Jeremiah 21

CHAPTER 21

Jeremiah’s Message for Zedekiah

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when ^aKing Zedekiah sent to him ^bPashhur, the son of Malchijah, and ^cZephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,

²“Please ^ainquire of Yahweh on our behalf, for ^1bNebuchadnezzar king of ^cBabylon is warring against us; perhaps Yahweh will deal with us ^daccording to all His ²wonderful acts, so that the enemy will go up from us.”

³Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah,

⁴‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to ^aturn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will ^bgather them into the center of this city.

⁵“I ^aMyself will war against you with an ^boutstretched hand and a strong arm, even in ^canger and wrath and great indignation.

⁶“I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great ^apestilence.

⁷“Then afterwards,” declares Yahweh, “^aI will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who remain in this city from the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He ^bwill not show pity on them nor spare nor have compassion.” ’

⁸“You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I ^aset before you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹“He who ^ainhabits this city will die by the ^bsword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as spoil.

¹⁰“For I have ^aset My face against this city for ¹evil and not for good,” declares Yahweh. “It will be ^bgiven into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will ^cburn it with fire.” ’

¹¹“Then say to the household of the ^aking of Judah, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh,

¹²O ^ahouse of David, thus says Yahweh:

“^bRender justice ¹every ^cmorning;

And deliver the person who has been robbed from the ²power of his oppressor,

^dLest My wrath go forth like fire

And ^eburn with none to extinguish it,

Because of the evil of their deeds.

¹³“Behold, ^aI am against you, O ^binhabitant of the valley,

O ¹rocky plain,” declares Yahweh,

“You men who say, ‘^cWho will come down against us?

Or who will enter into our dwelling places?’

¹⁴“But I will punish you ^aaccording to the ¹results of your deeds,” declares Yahweh,

“And I will ^bkindle a fire in its forest

That it may devour all its surroundings.” ’ ”