Jeremiah 21–52

21ST CHAPTER

Jerusalem Will Be Captured by the Babylonians

¹The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur, son of Malchiah, and the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah. They said, ²“Consult the Lord for us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will perform miracles for us so that Nebuchadnezzar will retreat.” 

³Jeremiah responded to them, “This is what you should say to Zedekiah, ⁴‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I’m going to take your weapons away from you. You are using these weapons to fight the king of Babylon as well as the Babylonians who are now blockading you outside the wall. I will bring the Babylonians inside this city. ⁵I will fight you in anger, fury, and rage with my powerful hand and my mighty arm. ⁶I will defeat those who live in this city, both people and animals. They will die from a terrible plague. ⁷Afterwards, declares the Lord, I will hand over Judah’s King Zedekiah, his officials, the people, and everyone else in this city who survives the plague, war, and famine. They will be handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. Nebuchadnezzar will kill them with swords. He won’t spare them, show them compassion, or care for them.’ 

⁸“Say to these people, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to give you the choice of life or death. ⁹Those who live in this city will die in the war, famine, or plague. Those of you who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. You will escape with your lives. ¹⁰I’ve decided to harm this city, not to do good to it, declares the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.’ 

¹¹“Say to the nation of the king of Judah, ‘Listen to the Lord’s word, ¹²descendants of David. This is what the Lord says: 

Judge fairly every morning. 

Rescue those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. 

Otherwise, my fury will break out and burn like fire. 

No one will be able to put it out 

because of the evil things you have done. 

¹³“ ‘I’m against you, Jerusalem. 

You are the city that is in the valley 

and on the rock in the plain,’ ” 

declares the Lord. 

“ ‘But you ask, “Who can attack us? 

Who can enter our places of refuge?” 

¹⁴“ ‘I will punish you because of the evil things you have done,’ ” 

declares the Lord. 

“ ‘I will start a fire in your forests, 

and it will burn up everything around you.’ ” 

22ND CHAPTER

Warnings to the Wicked Kings

¹This is what the Lord says: Go to the palace of the king of Judah, and speak this message there: ²“Listen to the Lord’s word, you officials, you people who come into these gates, and you, king of Judah, the one sitting on David’s throne. 

³“This is what the Lord says: Judge fairly, and do what is right. Rescue those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Don’t mistreat foreigners, orphans, or widows, and don’t oppress them. Don’t kill innocent people in this place. ⁴If you do what I say, then the kings who sit on David’s throne will ride through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses along with their officials and their people. ⁵But if you don’t do what I say, I will take an oath on myself,” declares the Lord, “that this palace will become a pile of rubble. 

⁶“This is what the Lord says about the palace of the king of Judah: 

This palace is like Gilead to me, 

like the top of Lebanon. 

I will certainly turn it into a desert, 

into cities that no one lives in. 

⁷I will send people to destroy you. 

They will have their own weapons. 

They will cut down your finest cedar trees 

and throw them on a fire. 

⁸“People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this important city?’ ⁹The answer will be: ‘They rejected the promise^aof the Lord their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.’ ” 

¹⁰Don’t cry for the dead. 

Don’t shake your heads at them. 

Cry bitterly for those who are taken away, 

because they won’t come back to see their homeland. 

¹¹This is what the Lord says about King Josiah’s son Shallum, who succeeded his father as king of Judah and left this place: He will never come back here again. ¹²He will die in the place where he was taken captive, and he will never see this land again. 

¹³“How horrible it will be for the person who builds his house dishonestly 

and his upper rooms through injustice. 

He makes his neighbors work for nothing 

and doesn’t pay them for their work. 

¹⁴He says, ‘I will build a large house for myself with big upper rooms.’ 

He cuts out windows in it, 

panels the rooms with cedar, 

and paints them red. 

¹⁵Do you think you’re a better king than others 

because you use more cedar? 

Your father ate and drank and did what is fair and right. 

Everything went well for him. 

¹⁶He defended the cause of the poor and needy. 

Everything went well for him. 

Isn’t this what it means to know me?” asks the Lord. 

¹⁷“But your eyes and your mind are set on nothing but dishonest profits. 

You kill innocent people and violently oppress your people.” 

¹⁸This is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of Judah’s King Josiah: 

People won’t mourn for him and say, 

“How horrible it is for my brother and sister!” 

