Jeremiah 21-23

Contemporary English Version

The Lord Will Fight against Jerusalem

21 King Zedekiah^[a] of Judah sent for Pashhur son of Malchiah and for a priest named Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. Then he told them, “Talk with Jeremiah for me.”

So they came to me and said, ²^(A) “King Nebuchadnezzar^[b] of Babylonia has attacked Judah. Please ask the Lord to work miracles for our people, as he has done in the past, so that Nebuchadnezzar will leave us alone.”

^3-7I told them that the Lord God of Israel had told me to say to King Zedekiah:

The Babylonians have surrounded Jerusalem and want to kill you and your people. You are asking me to save you, but you have made me furious. So I will stretch out my mighty arm and fight against you myself. Your army is using spears and swords to fight the Babylonians, but I will make your own weapons turn and attack you. I will send a horrible disease to kill many of the people and animals in Jerusalem, and there will be nothing left to eat. Finally, I will let King Nebuchadnezzar and his army fight their way to the center of Jerusalem and capture everyone who is left alive, including you and your officials. But Nebuchadnezzar won't be kind or show any mercy—he will have you killed! I, the Lord, have spoken.

⁸^(B) Then I told them that the Lord had said:

People of Jerusalem, I, the Lord, give you the choice of life or death. ⁹The Babylonian army has surrounded Jerusalem, so if you want to live, you must go out and surrender to them. But if you want to die because of hunger, disease, or war, then stay here in the city. ¹⁰I have decided not to rescue Jerusalem. Instead, I am going to let the king of Babylonia burn it to the ground. I, the Lord, have spoken.

The Lord Warns the King of Judah

* ¹¹Pay attention, you that belong
    to the royal family.
¹²Each new day, make sure
    that justice is done,
and rescue those
    who are being robbed.
Or else my anger will flame up
like a fire that never goes out.

¹³Jerusalem,
    from your mountaintop
you look out over the valleys^[c]
    and think you are safe.
But I, the Lord, am angry,
¹⁴and I will punish you
    as you deserve.
I'll set your palace^[d] on fire,
and everything around you
    will go up in smoke.

The Lord Will Punish the King of Judah

22 ^1-3The Lord sent me to the palace of the king of Judah to speak to the king, his officials, and everyone else who was there. The Lord told me to say:

I am the Lord, so pay attention! You have been allowing people to cheat, rob, and take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners who live here. Innocent people have become victims of injustice, and some of them have even been killed. But now I command you to do what is right and see that justice is done. Rescue everyone who has suffered from injustice.

⁴If you obey me, the kings from David's family will continue to rule Judah from this palace. They and their officials will ride in and out on their horses or in their chariots. ⁵^(C) But if you ignore me, I promise in my own name that this palace will lie in ruins. ⁶Listen to what I think about it:

The palace of Judah's king
is as glorious as Gilead
    or Lebanon's highest peaks.
But it will be as empty
as a ghost-town
    when I'm through with it.
⁷I'll send troops to tear it apart,
and its beautiful cedar beams
    will be used for firewood.

⁸People from different nations will pass by and ask, “Why did the Lord do this to such a great city as Jerusalem?” ⁹Others will answer, “It's because the people worshiped foreign gods and broke the agreement that the Lord their God had made with them.”

King Jehoahaz

The Lord said:

¹⁰King Josiah is dead,
    so don't mourn for him.^[e]
Instead, mourn for his son
    King Jehoahaz,
dragged off to another country,^[f]
    never to return.

^11-12^(D) Jehoahaz^[g] became king of Judah after his father King Josiah died. But Jehoahaz was taken as a prisoner to a foreign country. Now I, the Lord, promise that he will die there without ever seeing his own land again.

King Jehoiakim

The Lord told me to say:

* ¹³King Jehoiakim,^[h] you are doomed!
You built a palace
    with large rooms upstairs.
¹⁴You put in big windows
and used cedar paneling
    and red paint.
But you were unfair
and forced the builders to work
    without pay.

* ¹⁵More cedar in your palace
doesn't make you a better king
    than your father Josiah.
He always did right—
he gave justice to the poor
    and was honest.
¹⁶That's what it means
    to truly know me.
So he lived a comfortable life
and always had enough
    to eat and drink.

