jeremiah spoke this message in the temple of Yahweh. 8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling them everything that Yahweh had commanded him to say to all the people, then the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him and said, “You must certainly die! 9 You should not be claiming to speak with Yahweh’s authority and saying that this temple will end up the same as Shiloh and that this city will become so desolate that no one will live in it anymore!” All the people assembled against Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.

10 When the officials of Judah heard about all of this, they rushed up from the royal palace to the temple of Yahweh and sat down to judge the case at the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh’s temple. 11 The priests and the false prophets told the officials and the other people who were there, “We should execute this man, because he has prophesied that this city will be destroyed, and you yourselves have heard him say it!”

12 Then Jeremiah replied to all the officials and to all the people. He said, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy everything that you have heard me say about what will happen to this temple and to this city. 13 So now, change your behavior and pay attention to what Yahweh your God has told you to do. If you do that, Yahweh will change his plans and not cause the disastrous things to happen to you that he said he would. 14 As for me, you have control over what happens to me. So you can do to me whatever you think is good and right. 15 However, know for certain, that if you kill me, then you will be guilty of killing someone who has not done anything wrong. You will cause yourselves to become guilty, and this city, and everyone who lives here. I tell you truthfully, that Yahweh has sent me to speak all these things in your hearing.”

16 Then the officials and the other people said to the priests and the false prophets, “Because Jeremiah has spoken to us with the authority of Yahweh our God, you should not execute him.”

17 Then some of the elders of the land stood up and spoke to all the people who had gathered there. They said, 18 “Think about what Micah, the prophet from the town of Moresheth, prophesied during the time that Hezekiah was the king of Judah. He told the people of Judah, ‘This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says:

Enemies will plow up Zion as farmers plow a field.

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the temple hill will become an overgrown forest.’

19 King Hezekiah of Judah, and the people of Judah, certainly did not kill Micah for saying that! No! Instead, Hezekiah deeply respected Yahweh and pleaded with Yahweh to show mercy to them. So Yahweh changed his plans and did not send the terrible disaster that he had said he would send. If we kill Jeremiah, we will cause disastrous things to happen to us!”

20 And at that time there was also a man named Uriah son of Shemaiah from the town of Kiriath Jearim, who was also prophesying with Yahweh’s authority. He was predicting the same disasters for this city and this land that Jeremiah was predicting. 21 When King Jehoiakim, along with all his army officers and officials, heard what Uriah was saying, the king tried to kill Uriah. When Uriah heard about it, he became very afraid and ran away to Egypt. 22 Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Akbor along with several other men to Egypt to get Uriah. 23 They captured Uriah and brought him from Egypt back to Jerusalem to King Jehoiakim. The king then had a soldier kill Uriah with a sword. Then they buried his corpse in the place where the common people bury their dead.

24 However, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah and did not allow the mob to kill him.

27 Soon after Zedekiah became the king of Judah, Yahweh gave this message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “This is what Yahweh said to me: ‘Make an ox yoke of wooden bars and fasten it around your neck with leather straps. 3 Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the ambassadors from those countries who have come to Jerusalem to meet with King Zedekiah. 4 Tell the ambassadors to give this message to their kings: “This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God whom the Israelite people worship, says. You must say this to your kings: 5 ‘Because I am very powerful was able to make the earth and the people and the animals that live on it and I give the earth to whoever I please. 6 Now I have allowed my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to control all these lands. I have also given him the wild animals to use as he wishes. 7 The people of all the nations will serve him, and then his son after him, and then his grandson after him, until the time comes for his own nation to serve the nations that conquer it. Then many nations and great kings will conquer him and make him serve them.

8 I will punish any nation or kingdom that refuses to submit to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and refuses to serve him. I will cause those people to experience war, famine, and diseases”—this is what Yahweh declares—“until I have used Nebuchadnezzar to destroy them completely.

9 So do not listen to your false prophets, your fortune-tellers, your dream interpreters, your mediums, or your sorcerers. They keep telling you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer our nation.’ 10 Those people are prophesying lies to you, which will result in removing you far away from your home. I will drive you out, and you will die in a foreign land. 11 However, if the people of any nation submit to the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land”—this is what Yahweh declares—“and they will farm it and live in it.’ ” ’ ”

12 Then I gave the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. I said to him, “Submit to the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and then you will stay alive. 13 There is no reason for you and your people to die by war, famine, and disease, which is what Yahweh has said will happen to any nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon. 14 Do not pay attention to the prophets who are saying to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer your country,’ because they are prophesying lies to you. 15 I did not send those prophets”—this is what Yahweh declares—“and yet they are saying that I gave them their messages, but they are lying. The result will be that I will drive you out of your land, and you will die, both you and those false prophets who are prophesying lies to you.”

16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, and I said, “This is what Yahweh says: Do not pay attention to what your false prophets say, who tell you, ‘Look, someone will bring back from Babylon the articles from Yahweh’s temple very soon,’ because they are prophesying lies to you. 17 Do not pay attention to them. Serve the king of Babylon and then he will not kill you. There is no reason for this entire city to become a pile of ruins.

18 If those men are really prophets who speak messages from me, then tell them to please plead with me, the commander of the heavenly armies, so that I will not allow soldiers from Babylon to carry off to Babylon the articles that still remain in my temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in the rest of Jerusalem.”

19 I, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, say this about the pillars that stand in front of the temple, the large bronze water basin, the bronze stands, and all the other articles that are still in this city. 20 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left those things here when he took Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, away from Jerusalem to Babylon as a prisoner, along with all the leading people of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God whom the Israelite people worship, says about the valuable articles that still remain in Yahweh’s temple and in the king’s palace, and in Jerusalem: 22 “Babylonian soldiers will bring them to Babylon. They will stay there until the day that I decide to give them my attention again”—this is what Yahweh declares—“and then I will bring them back and return them to this place.”

28 In the fifth month of the fourth year after Zedekiah began to rule as king of Judah, Hananiah the son of Azzur spoke to me. Hananiah, who claimed to be a prophet and was from the city of Gibeon spoke to me in the temple of Yahweh while the priests and all the people watched. He said, 2 “This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have ended the control that the king of Babylon has over you. 3 Before two years have ended, I will bring back to this place all the objects from the temple of Yahweh that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from here and carried to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with all the people of Judah who went to Babylon as captives.’ This is what Yahweh declares. ‘I will do this because I will end the control that the king of Babylon has over you.’ ”

5 Then Jeremiah the prophet replied to Hananiah the prophet while the priests and all the people who stood in the temple of Yahweh watched. 6 Jeremiah the prophet said, “Yes, may it be so! I hope Yahweh does that! I hope Yahweh fulfills everything that you have prophesied, so that people bring back from Babylon the objects from the temple of Yahweh and bring back all the people who are captive there. 7 Nevertheless, listen to what I am saying in your presence and in the presence of all the people: 8 The prophets who preceded me and you, prophesied long ago that many nations and powerful kingdoms would experience wars, terrible suffering, and deadly diseases. 9 So when a prophet prophesies that things will go well, only when what that prophet says actually happens will people recognize that Yahweh truly sent him.

10 Then Hananiah the prophet grabbed the yoke bar from Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. The yoke bar represented the control that Babylon had over the nations. 11 Then Hananiah spoke while all the people watched. He said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Just as Hananiah has broken this yoke bar, within two full years I will end the control that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has over all the nations.’ ” After Hananiah said that, Jeremiah the prophet left.

12 After Hananiah the prophet broke the yoke bar that had been on Jeremiah the prophet’s neck, Yahweh gave this message to Jeremiah: 13 “Go and tell Hananiah that this is what Yahweh says: ‘You broke yoke bars made of wood, but I will replace them with yoke bars made of iron. 14 I, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God of Israel, say this: I have forced all these nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, as though they had iron yoke bars on their necks, and they will serve him. And I have given him control over the wild animals as well.’ ”

15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Please pay attention to me, Hananiah! Yahweh did not send you and you have certainly told lies to these people, and they have believed your lies. 16 So this is what Yahweh says: ‘I am about to make you die. You will die this year, because you have encouraged people to rebel against Yahweh.’ ”

17 Hananiah the prophet died in the seventh month of that same year.

1-2 1-2After King Jeconiah, his mother, his court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and metalworkers had left Jerusalem and gone to Babylon, Jeremiah the prophet wrote a letter and sent it from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the other people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

3 He sent the letter through Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah the king of Judah was sending to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. This is what the letter said:

4 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God of Israel, says this to all of you whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses there and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage so that they also have children. Increase in number there; do not become fewer. 7 Also, do things that will cause things to go well for the people who live in the city where I have sent you to live, and pray to Yahweh for that city, because when things go well for that city, things will also go well for you.

8 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God of Israel, says this: Do not let your prophets who are among you and your fortune-tellers trick you. Do not pay attention to the dreams that you are encouraging yourselves to dream, 9 because those prophets are lying to you and claiming to speak for me. I did not send them.” That is what Yahweh has declared.

10 “Yahweh says this: When seventy years have passed for Babylon, I will help you and keep my good promise to you by bringing you back to this place. 11 I know what I intend to do for you,” Yahweh has declared. “I intend to help you prosper, not to harm you. I intend to give you a hopeful future. 12 At that time you will call out to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will pay attention to you. 13 You will earnestly desire for me to help you and you will find me when you pursue me with complete sincerity. 14 I will let you find me,” Yahweh has declared. “I will bring you back from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have scattered you,” Yahweh has declared. “I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you away.”

15 I am saying this because you have said, “Yahweh has appointed prophets for us here in Babylon.” 16 This is what Yahweh says about the king who sits on David’s throne and about all the people who are living in this city -- your relatives who did not go into exile with you. 17 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says this: “Pay attention! I am sending war, famine, and disease against them. I will make them like figs that are so bad that no one can eat them. 18 I am about to cause them to experience wars, famines, and diseases. I will make the people of every kingdom on earth horrified when they hear about them. Among all the nations where I have scattered them, they will be the object of peoples curses, and people will feel shocked, will whistle in contempt, and will mock them. 19 I will do this because those people refused to pay attention to what I said to them,” Yahweh has declared, “messages that I persistently gave to my prophets whom I sent to them. But you exiles also did not pay attention.” That is what Yahweh has declared.

20 So listen to what Yahweh says, all of you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God of Israel, says this about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are speaking lies to you and claiming to speak for me: “I am about to allow the soldiers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to seize them and take them to King Nebuchadnezzar, and he will execute them while you are watching. 22 All you exiles from Judah in Babylon will say this when you curse someone, ‘I hope Yahweh will do to you what he did to Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in a fire!’ 23 That will happen because they did something disgraceful among the Israelite people; they committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and they spoke lies, claiming to speak for me, even though I never told them to say those things. I know about this, and I can testify to it,” Yahweh has declared.

24 Yahweh told me to say this to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 25 “Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God of Israel, says this: Because you sent letters on your own authority to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests, and you wrote:

26 ‘Yahweh has appointed you as priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be in charge of overseeing Yahweh’s temple. You should put into the stocks and the iron collar anyone who acts like a crazy person and claims to be a prophet. 27 So why haven’t you done anything to stop Jeremiah from the town of Anathoth, who claims to be a prophet among you? 28 For because of this he sent a message to us here in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will last a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.” ’ 29 And when Zephaniah the priest received the letter he brought it to me and read it in my presence.

30 Then Yahweh gave this message to Jeremiah. Yahweh said, 31 “Send a message to all the exiles and tell them, ‘Yahweh says this about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you even though I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in lies, 32 because of that Yahweh says: know that I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. None of his descendants will live among this people, and he will not experience the good things that I will do for my people,’ ” Yahweh has declared, “’because he has incited you to rebel against Yahweh.’ ”

30 Yahweh gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “This is what I, Yahweh, the God whom the people of Israel worship, am telling you. You Jeremiah should write down in a scroll everything that I have told you. 3 I want you to know that a time is coming when I will free my people Israel and Judah from captivity in Babylon.” -occurrence="1" x-occurrences="1"This is what Yahweh declared. He also said, “I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will take possession of it again.”

4 Yahweh gave this message to me, Jeremiah regarding the people of Israel and Judah. 5 Yes, this is what Yahweh says: “You hear people crying out because they are terrified, and there is no safety for them.

6 Think about this:

Men certainly do not give birth to babies.

Yet, I see every strong man

with their hands on their stomachs

like a woman who is about to give birth.

Everyone’s face has turned pale because they are afraid.

7 How terrible that time will be.

There will never be another time like it.

It will be a time when the people of Israel will suffer greatly,

but God will rescue them from that suffering.

8 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says this: “At that time, I will free my people from the King of Babylon who has has been forcing them to obey him. People in other countries will no longer be their bosses.

9 Instead, my people will serve me, Yahweh their God, and they will serve a king whom I will appoint for them, a king who is a descendant of King David.

10 So you people of Israel who serve me,

do not be afraid.” This is what Yahweh declares.

“You should not worry because I will certainly rescue you and your descendants from the land where others have taken you as prisoners.

Then you people of Israel will return and will live peacefully and safely

-occurrence="1" x-occurrences="1",and no nation will cause you to fear.

