Jeremiah 32-40

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 32

Pledge of Restoration.^{[a] 1} The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah,^[b] king of Judah, the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, while Jeremiah the prophet was confined to the court of the guard, in the house of the king of Judah.^{(A) 3} Zedekiah, king of Judah, had confined him there, saying: “How dare you prophesy: Thus says the Lord: I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon that he may capture it.^{(B) 4} Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape the hands of the Chaldeans: he shall indeed be handed over to the king of Babylon. He shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.^{(C) 5} He shall take Zedekiah to Babylon. There he shall remain, until I attend to him—oracle of the Lord. If you fight against the Chaldeans, you cannot win!”^(D)

^6 [c]Jeremiah said, This word came to me from the Lord: ⁷ Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you with the offer:^(E) “Purchase my field in Anathoth, since you, as nearest relative, have the first right of purchase.”^{[d] 8} And, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard and said, “Please purchase my field in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; as nearest relative, you have the first right of possession—purchase it for yourself.” Then I knew this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, weighing out for him the silver, seventeen shekels of silver.

¹⁰ When I had written and sealed the deed, called witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales, ¹¹ I accepted the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy, containing title and conditions, and the open copy.^{[e] 12} I gave this deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and before all the Judahites sitting around in the court of the guard.^(F)

¹³ In their presence I gave Baruch this charge: ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds of purchase, both the sealed and the open deeds, and put them in an earthenware jar,^[f] so they can last a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: They shall again purchase houses and fields and vineyards in this land.

¹⁶ After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: ¹⁷ Ah, my Lord God! You made the heavens and the earth with your great power and your outstretched arm; nothing is too difficult for you.^{(G) 18} You continue your kindness through a thousand generations; but you repay the ancestors’ guilt upon their children who follow them. Great and mighty God, whose name is Lord of hosts,^{(H) 19} great in counsel, mighty in deed, whose eyes are fixed on all the ways of mortals, giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds:^{(I) 20} you performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day, in Israel and among all peoples, you have made a name for yourself as on this day.^{(J) 21} You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and great terror. ²² And you gave them this land, as you had sworn to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(K) 23} They went in and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice. They did not live by your law; they did not do anything you commanded them to do. Then you made all this evil fall upon them.^{(L) 24} See, the siegeworks have arrived at this city to capture it; the city is handed over to the Chaldeans who are attacking it, with sword, starvation, and disease. What you threatened has happened—you can see it for yourself.^{(M) 25} Yet you told me, my Lord God: Purchase the field with silver and summon witnesses, when the city has already been handed over to the Chaldeans!

²⁶ Then this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ I am the Lord, the God of all the living! Is anything too difficult for me? ²⁸ Therefore the Lord says: I am handing over this city to the Chaldeans and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹ The Chaldeans who are attacking this city shall go in and set the city on fire, burning it and the houses, on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and libations were poured out to other gods in order to provoke me.^{(N) 30} From their youth the Israelites and the Judahites have been doing only what is evil in my eyes; the Israelites have been provoking me with the works of their hands—oracle of the Lord.^{(O) 31} This city has so stirred my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, that I must put it out of my sight, ³² for all the evil the Israelites and Judahites have done to provoke me—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^{(P) 33} They turned their backs to me, not their faces; though I taught them persistently, they would not listen or accept correction.^{(Q) 34} Instead they set up their abominations in the house which bears my name in order to defile it.^{(R) 35} They built high places to Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech;^[g] I never commanded them to do this, nor did it even enter my mind that they would practice this abomination, so as to bring sin upon Judah.^(S)

³⁶ Now, therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city, which you say is being handed over to the king of Babylon by means of the sword, starvation, and disease: ³⁷ See, I am gathering them from all the lands to which I drove them in my rising fury and great anger; I will bring them back to this place and settle them here in safety.^{(T) 38} They shall be my people, and I will be their God.^{(U) 39} I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me always, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ With them I will make an everlasting covenant, never to cease doing good to them; I will put fear of me in their hearts so that they never turn away from me.^{(V) 41} I will take delight in doing good to them: I will plant them firmly in this land, with all my heart and soul.^(W)

⁴² For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought upon this people all this great evil, so I will bring upon them all the good I have promised them.^{(X) 43} Fields shall be purchased in this land, about which you say, “It is a wasteland, without human beings or animals, handed over to the Chaldeans.”^{(Y) 44} They will purchase fields with silver, write up deeds, seal them, and have them witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah and of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah and the Negeb, when I restore their fortunes—oracle of the Lord.^(Z)

Chapter 33

Restoration of Jerusalem. ¹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the court of the guard: ² Thus says the Lord who made the earth, giving it shape and stability, Lord is his name: ³ Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you great things beyond the reach of your knowledge.^{(AA) 4} Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are being torn down because of the siegeworks and the sword:^{(AB) 5} men come to battle the Chaldeans, and to fill these houses with the corpses of those whom I have struck down in my raging anger, when I hid my face from this city because of all their wickedness.^(AC)

⁶ Look! I am bringing the city recovery and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them an abundance of lasting peace.^{(AD) 7} I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and rebuild them as they were in the beginning.^{(AE) 8} I will purify them of all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me; I will forgive all their offenses by which they sinned and rebelled against me.^{(AF) 9} Then this city shall become joy for me, a name of praise and pride, before all the nations of the earth, as they hear of all the good I am doing for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the prosperity I give it.

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord: In this place, about which you say: “It is a waste without people or animals!” and in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem now deserted, without people, without inhabitant, without animal, there shall yet be heard^{(AG) 11} the song of joy, the song of gladness, the song of the bridegroom, the song of the bride, the song of those bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord: “Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; God’s love endures forever.” For I will restore the fortunes of this land as they were in the beginning, says the Lord.^(AH)

¹² Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place, now a waste, without people or animals, and in all its cities there shall again be sheepfolds for the shepherds to rest their flocks. ¹³ In the cities of the hill country, of the Shephelah and the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin and the neighborhood of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

^14 [h]The days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days, at that time, I will make a just shoot spring up for David; he shall do what is right and just in the land.^{(AI) 16} In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; this is the name they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.” ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a successor on the throne of the house of Israel,^{(AJ) 18} nor shall the priests of Levi ever be lacking before me, to sacrifice burnt offerings, to burn cereal offerings, and to make sacrifices.^(AK)

¹⁹ This word of the Lord also came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with day^(AL) and my covenant with night so that day and night no longer appear in their proper time, ²¹ only then can my covenant with my servant David be broken, so that he will not have a descendant to act as king upon his throne, and my covenant with the priests of Levi who minister to me. ²² Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be counted, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.

²³ This word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ Have you not noticed what these people are saying: “The Lord has rejected the two tribes he had chosen”? They hold my people in contempt as if it were no longer a nation in their eyes.^{(AM) 25 (AN)}Thus says the Lord: If I have no covenant with day and night, if I did not establish statutes for heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will also reject the descendants of Jacob and of David my servant, no longer selecting from his descendants rulers for the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yes, I will restore their fortunes and show them mercy.

Chapter 34

Fate of Zedekiah. ¹ The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord while Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army and all the earth’s kingdoms under his rule, and all the peoples were attacking Jerusalem and all her cities:^{(AO) 2} Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him: Thus says the Lord: I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon; he will burn it with fire.^{(AP) 3} You yourself shall not escape his hand; rather you will be captured and fall into his hand. You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak to him face to face. Then you shall go to Babylon.^(AQ)

⁴ Just hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah, king of Judah! Then, says the Lord concerning you, you shall not die by the sword. ⁵ You shall die in peace, and they will burn spices for you as they did for your ancestors, the earlier kings who preceded you, and they shall make lament over you, “Alas, Lord.” I myself make this promise—oracle of the Lord.

⁶ Jeremiah the prophet told all these things to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem, ⁷ while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah, Lachish, and Azekah.^[i] Only these fortified cities were left standing out of all the cities of Judah!