¹⁷But all you think about
    is how to cheat
or abuse or murder
    some innocent victim.
¹⁸^(E) Jehoiakim, no one will mourn
    at your funeral.
They won't turn to each other
    and ask,
“Why did our great king
    have to die?”
¹⁹You will be given a burial
    fit for a donkey;
your body will be dragged
outside the city gates
    and tossed in the dirt.
I, the Lord, have spoken.

King Jehoiachin and the People of Jerusalem

The Lord told me to say:

²⁰People of Jerusalem,
the nations^[i] you trusted
    have been crushed.
Go to Lebanon and weep;
cry in the land of Bashan
    and in Moab.
²¹When times were good,
    I warned you.
But you ignored me,
just as you have done
    since Israel was young.
²²Now you will be disgraced
    because of your sins.
Your leaders will be swept away
    by the wind,
and the nations you trusted
will be captured and dragged
    to a foreign country.
²³Those who live in the palace
    paneled with cedar^[j]
will groan with pain
    like women giving birth.

²⁴^(F) King Jehoiachin,^[k] son of Jehoiakim,^[l] even if you were the ring I wear as the sign of my royal power, I would still pull you from my finger. ²⁵I would hand you over to the enemy you fear, to King Nebuchadnezzar^[m] and his army, who want to kill you. ²⁶You and your mother^[n] were born in Judah, but I will throw both of you into a foreign country, where you will die, ²⁷longing to return home.

²⁸Jehoiachin, you are unwanted
like a broken clay pot.
So you and your children
will be thrown into a country
you know nothing about.

²⁹Land of Judah, I am the Lord.
    Now listen to what I say!
³⁰Erase the names
of Jehoiachin's children
    from the royal records.
He is a complete failure,
and so none of them
    will ever be king.
I, the Lord, have spoken.

A Message of Hope

The Lord said:

23 ^(G) You leaders of my people are like shepherds that kill and scatter the sheep. ²You were supposed to take care of my people, but instead you chased them away. So now I'll punish you severely and make you pay for your crimes!

³I will bring the rest of my people home from the lands where I have scattered them, and they will grow into a mighty nation. ⁴I promise to choose leaders who will care for them like real shepherds. All of my people will be there, and they will never again be frightened.

⁵^(H) Someday I will appoint
an honest king
    from the family of David,
a king who will be wise
    and rule with justice.
⁶As long as he is king,
Israel will have peace,
    and Judah will be safe.
The name of this king will be
    “The Lord Gives Justice.”

⁷A time will come when you will again worship me. But you will no longer call me the Living God who rescued Israel from Egypt. ⁸Instead, you will call me the Living God who rescued you from the land in the north and from all the other countries where I had forced you to go. And you will once again live in your own land.

Jeremiah Thinks about Unfaithful Prophets

⁹When I think of the prophets,
I am shocked, and I tremble^[o]
    like someone drunk,
because of the Lord
    and his sacred words.
¹⁰Those unfaithful prophets
misuse their power
    all over the country.
So God turned the pasturelands
    into scorching deserts.^[p]

The Lord Will Punish Unfaithful Prophets

¹¹The Lord told me to say:

You prophets and priests
think so little of me, the Lord,
    that you even sin
    in my own temple!
¹²Now I will punish you
    with disaster,
and you will slip and fall
    in the darkness.
I, the Lord, have spoken.

¹³The prophets in Samaria
    were repulsive to me,
because they preached
in the name of Baal
    and led my people astray.
¹⁴^(I) And you prophets in Jerusalem
    are even worse.
You're unfaithful in marriage^[q]
    and never tell the truth.^[r]
You even lead others to sin
instead of helping them
    turn back to me.
You and the people of Jerusalem
are evil like Sodom
    and Gomorrah.^[s]
¹⁵You prophets in Jerusalem
    have spread evil everywhere.
That's why I, the Lord, promise
to give you bitter poison
    to eat and drink.

The Lord Gives a Warning

The Lord said:

¹⁶Don't listen to the lies
of these false prophets,
    you people of Judah!
The message they preach
    is something they imagined;
it did not come from me,
    the Lord All-Powerful.
¹⁷These prophets go to people
    who refuse to respect me
and who are stubborn
    and do whatever they please.
The prophets tell them,
“The Lord has promised
    everything will be fine.”

