Jeremiah 21–52

Chapter 21

Jeremiah’s Message for Zedekiah

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

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

³Then Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows:

⁴‘Thus says the Lord 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 mighty 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 the Lord, “^aI will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive 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 foes 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 spare them nor have pity nor compassion.” ’

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

⁹“He who ^adwells in 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 booty.

¹⁰“For I have ^aset My face against this city for ¹harm and not for good,” declares the Lord. “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 the Lord,

¹²O ^ahouse of David, thus says the Lord:

“^bAdminister justice ¹every ^cmorning;

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

^dThat My wrath may not 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 ^bvalley dweller,

O ¹rocky plain,” declares the Lord,

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

Or who will enter into our habitations?’

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

“And I will ^bkindle a fire in its forest

That it may devour all its environs.” ’ ”

Chapter 22

Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

¹Thus says the Lord, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word

²and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who ^asits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

³‘Thus says the Lord, “^aDo justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his ^boppressor. Also ^cdo not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not ^dshed innocent blood in this place.

⁴“For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then ^akings will enter the gates of this house, sitting ¹in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people.

⁵“^aBut if you will not obey these words, I ^bswear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.” ’ ”

⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like ^aGilead to Me,

Like the summit of Lebanon;

Yet most assuredly I will make you like a ^bwilderness,

Like cities which are not inhabited.

⁷“For I will set apart ^adestroyers against you,

Each with his weapons;

And they will ^bcut down your choicest cedars

And ^cthrow them on the fire.

⁸“Many nations will pass by this city; and they will ^asay to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?’

⁹“Then they will ¹answer, ‘Because they ^aforsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ”

^10aDo not weep for the dead or mourn for him,

But weep continually for the one who goes away;

For ^bhe will never return

Or see his native land.

¹¹For thus says the Lord in regard to ^1aShallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there;

¹²but in the place where they led him captive, there he will ^adie and not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

¹³“Woe to him who builds his house ^awithout righteousness

And his ¹upper rooms without justice,

Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay

And ^bdoes not give him his wages,

¹⁴Who says, ‘I will ^abuild myself a roomy house

With spacious ¹upper rooms,

And cut out its windows,

²Paneling it with ^bcedar and painting it ³bright red.’

¹⁵“Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

And ^ado justice and righteousness?

Then it was ^bwell with him.

¹⁶“He pled the cause of the ^aafflicted and needy;

Then it was well.

^bIs not that what it means to know Me?”

Declares the Lord.

¹⁷“But your eyes and your heart

Are intent only upon your own ^adishonest gain,

And on ^bshedding innocent blood

And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to ^aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,

“They will not ^blament for him:

‘^cAlas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’

They will not lament for him:

‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’

¹⁹“He will be ^aburied with a donkey’s burial,

Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And lift up your voice in Bashan;

Cry out also from ^aAbarim,

For all your ^blovers have been crushed.

²¹“I spoke to you in your prosperity;

But ^ayou said, ‘I will not listen!’

^bThis has been your practice ^cfrom your youth,

That you have not obeyed My voice.

²²“The wind will sweep away all your ^ashepherds,

And your ^blovers will go into captivity;

Then you will surely be ^cashamed and humiliated

Because of all your wickedness.

²³“You who dwell in Lebanon,

Nested in the cedars,

How you will groan when pangs come upon you,

^aPain like a woman in childbirth!

²⁴“As I live,” declares the Lord, “even though ^1aConiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a ^bsignet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you ²off;

²⁵and I will ^agive you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶“I will ^ahurl you and your ^bmother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.

²⁷“But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it.

²⁸“Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?

Or is he an ^aundesirable vessel?

Why have he and his descendants been ^bhurled out

And cast into a ^cland that they had not known?

²⁹“^aO land, land, land,

Hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰“Thus says the Lord,

‘Write this man down ^achildless,

A man who will ^bnot prosper in his days;

For no man of his ^cdescendants will prosper

Sitting on the throne of David

Or ruling again in Judah.’ ”

Chapter 23

The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

¹“^aWoe to the shepherds who are ^bdestroying and scattering the ^csheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.

²Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are ¹tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to ^aattend to you for the ^bevil of your deeds,” declares the Lord.

³“Then I Myself will ^agather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴“I will also raise up ^ashepherds over them and they will ¹tend them; and they will ^bnot be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^cnor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

⁵“Behold, the ^adays are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous ^1bBranch;

And He will ^creign as king and ²act wisely

And ^ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶“In His days Judah will be saved,

And ^aIsrael will dwell securely;

And this is His ^bname by which He will be called,

‘The ^cLord our righteousness.’

⁷“^aTherefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

^8abut, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^bbrought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Denounced

⁹As for the prophets:

My ^aheart is broken within me,

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of the Lord

And because of His holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of ^aadulterers;

For the land ^bmourns because of the curse.

The ^cpastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil

And their might is not right.

¹¹“For ^aboth prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.

¹²“Therefore their way will be like ^aslippery paths to them,

They will be driven away into the ^bgloom and fall down in it;

For I will bring ^ccalamity upon them,

The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

¹³“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an ^aoffensive thing:

They ^bprophesied by Baal and ^cled My people Israel astray.

¹⁴“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a ^ahorrible thing:

The committing of ^badultery and walking in falsehood;

And they strengthen the hands of ^cevildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like ^dSodom,

And her inhabitants like…