Jeremiah 21–52

Chapter 21

No Deliverance from Babylon

The Lord spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to speak with him. They begged Jeremiah, ²“Please speak to the Lord for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies.”

³Jeremiah replied, “Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him, ⁴‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside your walls attacking you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city. ⁵I myself will fight against you with a strong hand and a powerful arm, for I am very angry. You have made me furious! ⁶I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die. ⁷And after all that, says the Lord, I will hand over King Zedekiah, his staff, and everyone else in the city who survives the disease, war, and famine. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their other enemies. He will slaughter them and show them no mercy, pity, or compassion.’

⁸“Tell all the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death! ⁹Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! ¹⁰For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’

Judgment on Judah’s Kings

¹¹“Say to the royal family of Judah, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord! ¹²This is what the Lord says to the dynasty of David:

“ ‘Give justice each morning to the people you judge!

Help those who have been robbed;

rescue them from their oppressors.

Otherwise, my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire

because of all your sins.

¹³I will personally fight against the people in Jerusalem,

that mighty fortress—

the people who boast, “No one can touch us here.

No one can break in here.”

¹⁴And I myself will punish you for your sinfulness,

says the Lord.

I will light a fire in your forests

that will burn up everything around you.’ ”

Chapter 22

A Message for Judah’s Kings

This is what the Lord said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him, ²‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too. ³This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! ⁴If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects. ⁵But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the Lord, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’ ”

A Message about the Palace

⁶Now this is what the Lord says concerning Judah’s royal palace:

“I love you as much as fruitful Gilead

and the green forests of Lebanon.

But I will turn you into a desert,

with no one living within your walls.

⁷I will call for wreckers,

who will bring out their tools to dismantle you.

They will tear out all your fine cedar beams

and throw them on the fire.

⁸“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the Lord destroy such a great city?’ ⁹And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.’ ”

A Message about Jehoahaz

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss.

Instead, weep for the captive king being led away!

For he will never return to see his native land again.

¹¹For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return. ¹²He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”

A Message about Jehoiakim

¹³And the Lord says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim,

who builds his palace with forced labor.

He builds injustice into its walls,

for he makes his neighbors work for nothing.

He does not pay them for their labor.

¹⁴He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace

with huge rooms and many windows.

I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar

and paint it a lovely red.’

¹⁵But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king!

Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink.

But he was just and right in all his dealings.

That is why God blessed him.

¹⁶He gave justice and help to the poor and needy,

and everything went well for him.

Isn’t that what it means to know me?”

says the Lord.

¹⁷“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty!

You murder the innocent,

oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”

¹⁸Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah:

“The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another,

‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’

His subjects will not mourn for him, crying,

‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’

¹⁹He will be buried like a dead donkey—

dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!

²⁰Weep for your allies in Lebanon.

Shout for them in Bashan.

Search for them in the regions east of the river.

See, they are all destroyed.

Not one is left to help you.

²¹I warned you when you were prosperous,

but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’

You have been that way since childhood—

you simply will not obey me!

²²And now the wind will blow away your allies.

All your friends will be taken away as captives.

Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.

²³It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace

paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon,

but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish—

anguish like that of a woman in labor.

A Message for Jehoiachin

²⁴“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. ²⁵I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army. ²⁶I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land. ²⁷You will never again return to the land you yearn for.

²⁸“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar?

Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?

²⁹O earth, earth, earth!

Listen to this message from the Lord!

³⁰This is what the Lord says:

‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless.

He is a failure,

for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David

to rule over Judah.’

Chapter 23

The Righteous Descendant

“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord.

²Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. ³But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord have spoken!

⁵“For the time is coming,”

says the Lord,

“when I will raise up a righteous descendant

from King David’s line.

He will be a King who rules with wisdom.

He will do what is just and right throughout the land.

⁶And this will be his name:

‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’

In that day Judah will be saved,

and Israel will live in safety.

⁷“In that day,” says the Lord, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ ⁸Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

Judgment on False Prophets

⁹My heart is broken because of the false prophets,

and my bones tremble.

I stagger like a drunkard,

like someone overcome by wine,

because of the holy words

the Lord has spoken against them.

¹⁰For the land is full of adultery,

and it lies under a curse.

The land itself is in mourning—

its wilderness pastures are dried up.

For they all do evil

and abuse what power they have.

¹¹“Even the priests and prophets

are ungodly, wicked men.

I have seen their despicable acts

right here in my own Temple,”

says the Lord.

¹²“Therefore, the paths they take

will become slippery.

They will be chased through the dark,

and there they will fall.

For I will bring disaster upon them

at the time fixed for their punishment.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹³“I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil,

for they prophesied in the name of Baal

and led my people of Israel into sin.

¹⁴But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse!

They commit adultery and love dishonesty.

They encourage those who are doing evil

so that no one turns away from their sins.

These prophets are as wicked

as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.”

¹⁵Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says concerning the prophets:

“I will feed them with bitterness

and give them poison to drink.

For it is because of Jerusalem’s prophets

…