The Pact Broken.^{[j] 8} This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom: ⁹ Everyone must free their Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should hold another Judahite in servitude.^{(AR) 10} All the princes and the people who entered this covenant agreed to set free their slaves, their male and female servants, so that they should no longer be in servitude. But even though they agreed and freed them, ¹¹ afterward they took back their male and female servants whom they had set free and again forced them into servitude.

¹² Then this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your ancestors the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: ¹⁴ Every seventh year each of you must set free all Hebrews who have sold themselves to you; six years they shall serve you, but then you shall let them go free. Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or obey me. ¹⁵ As for you, today you repented and did what is right in my eyes by proclaiming freedom for your neighbor and making a covenant before me in the house which bears my name. ¹⁶ But then you again profaned my name by taking back your male and female slaves whom you had just set free for life; you forced them to become your slaves again.^{(AS) 17} Therefore, thus says the Lord: You for your part did not obey me by proclaiming freedom for your families and neighbors. So I now proclaim freedom for you—oracle of the Lord—for the sword, starvation, and disease. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ^18 [k]Those who violated my covenant and did not observe the terms of the covenant they made in my presence—I will make them like the calf which they cut in two so they could pass between its parts— ¹⁹ the princes of Judah and of Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ These I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives: their corpses shall become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.^(AT)

²¹ Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes, I will hand also over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon which is now withdrawing from you.^{(AU) 22} I am giving the command—oracle of the Lord—to bring them back to this city. They shall attack and capture it, and burn it with fire; the cities of Judah I will turn into a waste, where no one dwells.^(AV)

Chapter 35

The Faithful Rechabites. ¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim,^[l] son of Josiah, king of Judah: ² Go to the house^[m] of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to the house of the Lord, to one of the rooms there, and give them wine to drink. ³ So I took Jaazaniah, son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons—the whole house of the Rechabites— ⁴ and I brought them to the house of the Lord, to the room of the sons of Hanan,^[n] son of Igdaliah, the man of God, next to the room of the princes above the room of Maaseiah, son of Shallum, the guard at the entrance. ⁵ I set before the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ “We do not drink wine,” they said to me; “Jonadab,^[o] Rechab’s son, our father, commanded us, ‘Neither you nor your children shall ever drink wine.^{(AW) 7} Build no house and sow no seed; do not plant vineyards or own any. You must dwell in tents all your lives, so that you may live long on the land where you live as resident aliens.’ ⁸ We have obeyed Jonadab, Rechab’s son, our father, in everything that he commanded us: not drinking wine as long as we live—neither we nor our wives nor our sons nor our daughters; ⁹ not building houses to live in; not owning vineyards or fields or crops. ¹⁰ We live in tents, doing everything our father Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem to escape the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.’^[p] That is why we are now living in Jerusalem.”^(AX)

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, say to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not take correction and obey my words?—oracle of the Lord.^{(AY) 14} The words of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, by which he commanded his children not to drink wine, have been upheld: to this day they have not drunk wine; they obeyed their ancestor’s command. I, however, have spoken to you time and again. But you did not obey me!^{(AZ) 15} Time and again I sent you all my servants the prophets, saying: Turn away, each of you, from your evil way and reform your actions! Do not follow other gods to serve them that you may remain in the land which I gave you and your ancestors. But you did not pay attention. You did not obey me.^{(BA) 16} Yes, the children of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, upheld the command which their father laid on them. But this people has not obeyed me! ¹⁷ Now, therefore, says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: I will soon bring upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every evil with which I threatened them because I spoke but they did not obey, I called but they did not answer.^(BB)

¹⁸ But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Since you have obeyed the command of Jonadab, your father, kept all his commands and done everything he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Never shall there fail to be a descendant of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, standing in my presence.

