Jeremiah 33–35

Chapter 33

Restoration Promised

¹Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still ^1aconfined in the court of the guard, saying,

²“Thus says ^athe Lord who made ¹the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the ^bLord is His name,

³‘^aCall to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you ^bgreat and mighty things, ^cwhich you do not know.’

⁴“For thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the ^ahouses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the ^bsiege ramps and against the sword,

⁵‘While they are coming to ^afight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, and I have ^bhidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness:

⁶‘Behold, I will bring to it ^ahealth and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an ^babundance of peace and truth.

⁷‘I will ^arestore the ¹fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will ^brebuild them as they were at first.

⁸‘I will ^acleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.

⁹‘¹It will be to Me a ^aname of joy, praise and glory before ^ball the nations of the earth which will hear of all the ^cgood that I do for them, and they will ^dfear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a ^awaste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are ^bdesolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,

¹¹the voice of ^ajoy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,

“^bGive thanks to the Lord of hosts,

For the Lord is good,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting”;

and of those who bring a ^cthank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the ¹fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

¹²“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, ^awithout man or beast, and in all its cities, a ¹habitation of shepherds who rest their ^bflocks.

¹³‘In the ^acities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again ^bpass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the Lord.

The Davidic Kingdom

¹⁴‘Behold, ^adays are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will ^bfulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

¹⁵‘In those days and at that time I will cause a ^arighteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute ^bjustice and righteousness on the earth.

¹⁶‘In those days ^aJudah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the ^bLord is our righteousness.’

¹⁷“For thus says the Lord, ‘¹David shall ^anever lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

¹⁸¹and the ^aLevitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to ^bprepare sacrifices ²continually.’ ”

¹⁹The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁰“Thus says the Lord, ‘If you can ^abreak My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time,

²¹then ^aMy covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers.

²²‘As the ^ahost of heaven cannot be counted and the ^bsand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will ^cmultiply the ¹descendants of David My servant and the ^dLevites who minister to Me.’ ”

²³And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁴“Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The ^atwo families which the Lord chose, He has ^brejected them’? Thus they ^cdespise My people, no longer are they as a nation ¹in their sight.

²⁵“Thus says the Lord, ‘If My ^acovenant for day and night stand not, and the ¹fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have ^bnot established,

²⁶then I would ^areject the ¹descendants of Jacob and David My servant, ²not taking from his descendants ^brulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will ^crestore their ³fortunes and will have ^dmercy on them.’ ”

Chapter 34

A Prophecy against Zedekiah

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with ^ball the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying,

²“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘^aGo and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, ^bI am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^che will burn it with fire.

³‘^aYou will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and delivered into his hand; and you will ^bsee the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you ¹face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’ ” ’

⁴“Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword.

⁵‘You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will ^aburn spices for you; and ^bthey will lament for you, “Alas, lord!” ’ For I have spoken the word,” declares the Lord.

⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke ^aall these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem

⁷when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, that is, ^aLachish and ^bAzekah, for they alone remained as ^cfortified cities among the cities of Judah.

⁸The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had ^amade a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to ^bproclaim ¹release to them:

⁹that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a ^aHebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that ^bno one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage.

¹⁰And all the ^aofficials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set them free.

¹¹But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection for male servants and for female servants.

¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

¹³“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I ^amade a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I ^bbrought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying,

¹⁴“^aAt the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who ¹has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers ^bdid not obey Me or incline their ear to Me.

¹⁵“Although recently you had turned and ^adone what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming ¹release to his neighbor, and you had ^bmade a covenant before Me ^cin the house which is called by My name.

¹⁶“Yet you ^aturned and ^bprofaned My name, and each man ¹took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.” ’

¹⁷“Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming ¹release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am ^aproclaiming a release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the ^bsword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a ^cterror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁸‘I will give the men who have ^atransgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they ^bcut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

¹⁹the ^aofficials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—

²⁰I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who ^aseek their life. And their ^bdead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

²¹‘^aZedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has ^bgone away from you.

²²‘Behold, I am going to command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and ^atake it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ^bdesolation ^cwithout inhabitant.’ ”

Chapter 35

The Rechabites’ Obedience

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ^aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

²“Go to the house of the ^aRechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the ^bchambers, and give them wine to drink.”

³Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites,

⁴and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the ^aman of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^bthe doorkeeper.

⁵Then I set before the ¹men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “^aDrink wine!”

⁶But they said, “We will not drink wine, for ^aJonadab the son of ^bRechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall ^cnot drink wine, you or your sons, forever.

⁷‘You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow…