Bible in 90 Days

²³ Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have said? They have said that the Lord has rejected the two families he has chosen. They despise my people, and they no longer consider them a nation.

²⁵ “This is what the Lord says: Suppose I hadn’t made an arrangement with day and night or made laws for heaven and earth. ²⁶ Then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David. I would not let any of David’s descendants rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, I will restore their fortunes and love them.”

King Zedekiah and the People Break Their Promise

34 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his entire army, and all the kingdoms and people that he ruled were attacking Jerusalem and all its cities. He said, ² “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Go to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘The Lord says: I’m going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. ³ You will not escape from him. You will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will talk to you face to face. Then you will go to Babylon.

⁴ “ ‘Listen to the Lord’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the Lord says about you: You will not die in war. ⁵ You will die peacefully. People will burn ⌞funeral⌟ fires for you as they did for your ancestors, the kings who lived before you. They will say, “Oh, master,” as they mourn for you. I have spoken my word, declares the Lord.’ ”

⁶ The prophet Jeremiah told all these things to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. ⁷ He did this when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities of Judah that were left.

⁸ The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves. ⁹ Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was supposed to keep another Jew as a slave. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people agreed and promised to free their male and female slaves and not to keep them as slaves anymore. So they set them free. ¹¹ But afterwards, they changed their minds and took back the men and women they had freed and made them their slaves again.

¹² The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I put a condition on the promise ^[a] I made to your ancestors when I brought them from Egypt, where they were slaves. I said, ¹⁴ ‘Every seven years each of you must free any Hebrews who sold themselves to you. When they have served you for six years, you must set them free.’ But your ancestors refused to obey me or listen to me. ¹⁵ Recently, you changed and did what I consider right. You agreed to free your neighbors, and you made a promise in my presence, in the temple that is called by my name. ¹⁶ Now you have changed again and dishonored me. You brought back the male and female slaves that you had set free to live their own lives. You have forced them to be your male and female slaves again.

¹⁷ “This is what the Lord says: You didn’t obey me. You haven’t freed your relatives and neighbors. Now I am going to free you,” declares the Lord. “I will free you to die in wars, plagues, and famines. I will make all the kingdoms of the world horrified at the thought of you. ¹⁸ I will hand over the people who have rejected my promise. They have not kept the terms of the promise which they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces. ¹⁹ I will hand over the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the palace officials, the priests, and all the common people who passed between the pieces of the calf. ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them, and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals. ²¹ I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them and to the army of the king of Babylon, the army that has withdrawn from you. ²² I am going to give a command,” declares the Lord. “I will bring that army back to this city to attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one will live there.”

The Obedient Example of the Family of Rechab

35 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah. He said, ² “Go to the family of Rechab and talk to them. Take them into one of the side rooms in the Lord’s temple, and offer them a drink of wine.”

³ I took Jaazaniah, who was the son of Jeremiah and the grandson of Habazziniah, and I took Jaazaniah’s brothers and all his sons—the whole family of Rechab. ⁴ I brought them into the Lord’s temple, into the side room of the sons of Hanan. (He was Igdaliah’s son, the man of God.) It was next to the room of the officials and above the side room of Maaseiah, Shallum’s son, the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set cups and pitchers filled with wine in front of the family of Rechab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ They answered, “We don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, gave us this order: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. ⁷ Never build any houses or plant any fields or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. You must always live in tents so that you may live for a long time in the land where you are staying.’ ⁸ We, along with our wives, sons, and daughters, have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, in everything he ordered us to do. We have never drunk wine, ⁹ built houses to live in, or owned vineyards, pastures, or grainfields. ¹⁰ We live in tents, and we have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab ordered us to do. ¹¹ But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem ⌞to escape⌟ the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That’s why we are living in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, ‘Won’t you ever learn your lesson and obey my words? declares the Lord. ¹⁴ Jonadab, Rechab’s son, ordered his descendants not to drink wine. This order has been carried out. His descendants have not drunk any wine to this day, because they have obeyed their ancestor’s order. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have refused to listen to me. ¹⁵ I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. They said, “Turn from your evil ways, do what is right, and don’t follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors.” However, you refused to listen to me or obey me. ¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, have carried out the orders of their ancestor, but you refuse to listen to me.