VII. Jeremiah and the Fall of Jerusalem

Chapter 36

Baruch, the Scribe of Jeremiah. ¹ In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you about Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, until today. ³ Perhaps, if the house of Judah hears all the evil I have in mind to do to them, so that all of them turn from their evil way, then I can forgive their wickedness and their sin.^{(BC) 4} So Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah, and he wrote down on a scroll what Jeremiah said, all the words which the Lord had spoken to him. ⁵ Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch: “I cannot enter the house of the Lord; I am barred^[q] from it. ⁶ So you yourself must go. On a fast day in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house, read the words of the Lord from the scroll you wrote at my dictation; read them also to all the people of Judah who come up from their cities. ⁷ Perhaps they will present their supplication before the Lord and will all turn back from their evil way; for great is the anger and wrath with which the Lord has threatened this people.”^(BD)

⁸ Baruch, son of Neriah, did everything Jeremiah the prophet commanded; from the scroll he read the Lord’s words in the Lord’s house. ⁹ In the ninth month, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people of Jerusalem and all those who came from Judah’s cities to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. ¹⁰ So Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the room of Gemariah,^[r] son of the scribe Shaphan, in the upper court of the Lord’s house, at the entrance of the New Temple Gate, in the hearing of all the people.

¹¹ Now Micaiah, son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord read from the scroll. ¹² So he went down to the house of the king, into the scribe’s chamber,^[s] where the princes were meeting in session: Elishama, the scribe; Delaiah, son of Shemaiah; Elnathan, son of Achbor; Gemariah, son of Shaphan; Zedekiah, son of Hananiah; and the other princes. ¹³ Micaiah reported to them all that he had heard Baruch read from his scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴ The princes immediately sent Jehudi, son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch with the order: “The scroll you read in the hearing of the people—bring it with you and come.” Scroll in hand, Baruch, son of Neriah, went to them. ¹⁵ “Sit down,” they said to him, “and read it in our hearing.” Baruch read it in their hearing, ¹⁶ and when they had heard all its words, they turned to each other in alarm and said to Baruch, “We have to tell the king all these things.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch: “Tell us, please, how did you come to write down all these words? Was it at his dictation?” ¹⁸ “Yes, he would dictate all these words to me,” Baruch answered them, “while I wrote them down with ink in the scroll.” ¹⁹ The princes said to Baruch, “Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah; do not let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ They went in to the king, into the courtyard; they had deposited the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. When they told the king everything that had happened, ²¹ the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the scribe, and read it to the king and to all the princes who were attending the king. ²² Now the king was sitting in his winter house, since it was the ninth month, and a fire was burning in the brazier before him. ²³ Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, he would cut off the piece with a scribe’s knife^[t] and throw it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire in the brazier. ²⁴ As they were listening to all these words the king and all his officials did not become alarmed, nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵ And though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ He commanded Jerahmeel, a royal prince, and Seraiah, son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them away.

²⁷ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the king burned the scroll and the words Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch: ²⁸ Take another scroll, and write on it all the words in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, burned. ²⁹ And against Jehoiakim, king of Judah, say this: Thus says the Lord: You are the one who burned that scroll, saying, “Why did you write on it: Babylon’s king shall surely come and ravage this land, emptying it of every living thing”? ³⁰ The Lord now says of Jehoiakim, king of Judah:^(BE) No descendant of his shall sit on David’s throne; his corpse shall be thrown out, exposed to heat by day, frost by night.^{[u] 31} I will punish him and his descendants and his officials for their wickedness; upon them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the people of Judah I will bring all the evil threats to which they did not listen.

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to his scribe, Baruch, son of Neriah, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words contained in the scroll which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, adding many words like them.

Chapter 37

Jeremiah in the Dungeon. ¹ Zedekiah, son of Josiah, became king, succeeding Coniah, son of Jehoiakim; Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appointed him king over the land of Judah.^{(BF) 2} Neither he, nor his officials, nor the people of the land would listen to the words which the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. ³ Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet with this request: “Please appeal to the Lord, our God, for us.”^{(BG) 4} At this time Jeremiah still came and went freely among the people; he had not yet been put into prison.^{[v] 5} Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army^[w] had set out from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard this report, they withdrew from the city.^(BH)

⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus you must say to the king of Judah who sent you to consult me: Listen! Pharaoh’s army, which has set out to help you, will return to Egypt, its own land.^{(BI) 8} The Chaldeans shall return and attack this city; they shall capture it and destroy it by fire.^(BJ)

⁹ Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying: “The Chaldeans are surely leaving us forever.” They are not! ¹⁰ Even if you could defeat the whole Chaldean army that is now attacking you, and only the wounded remained, each in his tent, these would rise up and destroy the city with fire.^(BK)

¹¹ Now when the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of the army of Pharaoh,^{(BL) 12} Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin, to receive his share of property among the people. ¹³ But at the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, by the name of Irijah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” ¹⁴ “That is a lie!” Jeremiah answered, “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” Without listening to him, Irijah kept Jeremiah in custody and brought him to the princes.