¹⁸But I, the Lord, tell you
    that these prophets
have never attended a meeting
of my council in heaven^[t]
    or heard me speak.
¹⁹They are evil! So in my anger
I will strike them
    like a violent storm.
²⁰I won't calm down,
until I have finished
    what I have decided to do.
Someday you will understand
    exactly what I mean.
²¹I did not send these prophets
    or speak to them,
but they ran to find you
    and to preach their message.
²²If they had been in a meeting
    of my council in heaven,
they would have told
    you people of Judah
to give up your sins
    and come back to me.

²³I am everywhere—
both near and far,
²⁴ ^(J) in heaven and on earth.
There are no secret places
where you can hide from me.

²⁵These unfaithful prophets claim that I have given them a dream or a vision, and then they tell lies in my name. ²⁶But everything they say comes from their own twisted minds. How long can this go on? ²⁷They tell each other their dreams and try to get my people to reject me, just as their ancestors left me and worshiped Baal. ²⁸Their dreams and my truth are as different as straw and wheat. But when prophets speak for me, they must say only what I have told them. ²⁹My words are a powerful fire; they are a hammer that shatters rocks.

^30-32These unfaithful prophets claim I give them their dreams, but it isn't true. I didn't choose them to be my prophets, and yet they babble on and on, speaking in my name, while stealing words from each other. And when my people hear these liars, they are led astray instead of being helped. So I warn you that I am now the enemy of these prophets. I, the Lord, have spoken.

News and Nuisance

The Lord said to me:

³³Jeremiah, when a prophet or a priest or anyone else comes to you and asks, “Does the Lord have news for us?” tell them, “You people are a nuisance^[u] to the Lord, and he^[v] will get rid of you.”

³⁴If any of you say, “Here is news from the Lord,” I will punish you and your families, even if you are a prophet or a priest. ³⁵Instead, you must ask your friends and relatives, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What has the Lord said?” ³⁶It seems that you each have your own news! So if you say, “Here is news from the Lord,” you are twisting my words into a lie. Remember that I am your God, the Lord All-Powerful.

³⁷If you go to a prophet, it's all right to ask, “What answer did the Lord give to my question?” or “What has the Lord said?” ³⁸But if you disobey me and say, “Here is news from the Lord,” ³⁹I will pick you up^[w] and throw you far away. And I will abandon this city of Jerusalem that I gave to your ancestors. ⁴⁰You will never be free from your shame and disgrace.

Footnotes

21.1 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3.
21.2 Nebuchadnezzar: Ruled 605–562 b.c.
21.13 Jerusalem … valleys: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
21.14 your palace: The Hebrew text has “the forest”; the largest room in the king's palace was known as Forest Hall (see 1 Kings 7.2,3).
22.10 King Josiah … him: The Hebrew text has “don't mourn for the dead one,” meaning King Josiah, who ruled 640–609 b.c.
22.10 his son King Jehoahaz … country: The Hebrew text has “the one who was dragged off to another country,” meaning King Jehoahaz, who ruled for three months in 609 b.c.
22.11,12 Jehoahaz: The Hebrew text has “Shallum,” another name for Jehoahaz.
22.13 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3.
22.20 nations: Or “gods.”
22.23 who live in the palace paneled with cedar: The Hebrew text has “who live in Lebanon and who nest among the cedars,” which probably means Forest Hall in the royal palace at Jerusalem, which was paneled with cedar and had cedar columns and a cedar ceiling, all from Lebanon (see 1 Kings 7.2,3).
22.24 Jehoiachin: The Hebrew text has “Coniah,” another form of Jehoiachin's name; he ruled for three months in 598 b.c.
22.24 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3.
22.25 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
22.26 mother: See the note at 13.18.
23.9 tremble: Or “become weak.”
23.10 deserts: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
23.14 in marriage: Or “to me.”
23.14 never tell the truth: Or “worship other gods.”
23.14 Sodom and Gomorrah: Two cities that the Lord destroyed because their people were so evil (see Genesis 18.16—19.29).
23.18 a meeting of my council in heaven: Sometimes, prophets had visions of the Lord meeting with his angels (see 1 Kings 22.19-23).
23.33 news … nuisance: The Hebrew word for “news” in verses 33-38 is the same as “nuisance” and is related to “pick up” in verse 39.
23.33 You people are a nuisance to the Lord, and he: Two ancient translations; Hebrew “Does the Lord have news for us? He.”
23.39 pick you up: A few Hebrew manuscripts and three ancient translations; most Hebrew manuscripts “forget you completely.”