11 I am with you in order to rescue you.” This is what Yahweh declared. He said, “I will completely destroy all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you fairly, but I will certainly not let you go without any punishment.”

12 Yahweh also says this to his people: “

You have suffered very much.

It is as though you have a terrible wound that cannot be healed.

13 There is no one helping you;

you have suffered much and it is as though there is no medicine that can heal your wounds.

14 The nations that used to be your allies have all abandoned you

and no longer care about you.

I have punished you severely,

like your enemies would wound you,

because you have sinned so many times.

15 So do not complain about how I have punished you;

your suffering that seems never ending.

I did these things to you

because you have sinned so many times

16 I will cause foreign armies to destroy all those who try to destroy you,

and all of your enemies will certainly go away as prisoners.

Everyone who steals your possessions will lose their own possessions,

and everyone who attacks you will be the ones whom others attack.

17 People say that you are outcasts

and that you live in Jerusalem, a city that no one cares about.” This is what Yahweh declared. He says,

“I will cause things to go well again for you.

18 This is what Yahweh says: “I be compassionate to the people of Israel and allow them to return to their ruined homes. People will rebuild the city of Jerusalem on top of its ruins, and the palace will stand again in its proper place.

19 The people will sing songs of thanksgiving and they will rejoice. I will make them more numerous so that they will not become few, and I will cause others to honor them so that no one looks down on them.

20 Their children will thrive as they did long ago. I will establish their community in my presence, and I will punish every nation that oppresses them.

21 Their leader will be one of their own people, and their ruler will come from among them. I will invite him to approach me, and he will come into my presence, because no one would dare to come near to me unless I invited him.” This is what Yahweh declared.

22 “You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

23 Yahweh will be very angry;

he will punish wicked people; and will act against them

like a powerful storm that swirls around them.

24 Yahweh will not stop being angry

until he has accomplished everything that he has planned to do.

In the future, you will clearly understand all of this.

31 Yahweh declares this: “At that time, I will be the God whom all the clans of Israel worship, and they will be my people.”

2 This is what Yahweh says:

“The people who survived when their enemies attacked them in war

saw that I showed kindness to them, even out in the desert;

when the people of Israel sought rest.”

3 Yahweh appeared to us, Israelite people, in the past and said,

“I have loved you in the past and I will continue loving you forever.

Because of this I have lovingly drawn you close to myself.

4 People of Israel, I will make you a strong nation again. You will again pick up your tambourines and joyfully dance.

5 You will once again plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria, and you yourselves will enjoy eating the grapes that you grow there.

6 There will be a time when watchmen will call out from the hills in the region of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem, to where Yahweh our God dwells so that we might worship him there!’ ”

7 This is also what I,Yahweh say:

“Sing joyfully about what I have done for the people of Israel!

Shout because your nation is the greatest of the nations!

Loudly praise me, saying,

‘Yahweh, rescue your people,

those who are still alive in Israel!’

8 Know that I will bring my people back from the lands in the north, and I will gather them from the most distant places on the earth. Among them will be people who are blind and people who cannot walk well, women who are pregnant and women who are about to give birth. A huge group of people will return here.

9 They will be crying as they return,

and as they pray to me, I will lead them back.

I will guide them to streams of water,

along a smooth road where they will not trip.

I will do this because I care for the people of Israel as a father cares for his children,

and the people of Ephraim are as dear to me as a man's oldest son.

10 People of the nations, listen to this message from me, Yahweh, and proclaim it to the people who live on the coastlands far away. Say, ‘The one who scattered the people of Israel will gather them again and will guard them, just as a shepherd takes care of his sheep.’

11 I, Yahweh will buy the Israelite people back from those who were more powerful than they were.

12 So they will return and sing joyfully on the heights of Jerusalem, and they will rejoice because of the good things that I give them—

grain and new wine and olive oil and young sheep and cattle.

They will be strong and joyful, like a garden that gets plenty of water,

and they will never be sad again.

13 Then the young women will dance joyfully, and the young men and the old men will rejoice along with them. I will cause them to be joyful instead of mourning; I will comfort them and I will make them glad instead of sad.

14 I will give the priests plenty of food, and I will completely satisfy my people with the good things that I give them. I, Yahweh, declare that this will happen!

15 Yahweh says this:

“People in the town of Ramah heard a sound, the sound of women wailing and weeping bitterly.

The women who were the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two grandsons of Rachel the wife of Jacob, were weeping for their sons

and refusing to let anyone comfort them,

because their sons were dead.”

16 Yahweh says this:

“Do not cry anymore

and stop shedding tears, because I will reward you for the good things you have done;

your children will return from the land of their enemies.

17 You can confidently expect that I will cause good things to happen to you in the future;

your children will return to their own land.” This is what Yahweh declares.

18 I, Yahweh, have certainly heard the people of Israel grieving and saying to me,

‘You disciplined us severely,

the way a farmer trains a calf that is not trained to wear a yoke so that it can work.

Bring us back to you, and we will return to you,

because you are Yahweh our God.

19 We turned away from you,

but afterward we were sorry for our sin;

after you caused us to understand that we were guilty because of what we had done, we struck our thighs to show that we were very ashamed.

We felt greatly ashamed because of the wrong things we did when we were young.’

20 The people of Israel are certainly my precious children, the ones I delight in.

For as often as I have to punish them,

but I still certainly remember them.

So my inner being yearns for them,

and I will certainly act mercifully toward them.” Yahweh, declares this.

21 You people of Israel, set up road signs for yourselves;

put up for yourselves posts along the roads

to mark the road on which you traveled away from here.

Return my precious people of Israel,

return to your towns here.

22 You people who have turned away from me like an unfaithful daughter,

you have consistently been unfaithful to me.

I, Yahweh, will cause something new to happen in the land:

the women of Israel will be protecting their husbands as they travel back here!”

23 This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God whom the people of Israel worship, says: "When I bring my people back to the land of Judah from the countries where they were taken, the people in the towns of Judah will once again say, 'We pray that Yahweh will bless this place where he lives, this holy hill where righteous people live!' 24 The people of Judah and everyone in its towns will live there together, including the farmers and the shepherds who move around with their flocks. 25 I will give rest to those who are weary, and I will make strong again those who are exhausted."

26 After I, Jeremiah, dreamed those things, I woke up and looked around. I had slept very peacefully!

27 I, Yahweh, declare "Listen: there will be a time when I will greatly increase the number of people and the number of animals in the land of Israel and the land of Judah. 28 In the past, I made sure that their enemies removed the people from their land, tore down what they had built, and ruined their land, bringing many disasters on it. But in the future, I will make sure that they build houses and plant crops again. I, Yahweh, declare this. 29 In the past, the people often said, 'The parents ate sour grapes, but it is their children's teeth that hurt.' They meant that it was not fair for God to punish them for their ancestors' sins. But when I bring them back, they will no longer say that.

30 Instead, each person will die because of his own sin; if anyone eats sour grapes, it is his own teeth that will hurt. 31 I, Yahweh, declare that there will be a time when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. 32 This new agreement will not be like the agreement that I made with their ancestors when I took them by their hands and led them out of Egypt. They disobeyed that agreement, even though I cared for them the way a husband cares for his wife. I, Yahweh, declare this. 33 This is the new agreement that I will make with the people of Israel after that time: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will cause them to know my laws deep inside themselves. I will be their God, and they will be my people. I, Yahweh, declare this. 34 They will no longer need to teach their neighbors and their relatives, saying, 'You need to know Yahweh,' because everyone, from the least important to the most important, will already know me. And I will forgive them for the wicked things they have done, and I will never again think about the sins that they committed. I, Yahweh, declare this.

35 Yahweh is the one who provides the sun

to give light during the day, and who sets

the moon and the stars in order to give light during the night.

He stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar.

His name is Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies,

and this is what he says:

36 "I could only stop treating the people of Israel as a nation if these things that I established were to stop working— and that will never happen. I, Yahweh, declare this."

37 This is what Yahweh says:

"No one is able to measure the sky above

or to find out what supports the earth below.

In the same way, I will never reject the descendants of Israel,

in spite of all the evil things that they have done. I, Yahweh, declare this."

38 "Listen: I, Yahweh, declare that there will be a time when people will rebuild the whole city of Jerusalem for me, from the Tower of Hananel at the northeast corner over to the Corner Gate. 39 Then workers will stretch a measuring line over Gareb Hill and around to Goah. 40 And the whole area, including the valley where they throw dead bodies and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley, over to the corner of the Horse Gate on the east side, I will set apart as holy for myself. People will never again tear down the city of Jerusalem or destroy it."

32 After Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost ten years, Yahweh gave me another message, during the time that Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling Babylonia for almost eighteen years. 2 His army had surrounded Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was in a prison area in the courtyard where the guards of the king’s palace stayed. 3 King Zedekiah had put me there. I continued to prophesy there about what would happen. I continued to say, “Yahweh says that he is about to allow the army of the king of Babylon to capture this city. 4 And the soldiers of Babylonia will most definitely capture King Zedekiah and take him to the king of Babylon for a face to face encounter. 5 Then his soldiers will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will remain there until I arrange for him to be punished. And if he tries to fight against the soldiers from Babylonia, he will not succeed.” King Zedekiah asked Jeremiah why he continued to say that, but Yahweh had said this would be so.

6 At that time, Yahweh gave Jeremiah another message. He said, 7 “Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle, will come to you. He will say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, your hometown. Because you are my closest relative, it is written in our laws that you have the right to buy it before I ask if anyone else wants to buy it.’ ”

8 And just as Yahweh had predicted, my cousin Hanamel came to see me in the courtyard of the palace. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the area where the descendants of Benjamin live. It is written in our laws that you have the right to buy it before I ask if anyone else wants to buy it.” When he said that, I knew that the message that I had received was truly from Yahweh.

9 So, I bought the field at Anathoth. I paid Hanamel almost two hundred grams of silver for it. 10 I signed the paper on which it was written that I was buying it, while others were watching. Then I weighed the silver and gave it to him. 11 Then I took two copies of the paper. One was sealed and the other was not sealed. On both of them was written the price and conditions of the purchase. I took both copies 12 and I gave them to Baruch son of Neraiah, and the grandson of Mahseiah. I did this while my cousin Hanamel, the other witnesses who had signed the paper, and other men of Judah who were there in the courtyard, were watching.

13 Then, while they were all listening, I said to Baruch, 14 “This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says: ‘Take both copies of this paper and put them in a clay jar, to preserve them for a long time. 15 Do that because this is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say: Some day people will again own property in this land, and they will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’ ”

16 After I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to Yahweh, saying this: 17 “Yahweh, you are my Lord! You made the sky and the earth by your very great power. Nothing is too difficult for you to do. 18 You show thousands of people that you will always be faithful to your covenant with them, but people suffer the consequences of the sins that their parents have committed. You are the great and powerful God. You are Yahweh, commander of the angel armies. 19 You make wise plans and you do mighty deeds. You see how all people behave, and you do to them what they deserve. 20 You performed many miracles in Egypt, and you continue to perform miracles here in Israel and everywhere else in the world. Because of that, you have become very famous. 21 You brought our Israelite ancestors out of Egypt by performing many great miracles, using your very great power, causing our enemies to be terrified. 22 You gave to us Israelite people this land that you solemnly promised to give to our ancestors, a land that is very fertile. 23 Our ancestors came here and conquered this land and started to live in it, but they refused to obey you or to do what you commanded them to do. Because of that, you have caused them to experience all these disasters.

24 And now, the army of Babylonia has built ramps up against our city walls in order to attack our city. Because of our enemies’ swords and because of famines and diseases, they will be able to conquer it easily. The things that you said would happen have now happened. 25 And it is evident that the Babylonian army will soon conquer this city. So now, I do not understand why you told me to buy this field with my silver, while others were watching. It seems that I have just been wasting my money by doing that!”

26 Then Yahweh gave me this message: 27 “I am Yahweh, the God who rules over every living thing in the world. There is absolutely nothing that is too difficult for me to do. 28 So, this is what I say: It is true that I will enable the Babylonian army and King Nebuchadnezzar to capture this city. 29 The soldiers of Babylonia who are now outside the walls around the city will enter and burn this city. They will burn down all the houses where people caused me to become angry by burning incense on the tops of their roofs to honor Baal and by pouring out offerings of wine to other gods.

30 The people of Israel and Judah have continually done only evil things from the time that they became a nation. They have caused me to become very angry by all their evil deeds. 31 From the time that this city was built until now, the people of this city have done only things that caused me to be very angry. So now I will destroy it. 32 The people of Israel and Judah, including their kings, their officials, the priests, the false prophets, and all the other people in Jerusalem have committed many sins that have caused me to become angry. 33 My people have turned away from me and have refused to return to me. Even though I taught them things many times, they would not pay attention to what I taught them, and they would not obey me. 34 They have set up their detestable idols even in my own temple and defiled it. 35 They have built on the hilltops places to worship Baal in Ben Hinnom Valley outside Jerusalem, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to their god Molech. I never commanded them to do such horrible deeds. I never even considered ordering such a terrible thing. And by doing it they have caused all the people of Judah to be guilty of having sinned.”