¹⁵ The princes were enraged at Jeremiah and had Jeremiah beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they were using it as a jail.^{(BM) 16} And so Jeremiah went into a room in the dungeon, where he remained many days.

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah had him brought to his palace, and he asked him secretly, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “There is!” Jeremiah answered: “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”^{(BN) 18} Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah: “How have I wronged you or your officials or this people, that you should put me in prison?^{(BO) 19} Where are your own prophets who prophesied for you, saying: ‘The King of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? ²⁰ Please hear me, my lord king! Grant my petition: do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I shall die there.”

²¹ So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be confined in the court of the guard and given a ration of bread every day from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.^(BP)

Chapter 38

Jeremiah in the Muddy Cistern. ¹ Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malchiah, heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:^{[x] 2} Thus says the Lord: Those who remain in this city shall die by means of the sword, starvation, and disease; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live. Their lives shall be spared them as spoils of war that they may live.^{(BQ) 3} Thus says the Lord: This city shall certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon; he shall capture it.

⁴ Then the princes said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death. He is weakening the resolve^[y] of the soldiers left in this city and of all the people, by saying such things to them; he is not seeking the welfare of our people, but their ruin.”^{(BR) 5} King Zedekiah answered: “He is in your hands,” for the king could do nothing with them. ⁶ And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, in the court of the guard, letting him down by rope. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.^(BS)

⁷ Now Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, a court official in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸ and Ebed-melech went there from the house of the king and said to him, ⁹ “My lord king, these men have done wrong in all their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet, throwing him into the cistern. He will starve to death on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city.”^{(BT) 10} Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you, and get Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went first to the linen closet in the house of the king. He took some old, tattered rags and lowered them by rope to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Then he said to Jeremiah, “Put these old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up by rope out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

¹⁴ King Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah the prophet to meet him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. “I have a question to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”^{(BU) 15} Jeremiah answered Zedekiah: “If I tell you anything, will you not have me put to death? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!”^{(BV) 16} But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: “As the Lord lives who gave us our lives, I will not kill you, nor will I hand you over to those men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Jeremiah then said to Zedekiah: “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will only surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed by fire, and you and your household shall live.^{(BW) 18} But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, this city shall fall into the hand of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it by fire, and you shall not escape their hand.”^(BX)

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judahites who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I could be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me.”^{(BY) 20} “You will not be handed over to them,” Jeremiah answered. “I beg you! Please listen to the voice of the Lord regarding what I tell you so that it may go well with you and your life be spared.^{(BZ) 21} But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown: ²² I see all the women who remain in the house of Judah’s king being brought out to the princes of Babylon’s king, and they are crying:

²³ All your wives and children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape their hands; you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city shall be destroyed by fire.”^(CB)

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die. ²⁵ If the princes should hear I spoke with you and if they should come and ask you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ or, ‘What did the king say to you?’ ²⁶ then give them this answer: ‘I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house lest I die there.’” ²⁷ When all the princes came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he answered them with the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been overheard of the conversation. ²⁸ Thus Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day Jerusalem was taken.^(CC)

Chapter 39

The Capture of Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was taken, ¹ in the ninth year of Zedekiah,^(CD) king of Judah, in the tenth month,^[z] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army marched against Jerusalem and placed it under siege. ² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month,^[aa] the city wall was breached. ³ All the princes of the king of Babylon came and took their seats at the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer of Simmagir, a chief officer; Nebushazban, a high dignitary; and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.^{[ab] 4} When Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all his warriors saw this, they fled, leaving the city at night by way of the king’s garden,^[ac] through a gate between the two walls. He went in the direction of the Arabah,^{(CE) 5} but the Chaldean army pursued them; they caught up with Zedekiah in the wilderness near Jericho and took him prisoner. They brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah,^[ad] in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced sentence upon him.^{(CF) 6} The king of Babylon executed the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his very eyes; the king of Babylon also executed all the nobles of Judah.^{(CG) 7} He then blinded Zedekiah and bound him in chains to bring him to Babylon.^(CH)