They won’t mourn for him and say, 

“How horrible it is for my master and his splendor!” 

¹⁹He will receive a donkey’s burial. 

He will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem. 

²⁰“Go to Lebanon and cry! Raise your voice in Bashan! 

Cry out from Abarim, because all your lovers are defeated.” 

²¹I spoke to you when you were prosperous, 

but you said that you wouldn’t listen. 

This is how you’ve been ever since you were young. 

You don’t listen to me. 

²²The wind will blow away all your shepherds, 

and your lovers will go into captivity. 

Then you will be ashamed and disgraced by all your wickedness. 

²³You live in Lebanon and have your nest in the cedars. 

But you will groan when pain strikes you, 

pain like a woman giving birth to a child. 

²⁴“As I live,” declares the Lord, “even though you, Jehoiakin,^bson of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, are the signet ring on my right hand, I will pull you off my hand. ²⁵I will hand you over to those who want to kill you, those you fear—King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians. ²⁶I will throw you and your mother into another land. You weren’t born there, but you will die there. ²⁷You will want to return to this land, but you won’t be allowed to come home.” 

²⁸This Jehoiakin is like a rejected and broken pot that no one wants. 

Is that why he and his descendants will be thrown out 

and cast into another land they’ve never heard of? 

²⁹O land, land, land! 

Listen to the Lord’s word. 

³⁰This is what the Lord says: 

Write this about Jehoiakin: He will be childless. 

He won’t prosper in his lifetime. 

None of his descendants will succeed him as king. 

They won’t sit on David’s throne and rule Judah again. 

23RD CHAPTER

The Righteous Branch

¹“How horrible it will be for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep in my care,” declares the Lord. ²“This is what I, the Lord God of Israel, said to the shepherds who take care of my people: You have scattered my sheep and chased them away. You have not taken care of them, so now I will take care of you by punishing you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 

³“Then I will gather the remaining part of my flock from all the countries where I chased them. I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fertile and increase in number. ⁴I will put shepherds over them. Those shepherds will take care of them. My sheep will no longer be afraid or terrified, and not one of them will be missing,” declares the Lord. 

⁵“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, 

“when I will grow a righteous branch for David. 

He will be a king who will rule wisely. 

He will do what is fair and right in the land. 

⁶In his lifetime, Judah will be saved, 

and Israel will live in safety. 

This is the name that he will be given: 

The Lord is our righteousness. 

⁷“That is why the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people’s oaths will no longer be, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. As the Lord lives.…’ ⁸Instead, their oaths will be, ‘The Lord brought the descendants of the nation of Israel out of the land of the north and all the lands where he^ahad scattered them. As the Lord lives.…’ At that time they will live in their own land. 

Warnings to the False Prophets

⁹“⸤Say this⸥ about the prophets: 

I am deeply disturbed. 

All my bones tremble. 

I am like a drunk, 

like a person who has had too much wine, 

because of the Lord and his holy words. 

¹⁰The land is filled with adulterers. 

The land mourns because of the curse. 

Pastures in the wilderness have dried up. 

The people are evil, 

and they use their strength to do the wrong things. 

¹¹The prophets and priests are godless. 

Even in my temple I’ve found them doing evil,” declares the Lord. 

¹²“That is why their own way will become 

like slippery paths in the dark. 

They will be chased away, and they will fall down in the dark. 

I will bring disaster on them. 

It is time for them to be punished,” declares the Lord. 

¹³“⸤Say this⸥ about the prophets of Samaria: 

I saw something disgusting. 

The prophets of Samaria prophesied by Baal 

and led my people Israel astray. 

¹⁴“⸤Say this⸥ about the prophets of Jerusalem: 

I see something horrible. 

The prophets of Jerusalem commit adultery and live a lie. 

They support those who do evil 

so that no one turns back from his wickedness. 

They are all like Sodom to me, 

and those who live in Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.” 

¹⁵This is what the Lord of Armies says about the prophets: 

I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink. 

The prophets of Jerusalem have spread godlessness 

throughout the land. 

¹⁶This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

Don’t listen to what the prophets are saying to you. 

They fill you with false hope. 

They speak about visions that they dreamed up. 

These visions are not from the Lord. 

¹⁷They keep saying to those who despise me,…