36 “But now I will say something more about this city. You people of Jerusalem have been saying, ‘The army of the king of Babylon will conquer it, either by their swords or because of famines or diseases.’ But this is what I, the God of Israel, say: 37 ‘I will certainly bring my people back here again, from all the countries to which I will force them to go because I am extremely angry with them. I will bring them back to this city and allow them to live here safely. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one way of thinking and behaving, in order that they may revere me, for their good and for the good of their descendants. 40 I will make an agreement with them that will last forever: I will never stop doing good things for them, and they will always honor me; they will never stop worshiping me. 41 I will be happy to do good things for them, and I will surely enable them to return to this land and remain here; I will do that with all my inner being and all my strength.’

42 And this is also what I, Yahweh, say: ‘I have caused them to experience all these disasters. Similarly, some day I will do for them all the good things that I have promised. 43 By buying land you, Jeremiah, have predicted that some day people will buy and sell fields in this land about which you people of Jerusalem now say, “The Babylonian soldiers have destroyed it. It is now desolate. It is a land where there are no longer any people or animals.” 44 But some day people will again buy and sell fields here. People will sign documents about buying those fields, and other people will witness them doing that. That will happen in the land where the descendants of Benjamin live and here in the villages near Jerusalem, in other towns in Judah, in the hill country and in the foothills to the west, and in the southern Judean wilderness. Some day I will cause them to prosper again. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.’ ”

33 While Jeremiah was still being guarded in the courtyard of the palace, Yahweh gave him this second message: 2 “This is what I, the one who made the earth, who formed it and put it in its place, say to the people of Jerusalem: ‘My name is Yahweh. 3 Call out to me, and then I will tell you great and wonderful things that you have not known before.’ 4 This is what I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, say: ‘The men in this city have torn down some of their houses, and even parts of the king’s palace, to get materials to strengthen the walls around the city, in order that the soldiers of Babylonia would not be able to break through the walls after they climb up the ramps that they have built against the walls, and kill the inhabitants with their swords. 5 You are expecting to fight against the army from Babylonia, but what will happen is that the houses of this city will be filled with the corpses of the men of this city whom I will allow to be killed because I am extremely angry with them. I have abandoned them because of all the wicked things that they have done.

6 However, there will be a time when I will cause the people in this city to be healthy and strong again. I will enable them to be prosperous and have peace. 7 I will bring the people of Judah and Israel back from the lands to which they were exiled. I will enable them to rebuild their towns. 8 I will get rid of their guilt for all the sins that they have committed against me, and I will forgive them for their sin of rebelling against me. 9 When that happens, all the nations of the world will rejoice, and they will praise me and honor me. They will hear about all the good things that I have done for this city and, because of that, they will revere me, and they will tremble because I have caused the people in this city to have peace and to prosper.’

10 And this is also what I, Yahweh, say: ‘You people have said that this is a land where there are no longer any people or animals. But in the streets of Jerusalem that are now completely empty, and in the other towns in Judah, 11 some day people will again be happy and laugh. Brides and bridegrooms will again sing joyfully. And many other people will also sing joyfully as they bring their offerings to me to thank me for what I have done for them. They will sing this song:

“We thank you, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies,

because you are good to us.

You faithfully hold to your covenant with us forever.”

They will sing that because I will cause the people of this land to be as prosperous as they were before.’

12 This land is now desolate. There are no people or animals living here. But I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, say this: ‘In this land there will again be pastures where shepherds will lead their sheep 13 Shepherds will again count their sheep as the sheep walk by, outside the towns in the hill country, in the western foothills, in the southern Judean wilderness, in the land where the descendants of Benjamin live, around Jerusalem, and outside all the other towns in Judah.’ That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.

14 Listen to this! I, Yahweh, say that there will be a time when I will do for the people of Israel and Judah all the good things that I promised to do for them.

15 At that time I will appoint a righteous man who will be a descendant of King David.

Throughout the land, he will do what is just and right.

16 At that time, the people of Judah will be rescued from their enemies,

and the people of Jerusalem will be safe.

And people will say that the name of the city is ‘Yahweh is the one who does right for us.’ 17 And this is also what I, Yahweh, say: ‘There will be descendants of King David ruling Israel forever. 18 And there will always be priests who are descendants of Levi who stand in front of me and offer sacrifices that will be completely burned on the altar and who will burn food offerings and other sacrifices.’ ”

19 Then Yahweh gave Jeremiah this message: 20 “This is what I, Yahweh, say: ‘You certainly cannot annul my promise to cause nighttime to follow daytime each day. 21 Similarly, you cannot annul the promise that I made with King David, who served me well, that there will always be descendants of his who will rule Judah. The same is true for my agreement with the descendants of Levi who are priests who do work for me. 22 No one can count the stars in the sky, and no one can count the grains of sand at the seashore. Similarly, I will cause there to be a huge number of descendants of David and descendants of Levi who will work for me.’ ”

23 Yahweh gave another message to me. He said, 24 “Surely you know that some people are saying, ‘Yahweh chose two groups, the people of Judah and the people of Israel, and later abandoned them.’ The people who are saying this are despising my people; they are saying that Israel no longer deserves to be considered a nation. 25 But this is what I say: ‘I will not reject my people any quicker than I will change my laws that control the day and the night, the sky and the earth. 26 Similarly, I will never abandon the descendants of David or the other descendants of Jacob, and I will always allow descendants of David to rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will bring them back to their land, and I will act mercifully toward them.’ ”

34 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with the armies of all the kingdoms that he ruled, and they fought against Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah. At that time, Yahweh gave me this message: 2 “Go to Zedekiah the King of Judah, and say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to enable the army of the king of Babylon to capture this city, and they will burn it down. 3 You will not escape from them; they will capture you and take you to the king of Babylon. You will meet him and speak with him face to face; then they will take you to Babylon.

4 But King Zedekiah, listen to what Yahweh has promised: “You will not be killed in a battle; 5 you will die peacefully. When you die, people will burn incense to honor you just as they did for your ancestors who were kings before you became king. They will mourn for you, calling out, ‘We are very sad that our king is dead!’ I, Yahweh, promise that will happen.” ’ ”

6 So I took that message to King Zedekiah. 7 At that time the army of Babylonia had surrounded Jerusalem and Lachish and Azekah. Those three cities were the only three cities in Judah that had high walls around them that still had not been captured.

8 King Zedekiah had decreed that the people must free their slaves. 9 He decreed that the people must free their Hebrew slaves, both the men slaves and the women slaves. No one would be allowed to force a fellow Jew to continue to be his slave. 10 The officials and the rest of the people had obeyed what the king decreed, 11 but later they changed their minds. They forced the men and women whom they had freed to become their slaves again.

12 So Yahweh gave me this message to tell to them: 13 “I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, made an agreement with your ancestors long ago, when I rescued them from being slaves in Egypt. 14 I told them that they must free all their Hebrew slaves after the slaves had worked for them for six years. But your ancestors did not pay any attention to what I said. 15 Recently, you obeyed my command and stopped doing what was wrong and did what was right. You made a solemn agreement at my temple that you would free your slaves, and then you freed them. 16 But now you have disregarded what you solemnly promised, and you have shown contempt for what I said by taking back the women and men whom you had freed and said they could live wherever they wanted to. Now you have forced them to be your slaves again.

17 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh, say: ‘Because you have not obeyed me by freeing your fellow Israelites, I will free you to be destroyed by the swords of your enemies and by famines and diseases. All the nations of the earth will be horrified because of what happens to you.18-19 18-19Because you have disregarded what I said in my agreement with you, I will do to you just what you did to the calves that you cut in half to show that you would surely do what you solemnly promised that you would do. I will enable your enemies to cut you into pieces, you officials of Judah and you officials of Jerusalem, and you officials in the palace, and you priests and all you common people. I will do that because you have ignored the fact that you had solemnly promised to free your slaves. 20 I will enable your enemies to capture you, and they will kill you. And your bodies will be food for vultures and wild animals.

21 I will enable the army of the king of Babylon to capture King Zedekiah and his officials. Although the king of Babylon and his army have left Jerusalem for a short time, 22 I will summon them back again. This time, they will fight against this city and capture it and burn it down. I will make sure that all the towns in Judah are destroyed, with the result that no one will live there anymore.’ ”

35 Several years earlier, when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was the king of Judah, Yahweh gave me this message: 2 “Go to the place where families of the Rekab clan live. Invite them to my temple. When they arrive, take them into one of the inside rooms and offer them some wine.”

3 So I went to see Jaazaniah and all his brothers and sons who represented the Rekab clan. Jaazaniah was a son of another man named Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah. 4 I took them to the temple, and we went into the room where the sons of Igdaliah’s son Hanan, who was a prophet, stayed. That room was next to the room that was used by the men who were in charge of the entrances to the temple. It was above the room that belonged to Maaseiah, who was the temple gatekeeper and the son of Shallum.

5 I set jugs of wine and some cups in front of them and urged them to drink some, 6 but they refused. They said, “We do not drink wine, because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rekab, commanded us, saying ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. 7 And you must not build houses or plant vineyards or other crops. Instead, you must always live in tents. If you obey those commands, you all will live for many years in this land.’ 8 So we have obeyed him in all those matters. We have never drunk wine. Our wives and our sons and our daughters have also never drunk wine. 9 We have not built houses or planted vineyards or other crops or worked in fields. 10 We have lived in tents. We have obeyed all the commands that Jonadab, our ancestor, gave us. 11 But when the army of King Nebuchadnezzar attacked this country, we said, ‘We must go to Jerusalem to escape from the armies of Babylonia and Aram.’ So, we came to Jerusalem and we are living here.”

12 Then Yahweh gave this message to me: 13 “This is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say: ‘Go and tell this to the people in Jerusalem and in other places in Judah: “Why do you not listen to me or learn something about how to obey me? 14 The Rechab clan still do not drink wine, because their ancestor Jonadab told them to not do that. In contrast, I have spoken to you many times, but you ignored me and refused to obey me. 15 Many times I sent prophets to you. They told you, ‘Turn away from your wicked behavior, and do things that you should do. Stop worshiping other gods, in order that you will be able to live peacefully in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you would not pay attention to what I said or obey me. 16 The descendants of Jonadab have obeyed their ancestor, but you have refused to pay attention to what I told you.

17 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say: ‘You have refused to listen to me and you did not answer when I called you. Therefore, I will cause the people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah to experience all the disasters that I said that I would cause to happen.’ ” ’ ”

18 Then Jeremiah turned to the Rekab clan and said, “This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says: ‘You have obeyed what your ancestor Jonadab told you. You have obeyed all his instructions. 19 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: “There will always be descendants of Jonadab who will do work for me.” ’ ”

36 When Jehoiakim son of Josiah had been the king of Judah for almost four years, Yahweh gave this message to me: 2 “Get a scroll, and write on it the messages that I have given to you regarding Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Write all of the messages, starting from the time that I gave you the first message, when Josiah was the king, up until now. 3 When the people of Judah hear again about all the disasters that I plan to cause them to experience, perhaps each one of them will repent. If they do that, I will be able to forgive them for the wrong things that they have done.”

4 So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neraiah. Then, as Jeremiah dictated to him all the messages that Yahweh had spoken to him, he wrote them on a scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah said to him, “I am not allowed to leave here and go to the temple. 6 So, you go to the temple on the next day when the people are fasting, and read to them the messages from Yahweh that you wrote while I dictated them to you. Read them aloud to all the people who are there, including the people of Judah who come there from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will turn from their evil behavior and request Yahweh to act mercifully toward them. They must do that, because Yahweh is very angry with them and has threatened to punish them severely.”

8 Baruch did what Jeremiah told him to do. He went to the temple and read to the people all those messages from Yahweh. 9 He did it on the ninth month, on a day when their leaders had proclaimed that all the people in Jerusalem, and the people who had come there from other towns in Judah, should fast to please Yahweh. This happened when Jehoiakim had been king for almost five years. 10 Baruch read to all the people the messages that he had written on the scroll. He read them while he was in the temple, in the room where Gemariah stayed. He was the son of Shaphan, who had previously been the king’s secretary. That room was close to the upper courtyard of the temple, near the entrance to the temple that is called the New Gate.

11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, and grandson of Shaphan, heard these messages from Yahweh, 12 he went down to the secretary’s room in the palace, where all the king’s officials were meeting. Elishama the king’s secretary was there. Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials of the king were also there. 13 When Micaiah told them about the messages that Baruch had been reading to the people, 14 the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, and grandson of Shelemiah and great-grandson of Cushi, to tell Baruch to come and read the messages to them, also. So Baruch took the scroll and went to them. 15 They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch did what they requested.

16 After they had heard all the messages, they were afraid. They looked at each other and then they said, “We must tell these messages to the king!” 17 Then they asked Baruch, “How did you get this scroll? Did Jeremiah dictate to you all the messages on this scroll?”

18 Baruch replied, “Yes, Jeremiah dictated them to me, and I wrote them with ink on this scroll.”

19 Then the officials told Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must both hide. Do not tell anyone where you are!”

20 They put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the king’s secretary. Then they went to the king, who was in the courtyard, and reported to him everything that Baruch had read to them.

