Jeremiah 33–35

The Fortunes of Judah and Israel Will Be Restored

33And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still held back in the courtyard of the guard, saying,^{a 2}“Thus says Yahweh who made the earth,^b Yahweh who formed it to establish it, Yahweh is his name: ³‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great things and inaccessible things that you have not known.’ ⁴For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that were torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword: ⁵‘They are coming to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of the people whom I will strike in my anger and in my wrath, for whom I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness. ⁶Look, I am going to bring healing and health to it, and I will heal them, and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and reliability. ⁷And I will restore the fortunes^c of Judah and the fortunes^d of Israel, and I will rebuild them as in the beginning. ⁸And I will cleanse them from all their guilt that they sinned against me, and I will forgive all their iniquities that they sinned against me, and that they rebelled against me. ⁹And it will be to me a name of jubilation, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear all the good that I will do for them, and they will fear,^e and they will tremble because of all the good, and because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.’

¹⁰“Thus says Yahweh: ‘Again will be heard in this place, of which you are saying, “It is a waste, without^f people and without^g animals,”^h in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, withoutⁱ people and without^j inhabitants^k and without^l animals,^{m 11}the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voicesⁿ of those who say, “Praise Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh is good, for his loyal love is forever,”^o the voices of those who bring thank offerings^p to the house of Yahweh, for I will restore the fortunes^q of the land as in the beginning,’ says Yahweh. ¹²Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Again there will be in this waste place, without^r people and animals,^s and in all its towns, pasture for shepherds allowing their flock to lie down. ¹³In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the counter,’ says Yahweh.

¹⁴‘Look, days are coming,’ declares^t Yahweh, ‘and I will fulfill the good promise^u that I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days and in that time I will make a branch of righteousness sprout for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely,^v and this is what they shall call it: “Yahweh is our righteousness.” ’ ¹⁷For thus says Yahweh: ‘A man who sits on the throne of the house of Israel will not be cut off for David. ¹⁸And for the priests, a man from the Levites who offers burnt offerings^w and who burns grain offerings^x and who brings sacrifices^y will not be cut off before me^z forever.’ ”^a

¹⁹And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,^{b 20}“Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you could break my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their time, ²¹then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from having^c a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. ²²As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will make numerous the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ” ²³And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,^{d 24}“Have you not seen how these people speak, saying,^e ‘The two clans^f whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them’? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation before them^g any longer. ²⁵Thus says Yahweh: ‘If my covenant with day and with night, the regulations of heaven and earth, I had not established, ²⁶then the offspring of Jacob and David my servant I would reject, from choosing rulers from his offspring over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will restore their fortunes^h and I will have compassion on them.’ ”

A Message for Zedekiah

34The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth under the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying,^{a 2}“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Go and say to Zedekiah the king of Judah, now you must say to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. ³And you will not escape from his hand, but surely you will be captured, and into his hand you will be given, and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye,^b and you will speak face to face with him,^c and to Babylon you will go.’ ⁴However, hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah, the king of Judah. Thus says Yahweh concerning you: ‘You will not die by the sword. ⁵In peace you will die, and as there was burning for your ancestors,^d the former kings who were before you,^e so they will burn for you, and they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!” For the word I have spoken,’ declares^f Yahweh.” ’ ” ⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Zedekiah the king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem ⁷when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left over—Lachish and Azekah, for these remained among the cities of Judah, the cities of fortification.

Zedekiah’s Covenant Concerning Slaves

⁸The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after king Zedekiah made^g a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them, ⁹to let go each one his male slave and each one his female slave, the Hebrew and the free Hebrew, so that no one among the Judeans^h should enslave his fellow countryman. ¹⁰And all the officials and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant to let go each one his male slave and each one his female slave, not enslaving them again, and they obeyed and they let themⁱ go. ¹¹But afterward^j they turned back and they brought back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had let go free, and they subdued them as male slaves and female slaves.

¹²And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,^{k 13}“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I made^l a covenant with your ancestors^m on the day of my bringing them out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, saying,^{n 14}“At the end of seven years you must let go each one his fellow countryman, the Hebrew who has been sold to you and who has served you six years, and you must let him go free from you.” But your ancestors^o did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ears.^{p 15}And you turned back recently^q and you did right in my eyes, to proclaim release each one to his neighbor, and you made^r a covenant before me^s in the house that is called by^t my name. ¹⁶But you turned back and you profaned my name when you brought back each one his male slave and each one his female slave, whom you had let go free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be to you as male slaves and as female slaves.’

¹⁷“Therefore^u thus says Yahweh, ‘You have not listened to me to proclaim release each one to his fellow countryman and each one to his neighbor. Look, I am going to proclaim to you a release,’ declares^v Yahweh, ‘to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine, and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸And I will make the men who transgressed my covenant, who have not kept the words of the covenant that they made^w before me,^x like the calf which they cut in two and they passed between its parts— ¹⁹the officials of Judah, and the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰and I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and their dead bodies^y will become as food for the birds^z of the heavens^a and for the animals^b of the earth. ²¹And Zedekiah the king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, who retreated from you. ²²Look, I am going to command,’ declares^c Yahweh, ‘and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation without^d an inhabitant.’ ”

The Faithfulness of the Rechabites

35The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying,^{a 2}“Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them to the house of Yahweh into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.” ³So I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole of the house of the Rechabites, ⁴and I brought them to the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was beside the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.

⁵Then I set^b before^c the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” ⁶But they answered, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor,^d commanded us, saying,^e ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your…