¹⁷ “ ‘This is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring on Judah and on all those who live in Jerusalem all the disasters that I threatened. I have spoken to them, but they didn’t listen. I called to them, but they didn’t answer.’ ”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of Rechab, “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You obeyed the order of your ancestor Jonadab, followed all his instructions, and did exactly what he told you to do. ¹⁹ So this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: A descendant of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, will always serve me.”

Jeremiah’s Prophecies Are Written, Read, and Burned

36 In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ² “Take a scroll, and write on it everything that I have dictated to you about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations from the time I spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today. ³ Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I plan to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated everything that the Lord had told him, and Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵ Jeremiah told Baruch, “I’m no longer allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ On a day of fasting, you must read from the scroll the Lord’s message that you wrote as I dictated. You must read it to the people in the Lord’s temple. You must also read it to all the people of Judah when they come from their cities. ⁷ Maybe their prayers will come into the Lord’s presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. The Lord has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury.”

⁸ Baruch, son of Neriah, did as the prophet Jeremiah commanded him. In the Lord’s temple he read from the scroll everything that the Lord had said. ⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, a time for fasting was called. It was a time for all the people in Jerusalem and for everyone who was coming from any city in Judah to Jerusalem to fast in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read the scroll containing Jeremiah’s words. Baruch read it to all the people in the Lord’s temple in the room of the scribe Gemariah, son of Shaphan, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of New Gate of the Lord’s temple.

¹¹ Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said. ¹² Then he went down to the scribe’s room in the king’s palace where all the scribes were sitting. The scribe Elishama, Delaiah (son of Shemaiah), Elnathan (son of Achbor), Gemariah (son of Shaphan), Zedekiah (son of Hananiah), and all the other officials were there. ¹³ Micaiah told them everything he heard Baruch read from the scroll publicly. ¹⁴ Then all the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah, the grandson of Shelemiah, and the great-grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Bring the scroll that you read publicly, and come with me.” Baruch, son of Neriah, took the scroll and went with him to see the officers. ¹⁵ They said to Baruch, “Please sit down, and read it to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard everything, they turned to each other in terror. They said to Baruch, “We must tell the king everything.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Please tell us how you wrote all this. Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”

¹⁸ Baruch answered, “He dictated everything to me, and I wrote it on the scroll in ink.”

¹⁹ The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ After they put the scroll in the side room of the scribe Elishama, they went to the king in the courtyard and told him everything. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took the scroll from the side room of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials standing by the king. ²² It was the ninth month, and the king was in his winter house sitting in front of the fire in the fireplace. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the fire in the fireplace. He did this until the whole scroll was burned up. ²⁴ The king and all his attendants didn’t show any fear or tear their clothes in fear when they heard everything being read. ²⁵ Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them. ²⁶ The king commanded Jerahmeel (the king’s son), Seraiah (son of Azriel), and Shelemiah (son of Abdeel) to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden Baruch and Jeremiah.

²⁷ After the king burned up the scroll that Baruch had written and that Jeremiah had dictated, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁸ “Take another scroll, and write on it everything that was written on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned. ²⁹ Say about King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned this scroll, and you asked Jeremiah, “Why did you write that the king of Babylon will certainly come to destroy this land and take away people and animals?” ³⁰ This is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his own corpse will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night. ³¹ I will punish him, his descendants, and his attendants for their wickedness. They refused to listen. So I will bring on them, on those who live in Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disasters that I have threatened.’ ”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it everything that was on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned. They added many similar messages.

Jeremiah Advises Zedekiah

37 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Zedekiah, son of Josiah, to be king of Judah. Zedekiah succeeded Jehoiakin, son of Jehoiakim. ² But Zedekiah, his administrators, and the common people didn’t listen to what the Lord had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah.