21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king, while all the king’s officials were standing there. 22 It was in the cold season, and the king was in a part of the palace where he stayed when it was cold. He was sitting in front of a fire to keep warm. 23 Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king cut off that section of the scroll with a knife and threw it into the fire. He did that, section by section, until the entire scroll was burned up. 24 Neither the king nor his officials showed that they were afraid that God would punish them. They did not tear their clothes to show that they were sorry for what they had done. 25 Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, but he did not pay any attention. 26 Then the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch and me. But they were unable to do that because Yahweh had hidden us.

27 After the king had burned the scroll on which were written the messages that I had dictated to Baruch, Yahweh said this to me: 28 “Get another scroll, and tell Baruch to write everything again, the same messages that he had written on the scroll that King Jehoiakim burned. 29 Then go to the king and say to him, ‘Yahweh says this: You burned the scroll because you did not like what was written on it, that the king of Babylon would surely come with his army and destroy this land and get rid of all the people and the animals. 30 Now this is what I, Yahweh, say about you, Jehoiakim: None of your descendants will rule this kingdom. Your corpse will be thrown out on the ground and not buried; it will be under the hot sun during the days and struck by frost during the nights. 31 I will punish you and your family and your officials for their sins. And I will cause the people of Jerusalem and the people of the other towns in Judah to experience all the disasters that I promised, because you all would not pay attention to what I said!” ’ ”

32 So Jeremiah took another scroll, and again he dictated the messages to Baruch. He wrote everything that had been written on the other scroll, the one that King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. But this time, Jeremiah added more messages.

37 After Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin became king for only three months, after which King Josiah’s son Zedekiah became the king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, appointed him to be the new king. 2 But King Zedekiah and his palace officials and the other people in the land paid no attention to the messages that Yahweh gave me.

3 However, one day King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to me. They requested me to pray to Yahweh our God for our nation.

4 At that time Jeremiah had not yet been put in prison, so he could go and come wherever and whenever he wanted to, without being hindered.

5 At that time, the army of Hophra, the king of Egypt, came to the southern border of Judah. When the army of Babylonia heard about that, they stopped surrounding Jerusalem and left there to fight against the army from Egypt.

6 Then Yahweh gave this message to me: 7 “I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, say this: The king of Judah has sent messengers to you to ask me what is going to happen. Tell the king that even though the army of the king of Egypt came to help him, they are about to return to Egypt. 8 Then the army of Babylonia will return here, capture this city, and burn everything in it.

9 So, this is what Jeremiah said to you Israelites: ‘You should not deceive yourselves, thinking that the army from Babylonia has gone and will not return. That is not true. 10 And even if your soldiers could destroy almost all of the soldiers from Babylonia who are attacking you, and allow only those who were wounded to remain alive in their tents, those men would come out of their tents and completely burn this city.’ ”

11 When the army from Babylonia left Jerusalem because the army from Egypt was approaching, 12 Jeremiah started to leave the city. He intended to go to the area where the descendants of Benjamin live, in order to take possession of my share of the property from my family. 13 But as he was walking out the Benjamin Gate, the head guard seized Jeremiah and said, “You are deserting us and going to the soldiers from Babylonia!” The man who seized him was Irijah son of Shelemiah, and grandson of Hananiah.

14 But Jeremiah protested and said, “That is not true! I was not intending to do that!” But Irijah would not pay attention to what Jeremiah said. He took Jeremiah to the king’s officials. 15 They were very angry with him. They commanded the guards to beat Jeremiah and then to put him in the house where Jonathan the king’s secretary stayed. They had changed Jonathan’s house to make it become a prison.

16 They put Jeremiah in a dungeon in that prison, and he remained there for several days. 17 Then King Zedekiah secretly sent a servant to him, who took Jeremiah to the palace. There the king asked him, “Do you have any messages from Yahweh?” Jeremiah replied, “Yes, the message is that you will be put into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

18 Then Jeremiah asked the king, “What crime have I committed against you or against your officials or against the Israelite people, with the result that you have commanded that I be put in a prison? 19 Your prophets predicted that the army of the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land. Why were their messages not fulfilled? 20 Your majesty, I plead with you to listen to me. Do not send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan your secretary, because if you do that, I will die there.”

21 So King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be sent back to the prison cell. Instead, he was allowed to be watched by the guards in the courtyard of the palace. The king also commanded that they should bring him a loaf of fresh bread every day, until there was no bread left in the city. So they put Jeremiah in that courtyard and he remained there.

38 Four officials, Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah, heard what Jeremiah had been telling all the people. 2 He had been telling them that Yahweh was saying, “Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die. They will be killed by their enemies’ swords or from famines or from diseases. But those who surrender to the Babylonian army will remain alive. They will escape; they will not be killed. 3 Yahweh also says that the army of the king of Babylon will certainly capture this city.”

4 So those officials went to the king and said, “This man Jeremiah should be executed! Because of what he is saying, he is discouraging our soldiers who remain in the city. He is also discouraging the people. He is not saying things that will help us; he is saying things that will defeat us.”

5 King Zedekiah said, “All right, do to him what you want to; I do not have the power to stop you.”

6 So those officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into a cistern in the courtyard. The cistern belonged to Malkijah, who was a son of the king. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a lot of mud, so he sank down deep into the mud.

7 But Ebed-Melek, a palace official from Ethiopia, heard someone say that Jeremiah was in the well. At that time the king was deciding people’s cases at the Benjamin Gate. 8 Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to the king, 9 “Your majesty, those men have done a very evil thing. They have put the prophet Jeremiah in a well. Almost all the food in the city is gone, so no one will be able to bring him any food, and as a result he will die from hunger!”

10 So the king told Ebed-Melek, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the well, in order that he does not die!”

11 So Ebed-Melek took charge of those thirty men; they went into a room in the palace below the room where people had stored things. There they found some old rags and discarded clothing. They took those things and went to the well. They fastened them to a rope and lowered the rope to me. 12 Then Ebed-Melek called down to me, “Put these rags underneath your armpits, to protect you from being injured by the ropes!” So Jeremiah did that. 13 Then they pulled him out of the well. So he stayed in the courtyard where the palace guards were.

14 One day King Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah, and he was brought to the king, who was waiting for him at the entrance of the temple. He said to Jeremiah, “I want to ask you something. I want you to answer me truthfully, and to not conceal anything.”

15 Jeremiah replied, “If I tell you the truth, you will command that I be executed. And if I give you good advice, you will not pay attention to what I say.”

16 But King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “Tell me the truth! And as surely as Yahweh lives, I will not cause you to be executed, and I will not put you into the hands of those who are wanting to kill you.”

17 So then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you and your family will be spared, and this city will not be burned. 18 But if you refuse to surrender to them, you will not escape. And the army from Babylonia will capture this city and completely burn it.’ ”

19 The king replied, “But I am afraid to surrender to the soldiers from Babylon, because their officers may put me into the hands of the people of Judah who have already joined the soldiers from Babylonia, and those people from Judah will mistreat me.”

20 Jeremiah replied, “If you obey Yahweh by doing what I tell you to do, they will not put you into the hands of our people. Things will go well for you, and you will remain alive. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, I will tell you what Yahweh has revealed to me. 22 All the women who remain in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the king of Babylon. Then those women will say to you:

‘You had friends whom you thought you could trust,

but they have deceived you and caused you to make a wrong decision.

Now it is as though you are stuck in mud,

and your friends have abandoned you.’

23 All of your wives and children in the city will be led out to the soldiers from Babylonia, and you also will not escape. The soldiers of the king of Babylon will seize you, and they will burn down this city.”

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not tell anyone what you told me; if you tell anyone, the king’s officials may kill you. 25 If my officials find out that I talked to you, perhaps they will come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you do not tell us, we will kill you.’ 26 If that happens, just tell them that you pleaded with me not to send you back to the dungeon in Jonathan’s house, because you were afraid that you would die if you were put there again.”

27 And that is what happened. The king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked why the king had summoned him. But he told them what the king told him to tell them. So they did not ask Jeremiah any more questions, because no one had heard what the king and Jeremiah had said to each other.

28 So Jeremiah remained being guarded in the courtyard of the palace, until the day that the army of Babylonia captured Jerusalem.

39 After King Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost nine years, King Nebuchadnezzar came in the tenth month of the year with his army, and they surrounded Jerusalem. 2 One and a half years later, after Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, in the eleventh year and fourth month, soldiers from Babylonia broke through the city wall. Then they rushed in and captured the city. 3 Then all the officers of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate to decide what they would do to the city. They included Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar Nebo, Sarsekim who was one of the chief administrative officers, Nergal-Sharezer, the king’s advisor, and many other officials.

4 When King Zedekiah and all his soldiers realized that the army of Babylonia had broken into the city, they fled. They waited until it was dark. Then they went out of the city through the king’s garden, through the gate that was between the two walls. Then they started running toward the plain along the Jordan.

5 But the soldiers from Babylonia pursued the king, and they caught him on the plains near Jericho. They took him to the king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the Hamath. There Nebuchadnezzar told his soldiers what they should do to punish Zedekiah. 6 They forced Zedekiah to watch while they killed his sons and all the officials from Judah. 7 Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes. They fastened him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.

8 Meanwhile, the Babylonian army burned the palace and all the other buildings in Jerusalem. And they tore down the city walls. 9 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the king’s bodyguards, forced to go to Babylon most of the other people who remained in the city and the Jews who had joined the soldiers of Babylonia. 10 But he allowed some of the very poor people to remain in Judah, and he gave them vineyards and fields to take care of.

11 King Nebuchadnezzar had previously told the captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan to find Jeremiah. He said, 12 “Make sure that no one harms him. Take care of him, and do for him whatever he requests you to do.” 13 So he and Nebushazban, who was one of their chief officers, and Nergal-Sharezer the king’s advisor, and other officers of the king of Babylon 14 sent some men to bring Jeremiah out of the courtyard outside of the palace. They took him to Gedaliah who was the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. Then Gedaliah took Jeremiah to his home, and he stayed in Judah among his own people who had been allowed to remain there.

15 But while Jeremiah was still being guarded in the palace courtyard, Yahweh gave him this message: 16 “Say this to Ebed-Melek, the official from Ethiopia: ‘This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says: I will do to this city everything that I said that I would do. Everthing I told you would be done, and you will see it with your own eyes. 17 But I promise to rescue you from the people you are afraid of. This is what I, Yahweh, have promised to you! 18 You trusted me, so I will save you. You will not be killed by our enemies’ swords. You will live. That will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.’ ”

40 The soldiers from Babylonia captured Jeremiah and many other people from Jerusalem and other places in Judah. They planned to take them to Babylon. So they fastened chains around their wrists and took them to Ramah, a town north of Jerusalem. While they were there, Jeremiah was released. This is how it happened: 2 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the king’s guards, found that Jeremiah was there. He summoned Jeremiah and said to him, “Yahweh your God said that he would cause this land to experience a disaster. 3 And now he has caused it to happen. He has done just what he said that he would do, because you people sinned against Yahweh and refused to obey him. 4 But today I am going to take the chains off your wrists and release you. If you want to come with me to Babylon, that will be fine. I will take care of you. But if you do not want to come with me, do not come. Stay here. Look, the entire country is available; you can choose whatever part you want to go to. You can go wherever you think it is best.” Then he took the chains off Jeremiah’s wrists. 5 He said, “If you decide to stay here, go to Gedaliah. The king of Babylon appointed him to be the governor of Judah. You will be allowed to stay here with the people that he is governing. But you can do whatever you want to.”

Then Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and some money, and he allowed him to go.

6 He returned to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and he stayed in Judah with the people who still remained in the land.

7 The Israelite soldiers who had not surrendered to the army of Babylonia were roaming around in the countryside. Then their leaders heard someone say that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to be the governor of the very poor people who were still in Judah, who had not been taken to Babylon. 8 So they went to talk to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Those who went included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai from Netophath, and Jezaniah from Maacah, and the soldiers who were with them. 9 Gedaliah solemnly promised that the soldiers from Babylonia would not harm them. He said, “Do not be afraid to do things for them. Stay here in this land and do things for the king of Babylon. If you do that, things will go well for you. 10 As for me, I will stay here at Mizpah to be your representative to the officials from Babylonia who come to talk with us. But you should return to your towns, and eat the things that are produced on your land. Harvest the grapes and the fruit that ripens in the summer and the olives, make wine and olive oil, and store it.”

11 Then the Jews who had fled to Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other nearby countries heard people say that the king of Babylon had allowed a few people to remain in Judah, and that he had appointed Gedaliah to be their governor. 12 So they began to return to Judah. They stopped at Mizpah to talk with Gedaliah. Then they went to various places in Judea, and they harvested a great amount of grapes and summer fruit.

13 Some time later, Johanan and all the other leaders of the Israelite soldiers who had not surrendered to the army of Babylonia came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 14 They said to him, “Do you know that Baalis, the king of the people of Ammon, has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to assassinate you?” But Gedaliah did not believe what they said.

15 Later Johanan talked with Gedaliah privately. He said, “Allow me to go and murder Ishmael secretly. It would not be good to allow him to come and murder you! If you are killed, what will happen to all the Jews who have returned to this area? They will be scattered, and the other people who remain in Judah will all be killed!”

