Jeremiah 20:1–22:30
Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur
20 Now jPashhur the priest, the son of kImmer, who was lchief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then jPashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him min the stocks that were in the upper nBenjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. 3 The next day, when jPashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name jPashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4 For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you oa terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. 5 Moreover, pI will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its qprized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, rPashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, sto whom you have prophesied falsely.”
7 O Lord, tyou have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
uyou are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
vI have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, w“Violence and destruction!”
For xthe word of the Lord has become for me
ya reproach and yderision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
zthere is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and aI am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 bFor I hear many whispering.
cTerror is on every side!
“Denounce him! dLet us denounce him!”
say all my eclose friends,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then hwe can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But ithe Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
ithey will not overcome me.
jThey will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their keternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,
lwho sees the heart and the mind,1
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
13 mSing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
14 nCursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
omaking him very glad.
16 Let that man be like pthe cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
qlet him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,
17 rbecause he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb forever great.
18 sWhy did I come out from the womb
tto see toil and sorrow,
and spend my days in shame?
Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him uPashhur the son of Malchiah and vZephaniah the priest, the son of wMaaseiah, saying, 2 x“Inquire of the Lord for us, yfor Nebuchadnezzar1 king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to zall his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: aBehold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. bAnd I will bring them together into the midst of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you cwith outstretched hand and strong arm, din anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, eI will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. fHe shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’
8 “And to this people you shall say: g‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, hI set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city shall die iby the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and jsurrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live kand shall have his life as a prize of war. 10 For lI have set my face against this city for harm and mnot for good, declares the Lord: nit shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’
11 “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
o“ ‘Execute justice pin the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
him who has been robbed,
qlest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of your evil deeds.’ ”
13 r“Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
O rock of the plain,
declares the Lord;
you who say, s‘Who shall come down against us,
or who shall enter our habitations?’
14 tI will punish you according to uthe fruit of your deeds,
declares the Lord;
vI will kindle a fire in her forest,
vand it shall devour all that is around her.”
22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, w‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: xDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ydo no wrong or violence zto the resident alien, xthe fatherless, and the widow, nor ashed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, bthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I cswear by myself, declares the Lord, that dthis house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“ ‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of eLebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
7 gI will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
hand they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “ ‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, i“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 jAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.” ’ ”
10 kWeep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
lbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and mwho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but min the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”
13 n“Woe to him who builds his house by ounrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
pwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and qpainting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and rdo justice and righteousness?
sThen it was well with him.
16 tHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;
sthen it was well.
Is not this uto know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
vfor shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
w“They shall not lament for him, saying,
x‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
y‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey zhe shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from aAbarim,
for all byour lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
cThis has been your way from dyour youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 eThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and byour lovers shall go into captivity;
fthen you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of gLebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
hpain as of a woman in labor!”
24 i“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were jthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and kgive you linto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 mI will hurl you and nthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”
28 Is this man oConiah a despised, broken pot,
a pvessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a qland that they do not know?
29 rO land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
“Write this man down as schildless,
a man who shall not …