The Lord Promises Peace

33 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still ⁿshut up in the court of the guard: 2 “Thus says ^othe Lord who made the earth,¹ the Lord who formed it to establish it—^pthe Lord is his name: 3 ^qCall to me and I will answer you, ^rand will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. 4 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against ^sthe siege mounds and against the sword: 5 They are coming in ^tto fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them² with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down ^uin my anger and my wrath, ^vfor I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. 6 ^wBehold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. 7 ^xI will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, ^yand rebuild them as they were ^zat first. 8 ^aI will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, ^band I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. 9 ^cAnd this city³ shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall ^dfear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

10 “Thus says the Lord: In this place ^eof which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again 11 ^fthe voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring ^gthank offerings to the house of the Lord:

^xFor I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ⁱIn this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be ^jhabitations of shepherds ^kresting their flocks. 13 ^lIn the cities of the hill country, ^lin the cities of the Shephelah, ^land in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, ^lthe places about Jerusalem, ^land in the cities of Judah, ^mflocks shall again pass under the hands ⁿof the one who counts them, says the Lord.

The Lord’s Eternal Covenant with David

14 ^o“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^pI will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous ^qBranch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, ^rand Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ^s‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

17 “For thus says the Lord: ^tDavid shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 ^uand the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 ^v“Thus says the Lord: ^wIf you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, ^xso that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 ^ythen also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. 22 As ^zthe host of heaven cannot be numbered and ^zthe sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. 25 Thus says the Lord: ^aIf I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^bFor I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

Zedekiah to Die in Babylon

34 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^cNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army ^dand all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to ^eZedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^fBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 3 ^gYou shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. ^gYou shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’ 4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! ^hThus says the Lord concerning you: ^h‘You shall not die by the sword. 5 You shall die in peace. ⁱAnd as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall ^jburn spices for you ^kand lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.”

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, 7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, ^lLachish and ^mAzekah, ⁿfor these were the only ^ofortified cities of Judah that remained.

8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^phad made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^qto make a proclamation of liberty to them, 9 ^rthat everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^sso that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. 10 And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. 11 But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^rthey had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. 12 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 13 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^tI brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, 14 ^u‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^ryou must set him free from your service.’ But ^vyour fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. 15 You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^qby proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^wyou made a covenant before me in the ^xhouse that is called by my name, 16 but then you turned around ^yand profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^zwhom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

17 “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^qby proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^abehold, I proclaim to you liberty ^bto the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^cI will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^wthe covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{1 d}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— 19 the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^ethe eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. 20 And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^fand into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^gTheir dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21 And ^hZedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ⁱwhich has withdrawn from you. 22 Behold, ^jI will command, declares the Lord, and will ^kbring them back to this city. ^kAnd they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^lI will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^mwithout inhabitant.”

The Obedience of the Rechabites

35 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

36 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.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

37 ^uZedekiah the son of Josiah, ^vwhom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^wConiah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 ^xBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

3 King Zedekiah sent ^yJehucal the son of ^zShelemiah, and ^aZephaniah the priest, the son of ^bMaaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please ^cpray for us to the Lord our God.” 4 ^dNow Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, ^efor he had not yet been put in prison. 5 ^fThe army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when ^gthe Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, ^hthey withdrew from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who ⁱsent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, ^jPharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to ^kreturn to Egypt, to its own land. 8 And ^lthe Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^lThey shall capture it and burn it with fire. 9 Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. 10 ^mFor even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^lburn this city with fire.’”