16 But Gedaliah said to Johanan, “No, I will not allow you to do that. I think that you are lying about Ishmael.”

41 Ishmael son of Nethaniah was a member of the king’s family. He had been one of King Zedekiah’s important officials. In the seventh month of that year, he went to Mizpah with ten other men to talk with Gedaliah. While they were eating together, 2 Ishmael and the other ten men jumped up, and with their swords they killed Gedaliah—the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed to be their governor! 3 Ishmael and the other men also killed all the Jews and the Babylonians who his soldiers found with Gedaliah at Mizpah.

4 The next day, before anyone had found out that Gedaliah had been murdered, 5 eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria came to worship at the temple of Yahweh in Mizpah. They had shaved off their beards and torn their clothes and cut themselves to show that they were mourning. And they had brought grain offerings and incense to burn on the altar. 6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out of the city to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, “Come and see what has happened to Gedaliah!”

7 But as soon as they had all entered the town, Ishmael and his men killed most of them and threw their corpses into a well. 8 There were only ten of them whom they spared. They were not killed because they promised to Ishmael that if he allowed them to remain alive, they would bring him lots of wheat and barley and olive oil and honey that they had hidden. 9 The well where Ishmael’s men had thrown the corpses of the men whom they had murdered was the deep well that King Asa’s men had dug in order that they would have water in the city if the army of King Baasha of Israel would surround the city. Ishmael’s men filled that well with corpses.

10 Then Ishmael and his men captured the king’s daughters and some of the other people who had been left in Mizpah by the chief Babylonian guard Nebuzaradan so that Gedaliah would take care of them. Ishmael and his men took those people and started back toward the Ammon area.

11 But Johanan son of Kareah and all the other leaders of the Israelite soldiers who had not surrendered to the army of Babylonia heard about what Ishmael son of Nethaniah and his men had done. 12 So they immediately went with all their men to stop them. They caught up with them at the large pool near the city of Gibeon. 13 When all the people whom Ishmael and his men had captured saw Johanan and the soldiers who were with him, they shouted joyfully. 14 So all those who had been captured in Mizpah escaped, and they started to help Johanan. 15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped and fled to the Ammon area. 16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and the men who were with him gathered together all the people whom they had rescued at Gibeon. They included soldiers and women and children and some of the king’s palace officials. They were all people whom Ishmael and his men had captured after they had killed Gedaliah. 17 They took them all to Geruth Kimham village near Bethlehem. And they all prepared to go to Egypt. 18 They were worried about what the soldiers of Babylonia would do to them when they found out that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, who had been appointed by the king of Babylonia to be their governor.

42 Then Johanan son of Kereah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the other leaders of the Israelite soldiers who had not surrendered to the army of Babylonia, and many other people, including those who were important and those who were not important, came to me. 2 They said, “Please listen to our request and pray to Yahweh our God for all of us. Although we were previously a huge number of people, you can see that now we are only a small number of people who have survived. 3 Pray that Yahweh our God will show us what we should do and where we should go.”

4 I replied, “Okay, I will pray to Yahweh our God, like you have requested, and I will tell you what he says. I will tell you everything.”

5 They replied to me, “We know that Yahweh our God will be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to do everything that he tells us to do. 6 We are requesting you to ask Yahweh our God what we should do. When he replies, we will obey him, whether we like what he says or not. We will do that because we know that things will go well for us if we obey him.”

7 So I prayed to Yahweh, and ten days later he gave me his reply. 8 So I summoned Johanan son of Kereah and all the other leaders of the and all the other people, including those who were important and those who were not important. 9 I said to them, “You told me to tell Yahweh, the God of Israel what you were requesting. This is what he replied: 10 ‘You should stay here in this land. If you do that, I will cause your nation to be strong and not be weak. I will cause you to prosper and not be exiled again. I will stop the disasters that I made you experience. 11 But do not be afraid of the king of Babylon anymore, because I will be with you. I will rescue you from his power. 12 I will be merciful to you by causing him to act kindly toward you. So as a result, he will allow you to stay here in your land.’

13 But if you refuse to obey Yahweh our God, and if you say ‘We will not stay here; 14 instead, we will go to Egypt. There we will not experience any wars, we will not hear trumpets signaling our soldiers to prepare for battles, and we will not be hungry.’ 15 Listen now! You people who are left in Judah! Listen to what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says to you: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt, and if you go and live there, 16 you will experience those wars and famines that you are afraid of, and you will all die there. 17 That is what will happen to all you who are determined to go to Egypt and live there. Some of you will be killed by the swords of your enemies, and others of you will die from famines and from diseases. None of you will escape the disasters that I will bring on you.’

18 And Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, also says this: ‘Because I was very angry, I severely punished all the people of Jerusalem. I will do the same things to you when you go to Egypt. The result will be that people will curse you. They will be horrified about what has happened to you. They will make fun of you, and you will never see this land again.’

19 You little group of people of Judah who are still alive, listen to me: Yahweh has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ So do not forget what I have warned you today. 20 You made a life-and-death mistake when you requested me to pray to Yahweh our God and claimed to be willing to obey everything he said. 21 So today I have told you exactly what he said, but I know that you will not obey Yahweh our God now, just as you have not obeyed him previously. 22 You want to go to Egypt and live there. So now, you can be sure of this: All of you will die there. Some of you will be killed by the swords of your enemies and others will die from famines or from diseases.”

43 So I finished telling to the people that message from Yahweh our God. 2 But then Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah and some other insolent men said to me, “You are lying! Yahweh our God has not told us that we should not go to Egypt! 3 We think that Baruch son of Neriah has urged you to say this, in order that if we stay here, the soldiers from Babylonia will seize us and kill us or take us to Babylonia.”

4 So Johanan and the other leaders of the Judean soldiers and many of the other people who were there refused to obey Yahweh’s command to stay in Judah. 5 Johanan and all the other leaders gathered together all the people who had returned from the other countries to which they had been scattered. 6 They included men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan had left with Gedaliah, and they also took Baruch and me. 7 They refused to obey Yahweh, and they took us all to Egypt, as far as the city of Tahpanhes.

8 While we were at Tahpanhes, Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 9 “While the people of Judah are watching you, take some large rocks and bury them under the brick pavement at the entrance to the king’s palace there at Tachpanches. 10 Then say to the people of Judah, ‘This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says: “I will summon Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, who does my work, to come with his army to Egypt. I will set up his throne over these stones that I told Jeremiah to bury. And Nebuchadnezzar will set up his tent there to show that he has become the king of Egypt. 11 When his army comes, they will attack Egypt. Then those will die who I have determined must die, those who I have determined must be captured will be captured, and those who I have determined must be killed by swords will be killed by swords. 12 Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt and take away their idols as souvenirs. His troops will clean Egypt like a shepherd cleans lice from his cloak and leave without having been harmed. 13 But before they leave, they will have torn down the pillars that are in the temple of their sun god and burned all of the temple of the false Egyptian gods.” ’ ”

44 This is the message that Yahweh gave me concerning the Judeans who were living in northern Egypt—in Migdol, Tachpanches, and Memphis—and in the region of Pathros in southern Egypt: 2 “This is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say: You saw the disaster that I caused the people in Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah to experience. Those towns are now ruined and deserted. 3 That happened because I was extremely angry with them on account of their being very wicked. They burned incense to other gods and worshiped them. They were gods that you previously did not know about, and your ancestors also did not know about them. 4 Many times I sent my prophets who served me, to say to them, ‘Do not do those abominable things that I hate!’ 5 But my people would not pay any attention to what I said to them. They would not turn away from their wicked behavior, or stop burning incense to worship other gods. 6 So I poured out the consequences of my great anger on them. My punishment fell on the streets of Jerusalem and on the other towns in Judah like a fire. It caused those towns to be ruined and deserted, and they are still like that.

7 So now I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, ask you: Why are you causing yourselves to experience these disasters? Do you not realize that because of what you are doing, soon there will be no more men or women or children or infants left among you who have come here to Egypt from Judah? 8 Why are you provoking me and causing me to be very angry by burning incense to the idols that you have made here in Egypt? If you continue doing this, you will destroy yourselves, and you will cause yourselves to be people whom all the nations on the earth will curse and despise. 9 Have you forgotten how I punished your ancestors for the wicked things that they did, and how I punished the kings and queens of Judah for what they did, and you and your wives for the sins that you committed in the streets of Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah? 10 Up until this day you have not humbled yourselves or revered me. You have not obeyed the laws and decrees that I gave to you and your ancestors.

11 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say: I am determined to cause all of you to experience disasters and to get rid of everyone in Judah. 12 You people from Judah who have survived were determined to come and live here in Egypt. So I will get rid of all of you here in Egypt. Every one of you will die, including those who are important and those who are not important. Some of you will be killed by your enemies’ swords, some will die from famines. You will become people whom others curse, be horrified about, and make fun of. 13 I will punish you here in Egypt like I punished others in Jerusalem, some of whom were killed by their enemies’ swords and some of whom died from famines or diseases. 14 None of you people who came from Judah and now live in Egypt, none of you will be successful in any attempt to escape from Egypt, you will not grow in numbers while you live in Egypt, and you will not be able to return to Judah, even though you desire to return to Judah, you will not be able to go back there to live and make your homes. None of you will be able to return to Judah, except only a very small number of you who will be able to escape from Egypt and to return Judah and live there.”

15 Then a large group of the people who had started to live in northern Egypt and southern Egypt, including all the men who knew that their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, said this to me: 16 “You are saying that Yahweh gave messages to you, but we will not pay any attention to your messages! 17 We will certainly do everything that we said that we would do. We will burn incense to worship our goddess Asherah, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out offerings of wine to her, just like we and our ancestors and our kings and their officials have always done in the streets of Jerusalem and in the other towns in Judah. At that time, we had plenty of food, and we were prosperous and we did not have any troubles. 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and giving her offerings of wine, we have had many troubles, and some of our people have been killed by our enemies or died from hunger.”

19 And the women said, “Furthermore, we burned incense and poured out wine offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and we also made small cakes that resembled her idol, to offer to her, and we poured drinks to honor her. But our husbands certainly knew about and approved of what we were doing!”

20 Then I said to all the men and women who had answered me, 21 “Do not think that Yahweh did not know that you and your ancestors and your kings and their officials and all the other people in Judah were burning incense to worship idols in the streets of Jerusalem and in the other towns in Judah! He knew about it! 22 It was because Yahweh could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things that you were doing that he caused your land to be a place whose name people say when they curse someone, a land that is ruined and which has no one living in it. And your land is still like that. 23 It is because you burned incense to worship idols and committed other sins against Yahweh that you experienced all those disasters. It is because you have not obeyed him or obeyed his laws and decrees and commandments.”

24 Then Jeremiah said to all of them, including the women, “All you people of Judah who are here in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh. 25 This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says to you men: ‘You and your wives have said that you would continue to do what you promised, to burn incense and pour out wine to the goddess whom you call the Queen of Heaven. And you have proved by your actions that you intend to continue to do that. So go ahead and continue doing what you have promised to do for her.’

26 But now, all you people from Judah who are now living here in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh. He says, ‘I have solemnly declared, using my great name, that soon none of you people from Judah who are here in Egypt will ever again use my name. There will be none of you who, when you solemnly promise to do something, will ever again say, “I will do it as surely as Yahweh lives.” 27 Because I will be watching over you, not to cause good things to happen to you but to cause things to happen that will harm you. Almost everyone from Judah who is now here in Egypt will be killed by their enemies’ swords or die from famine until almost all of you have come to an end. 28 Only a very few of you will not die by the sword and will return to Judah. When that happens, all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words were true, theirs or mine.’

29 And Yahweh also says, ‘I will do something that will prove to you that everything that I have said will happen, and that I will punish you here in this place. 30 I will cause Hophra, the king of Egypt, to be captured by his enemies who want to kill him, just like I caused King Zedekiah of Judah to be captured by the soldiers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’ ”

45 After Jehoiakim son of King Josiah had been ruling Judah for almost four years, Baruch son of Neriah wrote down all the messages that the prophet Jeremiah had dictated. Jeremiah gave a message and he said, 2 “Baruch, Yahweh, the God of Israel, has a message for you. 3 You have said, ‘Terrible things are happening to me! I have endured much pain already. And now Yahweh is causing me to be very sad, in addition to my having pain. I am exhausted from my groaning, and I am unable to rest!’

4 But Baruch, this is what Yahweh says: ‘I will destroy this nation that I established. This nation is like a tree that I planted and that I will now pull up with its roots. I will do this everywhere in the world. 5 So, should you desire that people do things to honor you in a special way? Do not desire that. It is true that I will cause all these people to experience a great disaster, but wherever you go, I will protect you, and you will not be killed.’ ”

46 These are messages that Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah about other nations.

2 After Jehoiakim son of King Josiah, had been ruling Judah for almost four years, this message about Egypt was given to me by Yahweh. It was when the army of King Necho of Egypt was defeated by the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Carchemish by the Euphrates River.

This is what Yahweh said: “The officers of the army of Egypt are saying to their troops,

3 ‘Prepare your small and large shields

and march out to fight the battle!

4 Put harnesses on your horses,

and get on their backs.

Get into your positions for the battle;

put on your helmets.

