Seventy Years of Captivity

1 ^eThe word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, ^ffrom the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^gpersistently to you, ^hbut you have not listened. 4 ^hYou have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^gpersistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, ⁱ‘Turn now, every one of you, ^jfrom his evil way and evil deeds, and ^kdwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 ^lDo not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^mor provoke me to anger ^mwith the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 ^mYet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^mthat you might provoke me to anger ^mwith the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 ⁿbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, ^qI will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^rthe grinding of the millstones and ^sthe light of the lamp. 11 ^pThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^tthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^useventy years. 12 Then after ^useventy years are completed, ^vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^vmaking the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^win this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 ^xFor many nations ^xand great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^yand I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath

15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^z“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^athe sword that I am sending among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, ^band made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: 18 ^cJerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^dto make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 ^ePharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20 and ^fall the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^gthe land of Uz and all the kings of ^hthe land of the Philistines (^hAshkelon, ^hGaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ⁱAshdod); 21 ^jEdom, ^kMoab, and the sons of ^lAmmon; 22 all the kings of ^mTyre, all the kings of ^mSidon, and the kings of the coastland across ⁿthe sea; 23 ^oDedan, ^pTema, ^qBuz, and all who cut ^rthe corners of their hair; 24 all the ^skings of Arabia and all the kings of ^fthe mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^tElam, and all the kings of ^uMedia; 26 all the kings of ^vthe north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^wBabylon¹ shall drink.

27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^xDrink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^ythe sword that I am sending among you.’

28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^zYou must drink! 29 For behold, ^aI begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^yfor I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

30 “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

33 ^h“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ⁱThey shall not be lamented, ^jor gathered, or buried; ^jthey shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

The Obedience of the Rechabites

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ⁿJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Go to the house of the ^oRechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of ^pthe chambers; then offer them wine to drink.” 3 So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. 4 I brought them to the house of the Lord into ^pthe chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, ^qthe man of God, which was near ^pthe chamber of the officials, above ^pthe chamber of ^rMaaseiah the son of Shallum, ^skeeper of the threshold. 5 Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” 6 But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for ^tJonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. 7 You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, ^uthat you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ 8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, 9 and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But ^vwhen Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of ^wthe army of the Chaldeans and ^wthe army of the Syrians.’ ^xSo we are living in Jerusalem.”

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^yWill you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the Lord. 14 The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. I have spoken to you ^zpersistently, but you have not listened to me. 15 I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them ^zpersistently, saying, ^a‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and ^bdo not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ ^cBut you did not incline your ear or listen to me. 16 The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me. 17 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, ^dbecause I have spoken to them and they have not listened, ^dI have called to them and they have not answered.”

18 But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, 19 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man ^eto stand before me.”

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

1 In the ^ffourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Take ^ga scroll and ^hwrite on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and ⁱJudah ^jand all the nations, ^kfrom the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. 3 ^lIt may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, ^mso that every one may turn from his evil way, and ⁿthat I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

4 Then Jeremiah called ^oBaruch the son of Neriah, and ^oBaruch wrote on ^ga scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. 5 And Jeremiah ordered ^oBaruch, saying, ^p“I am banned from going to the house of the Lord, 6 so you are to go, and ^qon a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the Lord’s house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. 7 ^lIt may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, ^mand that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

9 ^rIn the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^sin the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem ^tproclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10 Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the Lord, in ^uthe chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of ^vShaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12 he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and ^wall the officials were sitting there: ^xElishama the secretary, ^yDelaiah the son of Shemaiah, ^yElnathan ^zthe son of Achbor, ^yGemariah the son of ^zShaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. 13 And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of ^aShelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. 16 When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, ^b“We must report all these words to the king.” 17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” 18 Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, ^cwhile I wrote them with ink on the scroll.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”

20 So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in ^dthe chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 It was ^ethe ninth month, and the king was sitting in ^fthe winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. 23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. 24 Yet ^gneither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, ^hnor did they tear their garments. 25 Even when ⁱElnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^jurged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the ^kking’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and ^lShelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize ^mBaruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, ⁿ“Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” 30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ^oHe shall have none ^pto sit on the throne of David, ^qand his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31 ^rAnd I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’”

32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to ^sBaruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who ^twrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Message to Baruch

1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to ^sBaruch the son of Neriah, ^twhen he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, ^uin the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, ^v‘Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. ^wI am weary with my groaning, ^xand I find no rest.’ 4 Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: ^yBehold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. 5 And ^zdo you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, ^aI am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you ^byour life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”

When Brothers Dwell in Unity

A Song of ^mAscents. Of David.

Taming the Tongue

1 ^cNot many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For ^dwe all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^ehe is a perfect man, ^fable also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put ^gbits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet ^hit boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And ⁱthe tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, ^jstaining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,¹ and set on fire by hell.² 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, ^kfull of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people ^lwho are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,³ these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? ^mBy his good conduct let him show his works ⁿin the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter ^ojealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not ^pthe wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, ^qdemonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But ^rthe wisdom from above is first pure, then ^speaceable, gentle, open to reason, ^tfull of mercy and good fruits, ^uimpartial and ^vsincere. 18 And ^wa harvest of righteousness ^xis sown in peace by those who make peace.