⁸ The Chaldeans set fire to the king’s house and the houses of the people and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.^{(CI) 9} Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, deported to Babylon the rest of the people left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the workers.^{(CJ) 10} But Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor who had nothing and at the same time gave them vineyards and farms.^(CK)

Jeremiah Released to Gedaliah’s Custody. ¹¹ Concerning Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave these orders through Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard: ¹² “Take him and look after him; do not let anything happen to him. Whatever he may ask, you must do for him.”^{(CL) 13} Thereupon Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, and Nebushazban, a high dignitary, and Nergal-sharezer, a chief officer, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon, ¹⁴ had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard and entrusted to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to bring him home. And so he remained among the people.^(CM)

A Word of Comfort for Ebed-melech. ¹⁵ While Jeremiah was still imprisoned in the court of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: ¹⁶ Go, tell this to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: See, I am now carrying out my words against this city, for evil and not for good; this will happen in your presence on that day.^{(CN) 17} But on that day I will deliver you—oracle of the Lord; you shall not be handed over to the men you dread. ¹⁸ I will make certain that you escape and do not fall by the sword. Your life will be your spoils of war because you trusted in me—oracle of the Lord.^(CO)

Chapter 40

Jeremiah Still in Judah. ¹ The word^[ae] which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had released him in Ramah, where he found him a prisoner in chains among the captives of Jerusalem and Judah being exiled to Babylon.^{(CP) 2} The captain of the bodyguard took charge of Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord, your God, decreed ruin for this place. ³ Now he has made it happen, accomplishing what he decreed; because you sinned against the Lord and did not listen to his voice, this decree has been realized against you. ⁴ Now, I release you today from the chains upon your hands; if you want to come with me to Babylon, then come: I will look out for you. But if you do not want to come to Babylon, very well. See, the whole land lies before you; go wherever you think good and proper.^{(CQ) 5} Or go to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has set over the cities of Judah. Stay with him among the people. Or go wherever you want!” The captain of the bodyguard gave him food and gifts and let him go.^{(CR) 6} So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, in Mizpah,^[af] and dwelt with him among the people left in the land.^(CS)

⁷ When the military leaders still in the field with their soldiers heard that the king of Babylon had set Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, over the land and had put him in charge of men, women, and children, from the poor of the land who had not been deported to Babylon, ⁸ they and their soldiers came to Gedaliah in Mizpah: Ishmael, son of Nethaniah; Johanan, son of Kareah; Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai of Netophah; and Jezaniah of Beth-maacah. ⁹ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, so that everything may go well with you.^{(CT) 10} As for me, I will remain in Mizpah, as your representative before the Chaldeans when they come to us. You, for your part, harvest the wine, the fruit, and the oil, store them in jars, and remain in the cities you occupied.” ¹¹ Then all the Judahites in Moab, in Ammon, in Edom, and those in all other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had set over them Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. ¹² They all returned to the land of Judah from the places to which they had scattered. They went to Gedaliah at Mizpah and had a rich harvest of wine and fruit.

Assassination of Gedaliah. ¹³ Now Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the military leaders in the field came to Gedaliah in Mizpah ¹⁴ and said to him, “Surely you are aware that Baalis, the Ammonite king,^[ag] has sent Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, to assassinate you?”^(CU) But Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, would not believe them. ¹⁵ Then Johanan, son of Kareah, said secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah: “Please let me go and kill Ishmael, son of Nethaniah; no one will know it. What if he assassinates you? All the Judahites who have now rallied behind you would scatter and the remnant of Judah would perish.” ¹⁶ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, answered Johanan, son of Kareah, “You must not do that. What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie!”