Sharpen your spears,

and put on your armor!’

5 But what do I see?

I see that the soldiers of Egypt will be terrified and will be fleeing.

Even the bravest of their soldiers will be running away,

without even looking backward!

I, Yahweh, say that their soldiers will be terrified on all sides!

6 Even the fastest runners will try to run away,

but even the greatest of their warriors will not escape.

In the north, by the Euphrates River,

they will stumble and fall.

7 What group is this that will be covering the land

like the water of the Nile River covers the land when it floods and its waves surge?

8 The kingdom of Egypt rises and falls

like the Nile that surging with a flood of water,

and Egypt will boast that they will cover the earth

and will destroy cities and the people who live in them.

9 You riders of horses, charge into the battle!

You drivers of chariots, drive furiously like a crazy person!

All you warriors from Ethiopia and Libya

who carry your shields,

you warriors from Lydia

who shoot arrows,

you come!

10 But, you need to know that this is the day when I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will get revenge on my enemies.

With my sword I will kill my enemies until I am satisfied;

my sword will be like a monster that drinks the blood of the animals it kills until it is no longer thirsty.

The enemy soldiers who will be killed in the north beside the Euphrates River

will be like a sacrifice to me, the Lord Yahweh, commander of the angel armies.

11 You innocent people of Egypt,

go up to the region of Gilead to obtain medicine;

but it will be useless to take all those medicines;

you will not be healed.

12 People in the other nations hear how you were humiliated.

People all over the earth hear you wailing.

Your mighty warriors stumble over each other

and they all fall down together.”

13 Then Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah this message about King Nebuchadnezzar when he planned to attack Egypt with his army:

14 “Shout this message throughout Egypt!

Proclaim it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpenes!

‘Get into your positions for the battle;

Prepare to defend yourselves,

because everyone around you will be killed.’

15 Why do those whose strength you trust fall down?

They cannot stand up,

because Yahweh will knock them down.

16 The soldiers from other countries will stumble and fall over each other,

and then they will say to each other,

“Let us get up and go back to our own people, to our own land.

Let us get away from the swords of our enemies!”

17 There in Egypt they will say,

“The king of Egypt talks loudly,

but when our army had an opportunity to defeat our enemies, they failed.”

18 I, the King, who is called Yahweh, commander of the angel armies,

say this:

‘As surely as I live, an army is coming to fight against the army of Egypt.

They will be extremely powerful,

as though they were as tall as Tabor Hill,

or as high as Mount Carmel, close to the Mediterranean Sea.

19 All you people who live in Egypt,

pack your possessions and prepare to be exiled.

Memphis will be destroyed;

it will become a ruin, and no people will be living there.

20 Egypt is like a beautiful young cow,

but a powerful king from the northeast is surely coming to attack it

like a horsefly bites a cow.

21 The mercenaries that Egypt has hired are like fat calves because of the Egyptians’ money;

but they also will turn around and run away;

they will not stand there and fight,

because it will be a day when there will be a great disaster for Egypt,

a day when their people will be greatly punished.

22 The soldiers of Egypt will run away,

as silently as a snake slithers away.

The army of the enemy will advance;

they will march along carrying their axes

like men who cut down trees.

23 I, Yahweh, say that they will kill the soldiers of Egypt

as though they were cutting down a forest of trees,

because the enemy soldiers will be as numerous as a swarm of locusts.

24 The people of Egypt will be humiliated;

they will be conquered by people from the northeast.’

25 I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say, ‘I will punish Amon, the god whom the people of the city of Thebes worship, and all the other gods in Egypt. I will punish the king of Egypt and all those who trust in him. 26 I will cause them to be captured by those who want to kill them—Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and his army officers. But many years later, people will live in Egypt again. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.’

27 But you people of Israel who serve me,

do not be at all dismayed now,

because some day I will bring you back from distant places;

I will bring your descendants from the land to which they were exiled.

Then you Israelite people will again live peacefully and safely,

and there will not be any nation to cause you to be terrified.

28 I, Yahweh, say to you people of Israel who serve me,

‘Do not be afraid,

because I will be with you.

I will completely destroy the nations among whom I have scattered you,

but I will not completely get rid of you.

I will punish you, but I will punish you only as severely as you deserve:

it would be wrong if I did not punish you at all.’ ”

47 Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah a message about the people of Philistia. The message was given to him before the city of Gaza in Philistia was captured by the army of Egypt.

2 This is what Yahweh said:

“An army will be coming from the northeast

that will cover the land like a flood.

They will destroy the land and everything in it;

they will destroy people and cities.

People will scream out for help;

and everyone in the land will wail in mourning.

3 They will hear the sound of the hooves of the enemy horses,

and they will hear the rumble of the wheels of their enemies’ chariots.

Men will run away;

they will not stop to help their own children but

will be completely weak and helpless.

4 It will be the time for all the people of Philistia to be destroyed,

and the time to stop the remaining soldiers from being able to help the people living in the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

I, Yahweh, will destroy the people of Philistia,

those whose ancestors long ago came from Island of Crete.

5 The people of Gaza will be humiliated;

they will shave off all the hair on their heads to indicate that they are ashamed.

The people of the city of Ashkelon will all be silent because they will be mourning.

All you people who live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea who are still alive,

how long will you gash yourselves because you are mourning?”

6 The people of Philistia say, “Yahweh, when will you tell our enemies to stop killing us with their swords?

Tell them to put them back into their sheaths and allow them to stay there!”

7 But it would not be right for their swords to stay there,

because Yahweh has commanded their enemies to do something more;

Yahweh intends to tell them to attack all the people living in Ashkelon and in other cities along the coast.

48 This is a message about Moab. Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says,

“Terrible things will happen to the city of Nebo;

it will soon be ruined.

The city of Kiriathaim will be put to shame. It is taken!

The defended fortress will be ruined, and its people will become ashamed.

2 No one will boast about Moab again;

the enemies of Moab will plan to destroy the capital city, Heshbon.

They will say, ‘Come, let us cause Moab to no longer be a nation.’

You also, You Madmen! You also will be silenced;

enemy armies will pursue you to kill you.

3 Listen to the people of Horonaim screaming;

they will be wailing because their town was completely destroyed.

4 All of Moab will be ruined;

even the little children will cry loudly.

5 They will cry bitterly

as they climb up Luhith hill.

Others will wail on the road down to Horonaim.

They were so very sad because their town was completely destroyed.

6 Someone will say to them, ‘Flee!

Hide in the desert!’

7 But you trusted that because you were rich and powerful, you would be safe;

so you will be captured.

Your god Chemosh and all his priests and officials

will be taken away to distant lands.

8 All the towns in Moab will be destroyed;

none of them will escape.

Towns in the valleys and on the plateau will all be destroyed,

because Yahweh has said that is what will happen.

9 Someone should help all the people in Moab to run away,

so that their land will be empty,

so that no one will live in it any longer.”

10 May Yahweh punish anyone who will not eagerly do what he desires;

may he curse anyone who refrains from using his sword to kill the people in Moab.

11 The people of Moab have always felt secure;

they have never been exiled.

They are like wine that has been left undisturbed in a container for many days to give it good flavor,

so now it is smells good,

and it tastes good.

12 But Yahweh says that there will be a time when he will send enemies to attack them;

they will get rid of the people of Moab like people pour out wine on the ground

and then smash the wine jar.

13 Then the people of Moab will be ashamed of their god Chemosh that they had trusted in, because it did not help them,

like the Israelite people were ashamed because their gold statue of a calf was smashed at Bethel.

14 The soldiers of Moab previously said, “We are warriors;

we have fought bravely in battles!”

15 But now our king, who is called Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says that the country of Moab and all the towns in it will be destroyed.

Their fine young men will all be slaughtered.

16 Moab will very soon be destroyed.

They will soon experience disaster.

17 You people who live in nations near Moab,

who know that it is very famous,

should mourn for Moab,

and say, “Its glorious power is completely ended.”

18 You people of the city of Dibon, stop being proud because of being honored,

and sit in the dust where you will thirst for water,

because those who will destroy other places in Moab will attack your city

and destroy your fortifications.

19 You people of the city of Aroer,

stand along the road and watch.

Shout to the men and women who will be fleeing from Moab,

“What has happened there?”

20 They will reply,

“Moab is ruined and we are disgraced!”

So weep and wail.

Proclaim to Amon that Moab has been destroyed.

21 Yahweh is punishing the towns of Moab that are on the plateau:

Holon and Jahaz and Mephaath,

22 Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,

23 Kiriathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,

24 Kerioth and Bozrah.

He is punishing cities that are near each other and towns that are far away from each other.

25 Yahweh says, “The power of Moab will be finished;

it is as though it will have a broken arm.

26 You people of Moab thought you were powerful enough to rebel against me, Yahweh;

so now I will cause you all to stagger like drunken people.

You people of Moab will wallow in your own vomit

and be ridiculed.

27 Did you not ridicule the people of Israel?

Did you think they were nothing but thieves,

so that you shook your head at them with scorn,

and despised them every time you spoke about them?

28 You people who live in Moab,

you should abandon your towns and go and live in caves.

Be like pigeons that make their nests in the entrances of caves.”

29 We have all heard that the people of Moab are very proud;

they are extremely proud and conceited.

30 But Yahweh says, “I know about that,

but it is useless for them to boast

because it will accomplish nothing.

31 So now I will wail for Moab;

I will cry about all its people.

I will moan for the men of the city of Kir Hareseth, the old capital of Moab.

32 You people of the city of Sibmah, you have many vineyards, and I will be sad when they are destroyed.

It is as though the branches of your vines extend across the Dead Sea to the city of Jazer, but the enemies of Moab will take your grapes and wine from you!

33 But no one will be joyful or happy in Moab now;

your fruit and grapes that ripen in the summer will soon be destroyed.

There will be no grape juice coming from the winepresses,

so there will be no wine.

People will not shout joyfully

as they tread on the grapes;

people will shout,

but they will not be shouting joyfully.

34 Instead, the sound of their wailing will rise from the city of Heshbon to the town of Elealeh and the village of Jahaz,

from the city of Zoar as far as the town of Horonaim Eglath Shelishiyah.

Even the water in the stream of Nimrim will be dried up.

35 I, Yahweh, say that I will get rid of the people who offer sacrifices on the hilltops,

those who burn incense to their gods.

36 I moan for the people of Moab and Kir Hareseth

like someone playing a funeral song on a flute,

because all their wealth will disappear.

37 The men will shave their heads and their beards to show that they are mourning.

They all will slash their hands and wear rough cloth around their waists.

38 In every home and in the town plazas in Moab there will be people who are mourning,

because I will have destroyed Moab

like someone smashes an old jar that no one wants anymore.

39 Moab will be completely shattered with terror!

And you will hear the people wailing loudly!

They will be disgraced.

Moab will become a nation that people ridicule.

The people in nearby countries will be horrified about what has happened there.

40 This is what I, Yahweh, say:

‘Look! Their enemies will be swooping down over Moab

like an eagle swoops down to seize an animal.

41 Its cities will be captured,

its fortresses will be seized.

Even their warriors will be afraid,

like a woman who is about to give birth.

42 Moab boasted against me, Yahweh,

so it will be destroyed.

43 I, Yahweh, say that you people of Moab will be terrified, and fall into pits and traps.

44 Those who are terrified and try to run away will fall into deep pits.

Whoever climbs out of a pit will be caught in a trap,

because I will punish them at the time that I have appointed.’

45 The people will flee as far as the city of Heshbon,

but they will not be able to go any further,

because a fire will burn in Heshbon,

which is the city where King Sihon lived long ago,

and it will burn up all the people in Moab

who noisily boasted very much.

46 You people of Moab, terrible things will happen to you!

You people who worship your god Chemosh, you will be destroyed.

Your sons and your daughters will be captured and taken away to other countries.

47 But some day, I will enable the people of Moab to return to their land again.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

That is the end of what Jeremiah prophesied about Moab.

49 This message is about the people who descended from Ammon. This is what Yahweh says:

“There are plenty of Israelite people left

to occupy the land of the tribe of Gad.

So, why are the people who worship the god Molech living in those towns?

2 There will be a time when I will sound the battle cry

for their enemies to attack their capital city, Rabbah.

Then it will become a heap of ruins,

and all the nearby towns will be burned.

Then the people of Israel will again possess the land

that the people of Ammon took away from them.

3 You people of the city of Heshbon, wail,

because the city of Ai will be destroyed.

You women in the city of Rabbah, weep;

put on rough clothing to show you are mourning;

run back and forth in confusion inside the city walls,

because your god Molech, along with its priests and officials, will be taken away in exile.

4 Why do you brag about your valleys,

your valleys that are so fruitful, you faithless daughter?

You think that your wealth will bring you protection against your enemies

and so you dare to ask, “Who is there who can come against me?’

5 But listen to this: I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies,

will cause you to become terrified.

You will all be forced to flee to other countries from the enemies all around you,

and no one will be able to bring you together again.

6 But some day I will enable the Ammonite people to return to their land.

That will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

7 This message is about the people of Edom. This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says:

“It seems that there are no longer any wise people in Teman district in Edom!

There are no people left who can give others good advice.

The people who were wise have disappeared.

8 You people of the city of Dedan, in the south of Edom,

turn and flee and hide in deep caves,

because I am causing disaster to happen to all the people of Edom,

I will punish you!

9 Those who harvest grapes

always leave some on the vines.

When thieves come at night,

they surely steal only as much as they want.

10 But I will cause everything in Edom to be destroyed, and there will be nothing left,

and there will be no place for people to hide.

Many of the children, their relatives and their neighbors, will die,

and Edom will not exist anymore.

11 Leave behind the orphans because I will take care of them,

and the widows also will be able to depend on me to help them.”

12 And this is also what Yahweh says: “If those who do not deserve to suffer must suffer, you people of Edom must suffer much more! You will not escape being punished. 13 I, Yahweh, have solemnly promised, using my own name, that your chief city Bozrah will become a place that people will be horrified about. It will be a heap of ruins. People will make fun of it and use its name when they curse people. All the nearby towns and villages will be ruined forever.”

14 I heard this message from Yahweh:

“I have sent an ambassador to many nations,

to tell them to gather together to attack Edom.

They must prepare for battle!”

15 And Yahweh says to the people of Edom,

“I will cause your nation to become very unimportant among the other nations.

They will all despise your country.

16 You have caused people of other nations to be terrified,

and you have been very proud,

but you have deceived yourselves.

You live in caves in the rock cliffs;

you think that you are safe there because you live high up there.

But even if you make your homes as high up as the eagles’ nests,

I will cause you to come crashing down.

17 Edom will become a place about which people are horrified;

people who pass by will be horrified and will gasp

when they see the destruction.

18 Edom will be destroyed as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns were destroyed long ago.

As a result, no one—not a single person—will live there anymore.

19 I will come to Edom suddenly as a lion comes out of the jungle

and leaps on sheep that are eating in good pastures.

I will quickly chase the people of Edom from their land.

And then I will appoint for them a leader whom I will choose;

I can do that because there is no one like me who can object to what I do.

No ruler can oppose me.

20 Listen to what I have planned to do to the people of Teman and the rest of Edom:

even the little children will be dragged away,

and I will completely get rid of the people who live there.

21 When Edom is destroyed, the noise will be extremely great,

with the result that the earth will shake,

and the wailing of the people will be heard as far away as the Sea of Reeds.

22 Look! The enemy troops will swoop down over Bozrah

like an eagle spreads its wings when it swoops down to seize an animal.

On that day, even the strongest warriors of Edom will be afraid

like a woman who is about to give birth.”

23 This message is about Damascus. This is what Yahweh says:

“The people in the nearby cities of Hamath and Arpad will be ashamed,

because they have heard bad news about Damascus.

They are very anxious and restless,

like a sea in a big storm.

24 The people of Damascus have become very weak,

and they all have panicked and run away in terror.

The people are anguished and in pain

like a woman experiences who is about to give birth.

25 But even now the people of that famous city have not yet abandoned it. That was the city that gave me joy.

26 Its young men will fall in the streets.

Its soldiers will all be killed in one day.

27 And I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will start a fire to burn the walls that surround Damascus,

and the palaces of King Ben Hadad will be burned down.”

28 This is a message about the Kedar people and the kingdom of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is attacking. This is what Yahweh said:

“I will cause an army to advance to attack Kedar

and destroy those people who live east of Judah.

29 Enemies will capture their tents and their flocks of sheep.

They will take away the curtains of their tents, their camels, and all of their other possessions.

Everywhere men will shout,

‘We are terrified because terrible things are happening all around us!’

30 So I, Yahweh, say, ‘Run away quickly!

You people who live in Hazor, go and hide in deep caves,

because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon wants to attack you with his army;

he is planning to destroy you!’

31 But I say to Nebuchadnezzar,

‘Go up and attack that nation whose people feel secure;

they do not have allies who will help them and do not have walls with gates that have bars in them.

32 Your troops will seize their camels and other livestock.

I will scatter in every direction those people who will be in great mourning.

I will bring disasters to them from every direction.

33 Hazor will become a place where jackals live,

and it will be deserted forever.

No one will live there again;

no people will settle there.’ ”

34 The prophet Jeremiah received this message from Yahweh when King Zedekiah was starting to rule Judah.

35 This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says:

“The men of Elam are famous archers;

that is how they have made their country very powerful.

But I will get rid of them.

36 I will bring their enemies from every direction

and they will scatter the people of Elam in all of those directions.

The people of Elam will be exiled to every nation on the earth.

37 Because I am very angry with the people of Elam,

I will enable their enemies to smash Elam;

I will cause the people of Elam to experience great disasters.

I will enable their enemies, who want to kill them, to pursue them and kill them with swords

until I completely get rid of all of them.

38 I, Yahweh, will judge them there,

and then I will get rid of their king and his officials.

39 But some day, I will enable the people of Elam to return to their land.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

50 Yahweh gave to Jeremiah the prophet a message about Babylon and the country of Babylonia.

2 This is what Yahweh says:

“Proclaim a message among the nations;

do not withhold any of it;

raise up a signal flag

to announce that Babylon will be captured.

Its chief god Marduk, whose other name is Bel, will be completely disgraced,

and all the other statues and idols will be shattered.

3 The army of a nation will come from the north to attack Babylon

and destroy the city very thoroughly,

with the result that no one will live there again.

Both people and animals will run away.”

4 “But I, Yahweh, say that in the future, when that is about to happen,

the people of Israel and the people of Judah will join together.

They will be weeping

and wanting to worship me, their God.

5 They will inquire about the road to Jerusalem,

and then they will start traveling toward it.

They will say to each other,

‘We must return to Yahweh again!’

They will make an everlasting agreement with me that they will never forget.

6 My people have been like lost sheep.

Their leaders have caused them to abandon me

like shepherds who have allowed their sheep to wander in the hills and mountains.

My people are like sheep

that do not know the path to return to the sheepfold.

7 All their enemies who found them attacked them.

They said, ‘We did not sin by attacking them,

because they sinned against Yahweh;

he is the one who provides what they need;

he is the one to whom they should have remained faithful;

he is the one whom their ancestors confidently expected to help them.’

8 But now, I say to the leaders of my people, ‘Depart from Babylon!

Leave the land of Babylonia!

Act like male goats that go in front of the rest of the flock;

lead my people back to their own land.

9 Do that because I am going to gather an army of great nations to the north of Babylon.

They will join together to attack Babylon and will capture it.

Their arrows will be like skilled warriors

that always hit what they are aiming at.

10 Babylonia will be conquered,

and those who conquer it will take away everything they want.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.’ ”

11 “You people of Babylon who plundered my chosen people,

now you are very happy.

You run around joyfully like a calf in a meadow,

and are happy like stallions are happy when they are neighing.

12 But soon your people will be very disgraced as a result of being conquered.

Your country will be the most insignificant nation;

it will be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert plain.

13 Because I, Yahweh, am angry with you people of Babylon,

I will cause your city to become completely deserted.

All who pass by will be horrified

and will gasp because of the destruction there.

14 All you nations that surround Babylon,

prepare to attack it!

Tell your archers to shoot at their enemies;

shoot all of your arrows at them and do not hold back,

because the people of Babylon have sinned against me, Yahweh.

15 Shout victorious war cries against Babylon from all sides of the city.

The soldiers of Babylon will surrender;

the towers and walls will be torn down.

It is I, Yahweh, who will be getting revenge on the people of Babylon,

and I will use you to get revenge.

Do to the people of Babylon what they have done to others!

16 Take away from Babylon those who plant crops

and those who reap the harvests!

Because of the swords carried by those who will attack Babylon,

the people in Babylon who have come from other countries

should all run away; they should go back to their own countries.”

17 “The Israelite people are like sheep

that have been scattered by lions.

First the army of the king of Assyria defeated them.

Then the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon smashed them.

18 So this is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say:

‘Now I will punish the king of Babylon and the people of his land,

like I punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring the people of Israel back to their own land

where they will eat the food that grows in the fields of the regions of Carmel and Bashan,

and the people in the hill areas of Ephraim and Gilead will have all they want to eat.

20 At that time, there will not be people in Israel and in Judah who are still guilty for having sinned,

because I will forgive the small group of people whom I enable to still be alive.’ ”

21 “So, I, Yahweh, say to the enemies of Babylonia, ‘Attack the people who live in the region of Merathaim

and the people in the region of Pekod of Babylonia.

Pursue them to kill them, and completely get rid of every single one of them,

as I have commanded you to do.

22 Shout your battle cries throughout the land;

shout when you are causing great destruction.

23 The army of Babylon is like the most powerful hammer on the earth,

but it will be completely shattered.

Babylon, one of the nations, will be a complete ruin.’

24 You people of Babylon, listen,

because I have set a trap for you without your awareness;

you will be caught in that trap,

because you fought against me.

25 It is as though I have opened the place where I store my weapons,

and I have brought out all the weapons

to use against the people with whom I am angry.

I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, have a lot of work to do

to punish the people of Babylonia.

26 So, you enemies of Babylonia, come from distant lands and attack it.

Break open the places where they store the grain,

and pile up the rubble like heaps of grain.

Destroy everything completely;

do not leave anything that is not destroyed.

27 Destroy all the young warriors who are as strong as bulls;

take them to where you will slaughter them.

It will be terrible for them,

because it will be time for them to be punished.

28 Listen to the people who have fled and escaped from Babylon

while they tell in Jerusalem how I, Yahweh, have gotten revenge against those who destroyed my temple in Jerusalem.

29 Summon archers to come to attack Babylon;

surround the city

in order that no one will escape.

Do to the people of Babylon what they have done to others ,

because they have defied me, the Holy One of the Israelite people.

30 The young men of Babylon will fall in the streets;

all their soldiers will be killed in one day. This will happen because I, Yahweh, have declared it!

31 I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, say this:

‘You arrogant people,

it is now the time;

it is the day when I will punish you.

32 Your land is full of proud people,

but you will stumble and fall,

and no one will lift you up again.

I will light a fire in the cities of Babylonia

that will burn up everything that is nearby.’

33 I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also say this:

‘The people of Israel and Judah were oppressed;

those who captured them guarded them carefully and would not allow them to leave Babylon.

34 But Yahweh is strong, and he will free them.

Yahweh is the Commander of the angel armies;

He will defend his people

and enable them to return to their land where they will have peace,

but the people of Babylonia will not have peace.

35 He will send enemy soldiers carrying swords to strike the people of Babylonia;

they will strike the officials and wise men

and all the other people who live in Babylon.

36 They will strike their false prophets with swords

and they will become foolish.

They will strike the strongest warriors of Babylonia,

and they will all be terrified.

37 They will strike their horses and chariots

and the foreign mercenaries who are in the army of Babylonia,

and they will all become as weak as women.

They will seize all the valuable things there in Babylon

and take them away.

38 Yahweh will cause the streams to become dry.

He will do all those things because the entire land of Babylonia is filled with idols,

and those horrible idols have caused the people who worship them to become crazy.

39 Soon only jackals and other wild creatures will live there;

and it will be a place where ostriches live.

People will never live there again;

it will be uninhabited forever.

40 Yahweh God will destroy Babylon like he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns;

no one will ever live there again.

41 Look! A great army will come from the north.

A great nation far away with many kings is preparing to attack you people of Babylon.

42 Their army has bows and arrows and spears;

they are very cruel, and do not act mercifully to anyone.

As they ride along on their horses,

the sound of the horses’ hooves is like the roaring of the ocean waves;

they are riding in battle formation

to attack you, you people of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon heard their report,

“The enemy is approaching.”

So he was frightened and became weak.

Fear and anguish gripped him,

like a woman who is about to give birth to a baby.”

44 I, Yahweh, will come to Babylon suddenly like a lion comes out of the jungle

and leaps on the sheep that are eating the good pastureland.

I will quickly chase the people of Babylonia from their land.

And then I will appoint for them a leader whom I will choose;

I will do that because there is no one like me who can say that what I have done is not right.

No ruler can oppose me.

45 Listen to what I have planned to do to the people of Babylon city and the rest of Babylonia:

even the little children will be dragged away,

and I will completely destroy the people who live there.

46 When Babylon is destroyed, the noise will be extremely loud,

with the result that the earth will shake,

and the wailing of the people will be heard by the people of other nations.’ ”

51 This is what Yahweh says:

“I will inspire an army to destroy Babylon like a powerful wind,

and also to destroy the people of Babylonia in Leb Kamai.

2 I will send a foreign army to come to get rid of Babylonia

like a strong wind that blows away chaff.

They will attack from every direction

on that day of disaster.

3 I will tell them, ‘Do not allow the archers of Babylon to have time to put on their armor

or draw their bows.

Do not spare the young men of Babylon.

Completely destroy their army.’

4 Their soldiers will fall dead in Babylonia;

they will die after being impaled by spears in the streets.

5 I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, whom Israel worships, have not abandoned Israel and Judah.

Even though their land was filled with people who sinned against me, the Holy God of Israel,

I am still their God.

6 You people of Israel and Judah, flee from Babylon!

Run to escape!

Do not stay there and be killed when the people of Babylon are punished!

It will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge;

He will do to them what they deserve.

