Jeremiah 33–35

¹And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah a second time—and he is yet detained in the court of the prison—saying: ²Thus said Jehovah its maker, Jehovah its former, at establishing it, Jehovah is His name: ³Call unto Me, and I do answer thee, yea, I declare to thee great and fenced things—thou hast not known them. ⁴For thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that are broken down for the mounts, and for the tool; ⁵they are coming in to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the carcases of men, whom I have smitten in Mine anger, and in My fury, and for whom I have hidden My face from this city, because of all their evil: ⁶Lo, I am increasing to it health and cure, And have healed them, and revealed to them The abundance of peace and truth. ⁷And I have turned back the captivity of Judah, And the captivity of Israel, And I have built them as at the first, ⁸And cleansed them from all their iniquity, That they have sinned against Me, And I have pardoned all their iniquities, That they have sinned against Me, And that they transgressed against Me. ⁹And it hath been to Me for a name of joy, For praise, and for beauty, to all nations of the earth, Who hear of all the good that I am doing them, And they have feared, And they have trembled for all the good, And for all the peace, that I am doing to it.

¹⁰Thus said Jehovah: Again heard in this place of which ye are saying, Waste it is, without man and without beast, In cities of Judah, and in streets of Jerusalem, That are desolated, without man, And without inhabitant, and without beast, ¹¹Is a voice of joy and a voice of gladness, Voice of bridegroom, and voice of bride, The voice of those saying, Thank Jehovah of Hosts, for Jehovah is good, For His kindness is to the age, Who are bringing in thanksgiving to the house of Jehovah, For I turn back the captivity of the land, As at the first, said Jehovah. ¹²Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Again there is in this place—that is waste, Without man and beast, And in all its cities—a habitation of shepherds, Causing the flock to lie down. ¹³In the cities of the hill-country, In the cities of the low country, And in the cities of the south, And in the land of Benjamin, And in the suburbs of Jerusalem, And in the cities of Judah, Again doth the flock pass by under the hands of the numberer, said Jehovah. ¹⁴Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have established the good word That I spake unto the house of Israel, And concerning the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days, and at that time, I cause to shoot up to David a shoot of righteousness, And he hath done judgment and righteousness in the earth. ¹⁶In those days is Judah saved, And Jerusalem doth dwell confidently, And this is he whom Jehovah proclaimeth to her: ‘Our Righteousness.’

¹⁷For thus said Jehovah: ‘Not cut off to David is one sitting on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸And to the priests—the Levites, Not cut off from before Me is one, Causing a burnt-offering to ascend, And perfuming a present, and making sacrifice—all the days.’ ¹⁹And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰‘Thus said Jehovah: If ye do break My covenant of the day, And My covenant of the night, So that they are not daily and nightly in their season, ²¹Also My covenant is broken with David My servant, So that he hath not a son reigning on his throne, And with the Levites the priests, My ministers. ²²As the host of the heavens is not numbered, Nor the sand of the sea measured, So I multiply the seed of David My servant, And the Levites My ministers.’ ²³And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying: ²⁴‘Hast thou not considered what this people have spoken, saying: The two families on which Jehovah fixed, He doth reject them, And my people they despise—So that they are no more a people before them! ²⁵Thus said Jehovah: If My covenant is not daily and nightly, The statutes of heaven and earth I have not appointed— ²⁶Also the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, I reject, Against taking from his seed rulers For the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, For I turn back to their captivity, and have pitied them.’

Chapter 34

¹The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah—and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his force, and all kingdoms of the land of the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples are fighting against Jerusalem, and against all its cities—saying: ²‘Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel: Go, and thou hast spoken unto Zedekiah king of Judah, and hast said unto him, Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he hath burned it with fire, ³and thou, thou dost not escape out of his hand, for thou art certainly caught, and into his hand thou art given, and thine eyes see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth with thy mouth speaketh, and Babylon thou enterest.

⁴‘Only, hear a word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah, Thus said Jehovah unto thee: Thou dost not die by sword, ⁵in peace thou diest, and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who have been before thee, so they make a burning for thee; and Ah, lord, they lament for thee, for the word I have spoken—an affirmation of Jehovah.’ ⁶And Jeremiah the prophet speaketh unto Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem, ⁷and the forces of the king of Babylon are fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that are left—against Lachish, and against Azekah, for these have been left among the cities of Judah, cities of fortresses.

⁸The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the making by the king Zedekiah of a covenant with all the people who are in Jerusalem, to proclaim to them liberty, ⁹to send out each his man-servant, and each his maid-servant—the Hebrew and the Hebrewess—free, so as not to lay service on them, any on a Jew his brother; ¹⁰and hearken do all the heads, and all the people who have come in to the covenant to send forth each his man-servant and each his maid-servant free, so as not to lay service on them any more, yea, they hearken, and send them away; ¹¹and they turn afterwards, and cause the men-servants and the maid-servants to return, whom they had sent forth free, and they subdue them for men-servants and for maid-servants. ¹²And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying: ¹³‘Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, I—I made a covenant with your fathers in the day of My bringing them forth from the land of Egypt, from a house of servants, saying, ¹⁴At the end of seven years ye do send forth each his brother, the Hebrew, who is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, yea, thou hast sent him forth free from thee: and your fathers hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear.

¹⁵‘And ye turn back, ye to-day, and ye do that which is right in Mine eyes, to proclaim liberty each to his neighbour, and ye make a covenant before Me in the house over which My name is called. ¹⁶And—ye turn back, and pollute My name, and ye cause each his man-servant and each his maid-servant, whom he had sent forth free, (at their pleasure,) to return, and ye subdue them to be to you for men-servants and for maid-servants.

¹⁷‘Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Ye have not hearkened unto Me to proclaim freedom, each to his brother, and each to his neighbour; lo, I am proclaiming to you liberty—an affirmation of Jehovah—unto the sword, unto the pestilence, and unto the famine, and I have given you for a trembling to all kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁸‘And I have given the men who are transgressing My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant that they have made before Me, by the calf, that they have cut in two, and pass through between its pieces— ¹⁹heads of Judah, and heads of Jerusalem, the officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land those passing through between the pieces of the calf— ²⁰yea, I have given them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcase hath been for food to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth.

²¹‘And Zedekiah king of Judah, and his heads, I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and into the hand of the forces of the king of Babylon, that are going up from off you. ²²Lo, I am commanding—an affirmation of Jehovah—and have brought them back unto this city, and they have fought against it, and captured it, and burned it with fire, and the cities of Judah I do make a desolation—without inhabitant.’

Chapter 35

¹The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying: ²‘Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and thou hast spoken with them, and brought them into the house of Jehovah, unto one of the chambers, and caused them to drink wine.’ ³And I take Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and all the house of the Rechabites, ⁴and bring them into the house of Jehovah, unto the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God, that is near to the chamber of the princes, that is above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold; ⁵and I put before the sons of the house of the Rechabites goblets full of wine, and cups, and I say unto them, Drink ye wine. ⁶And they say, ‘We do not drink wine: for Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, charged us, saying, Ye do not drink wine, ye and your sons—unto the age; ⁷and a house ye do not build, and seed ye do not sow, and a vineyard ye do not plant, nor have ye any; for in tents do ye dwell all your days, that ye may live many days on the face of the ground whither ye are sojourning.

⁸‘And we hearken to the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, to all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters; ⁹nor to build houses for our dwelling; and vineyard, and field, and…