³ King Zedekiah sent Jehucal (son of Shelemiah) and the priest Zephaniah (son of Maaseiah) to the prophet Jeremiah. They asked him, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

⁴ Jeremiah was still free to come and go among the people. The people of Jerusalem hadn’t put him in prison yet. ⁵ Pharaoh’s army had come from Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were blockading Jerusalem heard this news, they retreated from Jerusalem.

⁶ The Lord spoke his word to the prophet Jeremiah. He said, ⁷ “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to get advice from me: ‘Pharaoh’s army has come out to help you. But it will go back to Egypt, its own land. ⁸ Then the Babylonians will return. They will attack the city, capture it, and burn it down.

⁹ “ ‘This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by thinking that the Babylonians will leave you. They will not leave you. ¹⁰ Even if you would defeat the entire Babylonian army so that they had only a few badly wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn down this city.’ ”

¹¹ The Babylonian army had retreated from Jerusalem because Pharaoh’s army was coming. ¹² So Jeremiah wanted to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people. ¹³ But when he came to Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard there, whose name was Irijah, son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, arrested the prophet Jeremiah. He said, “You’re deserting to the Babylonians!”

¹⁴ Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I’m not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. Irijah arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials. ¹⁵ The officials were so angry with Jeremiah that they beat him and put him in prison in the scribe Jonathan’s house, which had been turned into a prison. ¹⁶ Jeremiah went into a prison cell, and he stayed there a long time.

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah, and the king asked him privately in the palace, “Is there any message from the Lord?”

Jeremiah answered, “Yes! There is a message from the Lord. You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸ Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, your administrators, or these people? Why have you put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are the prophets who told you that the king of Babylon wouldn’t attack you and this land? ²⁰ But now, Your Majesty, please listen, and accept my plea for mercy. Don’t return me to the scribe Jonathan’s house, or I will die there.”

²¹ King Zedekiah gave the command to have Jeremiah put in the courtyard of the prison. He gave him a loaf of bread every day from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison.

Jeremiah Is Thrown into a Muddy Cistern

38 Shephatiah (son of Mattan), Gedaliah (son of Pashhur), Jucal (son of Shelemiah), and Pashhur (son of Malchiah) heard that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people. ² They heard Jeremiah say, “This is what the Lord says: Those who stay in this city will die in wars, famines, or plagues. But those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives.

³ “This is what the Lord says: This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, and it will capture the city.”

⁴ Then the officials said to the king, “Have this man put to death. He discourages the soldiers who are left in this city and all the people by telling them such things. This man is not trying to help these people; he’s trying to hurt them.”

⁵ King Zedekiah answered, “He’s in your hands. I won’t do anything to stop you.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son. It was in the courtyard of the prison. They used ropes to lower Jeremiah into the cistern. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷ But an official in the royal palace, Ebed Melech from Sudan, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at Benjamin Gate. ⁸ Ebed Melech left the royal palace and spoke to the king at Benjamin Gate. ⁹ “Your Majesty, everything that these men have done to the prophet Jeremiah is wrong. They have thrown him into the cistern, where he’ll starve to death, because there’s no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰ Then the king gave Ebed Melech from Sudan this command: “Take 30 men from here, and lift the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to the royal palace, to a room under the treasury. He took rags and torn clothes from there and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed Melech from Sudan said to Jeremiah, “Put these rags and torn clothes under your arms to protect you from the ropes.” Jeremiah did. ¹³ They used the ropes to pull Jeremiah up and lift him out of the cistern. Then Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison.

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and brought him to the third entrance in the Lord’s temple. “I’m going to ask you a question,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Don’t hide anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah answered Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you’ll kill me. If I give you advice, you won’t listen to me.”

¹⁶ So King Zedekiah secretly swore an oath to Jeremiah, “The Lord gave us life. As the Lord lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who want to kill you.”

¹⁷ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you will live, and this city will not be burned. You and your household will live. ¹⁸ But if you don’t surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians. They will burn it down, and you will not escape from them.”

¹⁹ King Zedekiah answered Jeremiah, “I’m afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Babylonians. The Babylonians may hand me over to them, and they will torture me.”