7 Babylon has been like a gold cup in Yahweh’s hand, a cup that is full of wine

that caused people all over the earth who drank some of it to become drunk.

It is as though the rulers of the nations drank the wine from Babylon,

and it caused them to become crazy.

8 But suddenly Babylon will be conquered.

Weep for its people!

Give them medicine for their wounds;

perhaps they can be healed.”

9 We foreigners would have tried to heal them,

but now they cannot be healed.

So we will not try to help them; we will abandon them,

and return to our own lands,

because it is as though the punishment they are receiving reaches up to the clouds in the sky;

it is very great, with the result that no one can measure it.

10 Yahweh has vindicated us;

so let us proclaim in Jerusalem everything that Yahweh our God has done for us.

11 You enemy soldiers, sharpen your arrows!

Fill up your quivers for battle,

because Yahweh has incited your kings of Media and Persia to march with their armies to Babylon and to destroy it.

That is how Yahweh will get revenge on those foreigners who entered his temple in Jerusalem and defiled it.

12 Lift up a battle flag close to the walls of Babylon!

Reinforce the guards,

and tell the watchmen to stand in their positions!

Prepare an ambush,

because Yahweh is about to accomplish all that he has planned to do to the people of Babylon.

13 Babylon is a city near the great Euphrates River,

a city in which there are many rich people,

but it is time for Babylon to be finished;

the time for the city to exist is ended.

14 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies has solemnly promised, using his own name,

“Your cities will be filled with your enemies;

I will cause them to be like a swarm of locusts;

and they will shout triumphantly when they conquer your city.”

15 Yahweh created the earth by his power;

he established it by his wisdom,

and he stretched out the sky by his understanding.

16 When he speaks loudly, there is thunder in the sky;

he causes clouds to form in every part of the earth.

He sends lightning with the rain

and releases the winds from his storehouses.

17 People are as senseless as a beast, and they know very little;

those who make idols are always disappointed,

because their idols do nothing for them.

The images that they make are not real gods;

they are lifeless.

18 Idols are worthless; they deserve to be ridiculed;

there will be a time when they will all be destroyed.

19 But the God of Israel is not like those idols;

he is the one who created everything that exists;

we, the tribe of Israel, belong to him;

his name is Yahweh, commander of the angel armies.

20 Yahweh says about the army of Babylonia,

“You are like my weapons of war and my war club;

with your power I shatter nations

and destroy many kingdoms.

21 With your power I shatter armies of other nations:

I destroy their horses and their riders, their chariots and their chariot drivers.

22 With your power I shatter men and women,

old people and children,

young men and young women.

23 With your power I shatter shepherds and their flocks of sheep,

farmers and their oxen,

governors and their officials.”

24 But, Yahweh also says,

“Soon I will repay you people in Babylon and in the rest of Babylonia

for all the evil things that you have done in Jerusalem.

25 Babylonia is like a great mountain

from which bandits descend to plunder people all over the earth.

But I, Yahweh, am the enemy of you people of Babylonia.

I will raise my fist to strike you.

I will knock you down from the cliffs

and cause you to be only a huge pile of burned rubble.

26 Your city will be abandoned forever;

even the stones in your city will never again be used for buildings.

Your city will be completely destroyed.”

27 Tell the nations to lift up a battle flag!

Tell them to blow their trumpets of war!

Gather all their armies to fight against Babylon!

Prepare the nations to attack Babylon.

Summon the armies of the kingdoms north of Babylonia—from Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.

Appoint a commander for them,

and bring a great number of horses;

there must be a huge number of horses; that huge number will resemble a swarm of locusts.

28 Prepare the armies of other nations,

armies that will be led by the kings of Media and Persia,

their governors and their officials.

29 When they attack Babylon, it will be as though the earth will shake and writhe in pain,

because those armies will accomplish everything that Yahweh has planned to do to Babylon.

Then the nations will destroy it completely,

with the result that no one will live there again.

30 When their enemies attack, the strongest warriors in Babylon will not fight.

They will remain in their barracks, without any strength.

They will be as timid as women.

The enemy soldiers will burn the buildings in the city

and break the bars of the city gates into pieces.

31 Messengers will go quickly, one after another,

to tell the king that his city has been captured.

32 The places at which people can cross the river to escape from the city will be blocked.

The dry reeds in the marshes will be set on fire,

and the soldiers of Babylon will be terrified.

33 This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, whom Israel worships, says;

“Babylon is like wheat on the ground where it is about to be threshed

by animals tramping on it.

Very soon their enemies will trample on the city of Babylon.”

34 The army of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has attacked and crushed us Israelites,

and we have no strength left.

It is as though they have swallowed us like a great monster

that filled its belly with all our tasty parts,

and then has spit out what it did not like.

35 So the people of Jerusalem say to Yahweh,

“Cause the people of Babylon to suffer

like they caused us to suffer!

Cause the people of Babylonia to be punished for killing our people!”

36 And this is what Yahweh replies to the people of Jerusalem:

“I will be like your lawyer to defend you,

and I will avenge you.

I will dry up the river in Babylon

and all the springs of water.

37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,

a place where jackals live.

It will become a place that people are horrified about and will ridicule;

it will be a place where no one lives.

38 The people of Babylon will all roar like young lions;

they will growl like baby lions.

39 But while they are extremely hungry,

I will prepare a different kind of feast for them.

I will cause them to drink wine until they are very drunk,

with the result that they will fall asleep.

But they will never wake up from that sleep!

40 I will bring them down to a place where they will be slaughtered,

like someone who takes lambs or rams or goats to where they will be slaughtered for sacrifices.

41 People all over the earth now honor Babylon;

they say that it is a great city.

But it will become a place about which people of all nations are horrified.

42 The enemies of Babylon will cover the city like huge waves of the sea.

43 The towns in Babylonia will be a horror, a dry and desert plain,

and it will be a land in which no one lives

and which no one walks through.

44 And I will punish Bel, the god that the people of Babylon worship,

and I will cause the people to give back what they have stolen.

People of other nations will no longer come to worship Bel.

And the walls of Babylon will collapse.”

45 Yahweh also says, “My people, come out of Babylon!

Flee to escape!

Run, because I, Yahweh, am extremely angry with the people of Babylon, and I will get rid of them!

46 Do not be discouraged or afraid

when you hear reports about what is happening in Babylon.

People will report rumors like that every year,

rumors about violent things being done in the land,

and rumors about leaders fighting against each other.

47 But it will soon be the time for me to get rid of the carved idols in Babylon.

People all over the land will be ashamed because of being defeated,

and the corpses of their soldiers will lie in the streets.

48 Then all the angels in heaven and all the people on the earth will rejoice,

because from the north will come armies that will destroy Babylon.

49 Like the soldiers of Babylon killed the people of Israel

and also killed others all over the world,

the people of Babylon must also be killed.

50 You Israelite people who have not been killed, get out of Babylon!

Do not wait!

Even though you are in a land far away from Israel,

think about Yahweh, and think about Jerusalem!”

51 The Israelite people say,

“We are ashamed.

We are completely disgraced,

because foreigners have entered Yahweh’s temple and defiled it.”

52 Yahweh replies, “That is true, but there will soon be a time when I will destroy the carved idols in Babylon,

and throughout Babylonia there will be wounded people who will groan.

53 Even if the walls around Babylon could extend up to the sky,

and if its walls were extremely strong,

I will send armies that will destroy the city.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

54 Listen to the people of Babylon shouting for help!

And listen to the sounds of things being destroyed all over Babylonia!

55 Yahweh will be destroying Babylon.

He will cause the loud noises in the city to cease.

56 Enemy troops will surge against the city like a great wave.

They will capture the city’s mighty soldiers

and break their weapons.

That will happen because Yahweh is a God who punishes his enemies justly;

he will punish them as they deserve.

57 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says,

“I will cause the city officials and wise men, the army captains and soldiers, to become drunk.

They will fall asleep,

but they will never wake up again!”

58 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says,

“The thick walls around Babylon will be flattened to the ground.

The city gates will be burned.

People from other countries will work hard to save the city,

but it will be in vain,

because everything that they have built will be destroyed by fire.”

59 Seraiah, son of Neraiah and grandson of Mahseiah, was an important servant of King Zedekiah. After Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost four years, the prophet Jeremiah gave him a message. This was when Seraiah was about to go to Babylon with the king. 60 Now Jeremiah had written on a scroll a list of all the disasters that he had written about, disasters that would soon happen to Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, read aloud everything that I have written on this scroll. 62 Then pray, ‘Yahweh, you said that you will thoroughly destroy Babylon, with the result that people and animals will no longer live there. You said that it will be desolate forever.’ 63 Then, when you have finished reading what is written on the scroll, tie it to a heavy stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon and its people will disappear and never exist again, because of the disasters that Yahweh will bring to it.’ ”

This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages.

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of a man named Jeremiah from Libnah. 2 Zedekiah did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his father Jehoiakim had done. 3 The events described here happened because Yahweh was angry with the people of Jerusalem and of other places in Judah, and finally he exiled them and said that he did not want to have anything to do with them anymore.

Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 So, on the tenth day of the tenth month, when Zedekiah had been ruling for almost nine years, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built dirt ramps up to the top of the city walls to enable them to attack the city. 5 They continued to surround Jerusalem until Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years.

6 When Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, on the ninth day of the fourth month of that year, the famine in the city had become very severe, and there was no more food for the people to eat. 7 Then the soldiers of Babylonia broke through a section of the city wall, and all the Israelite soldiers fled. But because the city was surrounded by soldiers from Babylonia, Zedekiah and the Israelite soldiers waited until it became dark. Then they left the city through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they ran toward the plain along the Jordan. 8 But the soldiers of Babylonia pursued King Zedekiah, and they caught up with him on the plains near Jericho. He was alone because all his men had all deserted him and had scattered. 9 The soldiers of Babylonia took him to the king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the region of Hamath. There the king of Babylon told his soldiers what they should do to punish Zedekiah. 10 They forced Zedekiah to watch while they killed his sons and all the officials from Judah. 11 Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes. They fastened him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. They put him in a prison, and he remained there until the day that he died.

12 On the tenth day of the fifth month of that year, which was when King Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost nineteen years, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the king’s bodyguards and one of the king’s officials, arrived in Jerusalem. 13 He commanded his soldiers to burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. They also destroyed all the important buildings in the city. 14 Then he supervised the soldiers from Babylonia while they tore down the walls on all sides of Jerusalem. 15 Then Nebuzaradan forced to go to Babylon some of the poorest people, those Israelites who had said they would support the king of Babylon, the rest of the craftsmen, and other people who had remained in Jerusalem. 16 But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to remain in Judah to take care of the vineyards and fields.

17 The soldiers from Babylonia broke into pieces the huge bronze pillars that were in front of the temple, and the large bronze water tank called “The Sea,” and the ten bronze water carts, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away the basins for holding the ashes from the burned sacrifices, the shovels for cleaning out the ashes, the tools for snuffing out the wicks of the lamps, the basins for holding the blood of the sacrificed animals, the dishes for incense, and all the other bronze items that were used when they made sacrifices at the temple. 19 Nebuzaradan also told his soldiers to take away the small bowls, the dishes for burning incense, the basins, pots, lampstands, bowls for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out the wine offerings. They took all the other items that were made of pure gold or silver.

20 The bronze from the two pillars, the large water tank called “The Sea” and the twelve statues of oxen that were beneath it, and the water carts, was more than they could weigh. Those things had been made for the temple during the time that Solomon was the king. 21 Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and each had sides that were 3 inches thick. 22 The bronze head on the top of each pillar was seven and one-half feet high and was decorated all around with a bronze network of figures that represented pomegranates. 23 There was a total of one hundred figures of pomegranates on the network at the top, 96 of which could be seen from the ground.

24 When Nebuzaradan returned to Babylon, he took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah who was Seraiah’s deputy, and the three men who guarded the entrances to the temple. 25 He found some other people who were hiding in the city. So from them he took a commander of the army of Judah, seven of the king’s advisors, the army commander’s chief secretary who was in charge of recruiting soldiers for the army, and sixty other soldiers. 26 Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon, who was still at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah in the Hamath region, the king of Babylon commanded that they all be executed.

Many of the people of Judah were forced to leave their own land. 28 The number of people who were captured and sent to Babylon at that time, when Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost seven years, was 3, 023. 29 Then, when he had been ruling for almost eighteen years, his soldiers took 832 more from Jerusalem to Babylonia. 30 When he had been ruling almost twenty-three years, he sent Nebuzaradan to Jerusalem again, and he brought back 745 more Israelites to Babylonia. That was a total of 4, 600 Israelites who were taken to Babylonia.

31 After King Jehoiachin of Judah had been in prison in Babylon for almost thirty-seven years, Awel-Marduk became the king of Babylon. He was kind to Jehoiachin and ordered that he be released from prison. That was on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the year that Awel-Marduk became king. 32 He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a position in which he was honored more than all the other kings who had been exiled to Babylon. 33 He supplied new clothes for Jehoiachin, to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison. He also allowed Jehoiachin to eat with him every day, all during the rest of his life. 34 Every day, the king of Babylon gave him some money to buy the things that he needed. That continued until the day that Jehoiachin died.