Jerusalem’s Doom is Sealed

21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when aKing Zedekiah sent to him bPashhur the son of Melchiah, and cZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, 2 d“Please inquire of the Lord for us, for 1Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.”

3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the 2Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and eI will assemble them in the midst of this city. 5 I fMyself will fight against you with an goutstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. 6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. 7 And afterward,” says the Lord, h“I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. iHe shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” ’

8 “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, jI set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who kremains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and 3defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall llive, and his life shall be as a prize to him. 10 For I have mset My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the Lord. n“It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall oburn it with fire.” ’

Message to the House of David

11 “And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

p“Execute 4judgment qin the morning;

And deliver him who is plundered

Out of the hand of the oppressor,

Lest My fury go forth like fire

And burn so that no one can quench it,

Because of the evil of your doings.

13 “Behold, rI am against you, O 5inhabitant of the valley,

And rock of the plain,” says the Lord,

“Who say, s‘Who shall come down against us?

Or who shall enter our dwellings?’

14 But I will punish you according to the tfruit of your 6doings,” says the Lord;

“I will kindle a fire in its forest,

And uit shall devour all things around it.” ’ ”

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word, 2 and say, a‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates! 3 Thus says the Lord: b“Execute 1judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the cfatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you indeed do this thing, dthen shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David. 5 But if you will not 2hear these words, eI swear by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”

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

“You are fGilead to Me,

The head of Lebanon;

Yet I surely will make you a wilderness,

Cities which are not inhabited.

7 I will prepare destroyers against you,

Everyone with his weapons;

They shall cut down gyour choice cedars

hAnd cast them into the fire.

8 And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, i‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’ 9 Then they will answer, j‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”

10 Weep not for kthe dead, nor bemoan him;

Weep bitterly for him lwho goes away,

For he shall return no more,

Nor see his native country.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

11 For thus says the Lord concerning mShallum 3the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, nwho went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore, 12 but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

13 “Woe oto him who builds his house by unrighteousness

And his 4chambers by injustice,

pWho uses his neighbor’s service without wages

And gives him nothing for his work,

14 Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious 5chambers,

And cut out windows for it,

Paneling it with cedar

And painting it with vermilion.’

15 “Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink,

And do justice and righteousness?

Then qit was well with him.

16 He 6judged the cause of the poor and needy;

Then it was well.

Was not this knowing Me?” says the Lord.

17 “Yet ryour eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,

For shedding innocent blood,

And practicing oppression and violence.”

18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

s“They shall not lament for him,

Saying, t‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’

They shall not lament for him,

Saying, ‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, his glory!’

19 uHe shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,

Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,

And lift up your voice in Bashan;

Cry from Abarim,

For all your lovers are destroyed.

21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,

But you said, ‘I will not hear.’

vThis has been your manner from your youth,

That you did not obey My voice.

22 The wind shall eat up all wyour 7rulers,

And your lovers shall go into captivity;

Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated

For all your wickedness.

23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,

Making your nest in the cedars,

How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,

Like xthe pain of a woman in 8labor?

Message to Coniah

24 “As I live,” says the Lord, y“though 9Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, zwere the 1signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; 25 aand I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the 2Chaldeans. 26 bSo I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.

28 “Is this man 3Coniah a despised, broken idol—

cA vessel in which is no pleasure?

Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,

And cast into a land which they do not know?

29 dO earth, earth, earth,

Hear the word of the Lord!

30 Thus says the Lord:

‘Write this man down as echildless,

A man who shall not prosper in his days;

For fnone of his descendants shall prosper,

Sitting on the throne of David,

And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”

The Branch of Righteousness

23 “Woe ato the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. bBehold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. 3 “But cI will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up dshepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

5 “Behold, ethe days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;

A King shall reign and 1prosper,

fAnd execute 2judgment and righteousness in the 3earth.

6 gIn His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel hwill dwell safely;

Now ithis is His name by which He will be called:

4THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

7 “Therefore, behold, jthe days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country kand from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own lland.”

False Prophets and Empty Oracles

9 My heart within me is broken

Because of the prophets;

mAll my bones shake.

I am like a drunken man,

And like a man whom wine has overcome,

Because of the Lord,

And because of His holy words.

10 For nthe land is full of adulterers;

For obecause of a curse the land mourns.

pThe pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.

Their course of life is evil,

And their might is not right.

11 “For qboth prophet and priest are profane;

Yes, rin My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.

12 “Therefore stheir way shall be to them

Like slippery ways;

In the darkness they shall be driven on

And fall in them;

For I twill bring disaster on them,

The year of their punishment,” says the Lord.

13 “And I have seen 5folly in the prophets of Samaria:

uThey prophesied by Baal

And vcaused My people Israel to err.

14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:

wThey commit adultery and walk in lies;

They also xstrengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one turns back from his wickedness.

All of them are like ySodom to Me,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

‘Behold, I will feed them with zwormwood,

And make them drink the water of gall;

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

6Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.

They make you worthless;

aThey speak a vision of their own heart,

Not from the mouth of the Lord.

17 They continually say to those who despise Me,

‘The Lord has said, b“You shall have peace” ’;

And to everyone who cwalks according to the