²⁰ Jeremiah said, “You will not be handed over to them. Obey the Lord by doing what I’m telling you. Then everything will go well for you, and you will live. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me. ²² All the women who are left in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon. These women will say:

²³ “All your wives and children will be brought to the Babylonians. You will not escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

Jeremiah and Zedekiah Make an Agreement

²⁴ Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die. ²⁵ The officials may find out that I’ve been talking with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Don’t hide anything from us, or we’ll kill you.’ ²⁶ If they come to you, say to them, ‘I asked the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

²⁷ All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. He told them exactly what the king had told him to say. So they stopped questioning him, because they hadn’t heard his conversation with the king. ²⁸ Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison until the day Jerusalem was captured.

Jerusalem Is Captured^(A)

39 In the tenth month of Zedekiah’s ninth year as king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army and blockaded it. ² On the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king, they broke into the city.

³ Then all the officers of the king of Babylon came in and sat in Middle Gate: Nergal (the quartermaster), Samgar Nebo (the chief officer), Nergal (the quartermaster and the chief fortuneteller), and all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.

⁴ When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls, and they took the road to the plain ⌞of Jericho⌟. ⁵ The Babylonian army pursued them and caught up with Zedekiah in the plain of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. The king of Babylon passed sentence on him. ⁶ The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons as Zedekiah watched at Riblah. He also slaughtered all the leaders of Judah. ⁷ Then he blinded Zedekiah, put him in bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

⁸ The Babylonians burned down the royal palace and the people’s homes, and they tore down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan, Babylon’s captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to him, and the rest of the people. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left some poor people who had nothing in the land of Judah. At that time he gave them vineyards and farms.

¹¹ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave Nebuzaradan an order concerning Jeremiah. He said, ¹² “Take him, and look after him. Don’t harm him in any way, but do for him whatever he asks.” ¹³ Nebuzaradan (the captain of the guard), Nebushazban (the chief official), Nergal (the quartermaster and the chief fortuneteller), and all the other leaders of the king of Babylon sent for Jeremiah. ¹⁴ They took Jeremiah out of the courtyard of the prison and handed him over to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to take him home. So he lived among the people.

¹⁵ While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the prison, the Lord spoke his word to him. The Lord said, ¹⁶ “Say to Ebed Melech from Sudan, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to carry out my threat against this city by bringing disaster on it instead of prosperity. At that time these things will happen as you watch. ¹⁷ But at that time I will rescue you, declares the Lord. You will not be handed over to those you fear. ¹⁸ I will certainly rescue you. You will not die in war. You will escape with your life because you trusted me, declares the Lord.’ ”

Jeremiah Is Freed^(B)

40 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, let him go at Ramah. Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah in chains along with the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon. ² The captain of the guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened to bring this disaster on this place. ³ He has carried out his threat. The Lord did as he promised because you Israelites have sinned against him and refused to obey him. That is why this has happened to you. ⁴ Today I’m removing the chains from your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, come, and I’ll look after you. But if you don’t want to come with me to Babylon, don’t come. The whole land is yours. Go wherever you want.

⁵ “If you wish to remain, then go back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern the cities of Judah. Live among the people with him, or go anywhere you want.” The captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. ⁶ Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

⁷ All the army commanders and their men who were in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, to govern the country and some of the country’s poorest men, women, and children who had not been taken away to Babylon. ⁸ These are the commanders who went with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan and Jonathan (sons of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth), the sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jezaniah, who was the son of a man from Maacah. ⁹ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men. He said, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper. ¹⁰ I’m going to live in Mizpah and represent you when the Babylonians come to us. Gather grapes, summer fruit, and olive oil, and put them in storage jars. Live in the cities you have taken over.”

¹¹ Now, all the Jews who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them. ¹² So all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been scattered. They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They gathered a large harvest of grapes and summer fruit.

¹³ Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were still in the country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. ¹⁴ They asked him, “Do you know that King Baalis of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, to kill you?” However, Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, didn’t believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan, Kareah’s son, secretly asked Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Let me kill Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son. No one will know about it. Why should he kill you? All the Jews who have gathered around you would scatter. What is left of Judah would disappear.”

