Jeremiah 21:1-23:8

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,

² Inquire, I pray you, of the Lord for us, for ^[a] Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, forcing him to withdraw from us.

³ Then said Jeremiah to them, Say this to Zedekiah:

⁴ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the midst of this city [Jerusalem].

⁵ And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation and wrath.

⁶ And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.

⁷ And afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. And he will smite them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have pity or mercy and compassion upon them.

⁸ And to this people you [Jeremiah] shall say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹ He who remains in this city [Jerusalem] shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence. But he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him his only booty [as a prize of war].

¹⁰ For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

¹¹ And concerning the royal house of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord:

¹² O house of David, thus says the Lord: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn so that none can quench it—because of the evil of your doings.

¹³ Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, says the Lord—you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or, Who shall enter into our dwelling places?

¹⁴ And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forest, and it will devour all that is round about you.

22 Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word:

² Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit upon the throne of David—you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates.

³ Thus says the Lord: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver out of the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger or temporary resident, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if you will indeed obey this word, then will there enter in through the gates of this [the king’s] house kings sitting [for David] upon David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their servants and their people.

⁵ But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a desolation.

⁶ For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: [If you will not listen to Me, though] you are [as valuable] to Me as [the fat pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan] or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan], yet surely I will make you a wilderness and uninhabited cities.

⁷ And I will prepare, solemnly set apart, and appoint [to execute My judgments against you] destroyers, each with his weapons, and they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.

⁸ And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done this to this great city?

⁹ Then they will answer, Because [the people] forsook the covenant or solemn pledge with the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.

¹⁰ Weep not for him who is dead nor bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away [into captivity], for he shall return no more nor see his native country [again].

¹¹ For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went forth out of this place: [Shallum] shall not return here any more;

¹² But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and he shall see this land no more.

¹³ Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his [upper] chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor’s service without wages and does not give him his pay [for his work],

¹⁴ Who says, I will build myself a wide house with large rooms, and he cuts himself out windows, and it is ceiled or paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.

¹⁵ Do you think that being a king [merely] means [self-indulgent] vying [with Solomon] and striving to excel in cedar [palaces]? Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank, do justice and righteousness [being upright and in right standing with God]? Then it was well with him.

¹⁶ He judged and defended the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not [all] this [what it means] to know and recognize Me? says the Lord.

¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness and dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression and doing violence.

¹⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: [Relatives] shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister, [how great our loss! Subjects] shall not lament for him saying, Ah, lord! or Ah, his majesty! or Ah, [how great was] his glory!

¹⁹ [No] he shall be buried with the burial of a donkey—dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out, and raise your voice in [the hills] of Bashan [across the Jordan], and cry out from Abarim [a range of mountains southeast of Palestine], for all your lovers (the king’s chosen allies) are destroyed.^(A)

²¹ I spoke to you in your [times of] prosperity, but you said, I will not listen! This has been your attitude from your youth; you have not obeyed My voice.

²² The wind [of adversity] shall pasture upon and consume all your shepherds (your princes and statesmen), and your lovers (allies) shall go into captivity. Surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded and dismayed because of all your wickedness.

²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made of Lebanon’s trees], you who make your nest among the cedars, how you will groan and how pitiable you will be when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in childbirth!^(B)

²⁴ As I live, says the Lord, though Coniah [also called Jeconiah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet [ring] upon My right hand, yet would I tear you off.

²⁵ And I will give you into the hands of those who seek your life and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ And I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you will die.

²⁷ But to the land to which they will yearn to return, there they will not return.

²⁸ Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken pot? Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure? Why are they hurled out, he and his royal offspring, and cast into a land which they do not know, understand, or recognize?

²⁹ O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰ Thus says the Lord: Write this man [Coniah] down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his offspring shall succeed in sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.

23 Woe to the shepherds (the civil leaders) who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasturing! says the Lord.

² Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for and feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited and attended to them; behold, I will visit and attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord.

³ And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴ And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will fear no more nor be dismayed, neither will any be missing or lost, says the Lord.

⁵ Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (Sprout), and He will reign as King and do wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶ In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name by which He shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.^(C)

⁷ Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, As the Lord lives, Who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,

⁸ But, As the Lord lives, Who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land. ^(D).