¹⁶ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, told Johanan, Kareah’s son, “Don’t do that! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

Gedaliah Is Assassinated by Ishmael^(C)

41 In the seventh month Ishmael (son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and of the king’s officers) went with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate together at Mizpah, ² Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him got up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. So they assassinated the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land. ³ Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers that he found there.

⁴ The day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew about it, ⁵ 80 men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. Their beards were shaved off, their clothes were torn, and cuts were on their bodies. They brought grain offerings and incense to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, left Mizpah to meet them, crying as he went. When he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam.”

⁷ When they came into the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern. ⁸ However, ten men from the group had said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey hidden in the country.” So he left them alone and didn’t kill them along with the others.

⁹ Now, the cistern where Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed was the same one that King Asa made as a part of his defense against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled it with the bodies.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive the rest of the people who were at Mizpah. He captured the king’s daughters and all the other people who had been left at Mizpah. They were the people whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had put under the control of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, took them captive and left for Ammon.

¹¹ When Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had done, ¹² they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael. They caught up with him at the large pool in Gibeon. ¹³ When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴ Then all the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and ran to Kareah’s son Johanan. ¹⁵ Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to Ammon.

¹⁶ Then Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him brought back the rest of the people of Mizpah whom he had rescued from Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Johanan brought back men, women, children, soldiers, and commanders from Gibeon. ¹⁷ When they left Gibeon, they stayed near Bethlehem at Geruth Kimham on their way to Egypt. ¹⁸ They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had killed Gedaliah whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.

Jeremiah Warns the People of Judah Not to Go to Egypt

42 Then all the army commanders along with Kareah’s son Johanan and Hoshaiah’s son Jezaniah and all the people, from the least important to the most important, came to the prophet Jeremiah. ² They said to him, “Please listen to our request, and pray to the Lord your God for all of us who are left here. As you can see, there are only a few of us left. ³ Let the Lord your God tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴ The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “I have listened to your request. I will pray to the Lord your God as you have requested, and I will tell you everything the Lord says. I won’t keep anything from you.”

⁵ They said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t do exactly what the Lord your God tells us to do. ⁶ We will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, whether it’s good or bad. Yes, we will obey the Lord our God so that everything will go well for us.”

⁷ After ten days the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. ⁸ So Jeremiah called Kareah’s son Johanan, all the army commanders who were with him, and all the people from the least important to the most important. ⁹ Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to plead your case humbly to the Lord. This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ¹⁰ Suppose you stay in this land. Then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you. I will change my plans about the disaster I’ve brought on you. ¹¹ Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Don’t be afraid of him, declares the Lord. I’m with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power. ¹² I will have compassion on you. I will make him have compassion on you and return you to your land.

¹³ “But suppose you say, ‘We won’t stay in this land,’ and you disobey the Lord your God. ¹⁴ Then you say, ‘We’ll go to Egypt, where we won’t have to see war, hear the sound of a ram’s horn, or be hungry. We’ll stay there.’

¹⁵ “Now, listen to the Lord’s word, you people who are left in Judah. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Suppose you’re determined to go to Egypt, and you go and live there. ¹⁶ Then the wars you fear will catch up with you in Egypt. The famines you dread will follow you to Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷ So all the people who decide to go and live in Egypt will die in wars, famines, and plagues. No one will survive or escape the disasters I will bring on them.

¹⁸ “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: As my anger and my fury were poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become a curse word. You will become something ridiculed, cursed, and disgraced. You won’t see this place again.

¹⁹ “The Lord has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. You need to know that I am warning you today. ²⁰ You only deceived yourselves when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us, and tell us everything that the Lord our God says, and we’ll do it.’ ²¹ I have told you today, but you won’t obey anything the Lord your God sent me to tell you. ²² But now, you need to know that you will die in wars, famines, or plagues in the place where you want to go and live.”

Jeremiah Is Forced to Go to Egypt

43 So Jeremiah finished telling all the people the message from the Lord their God. He told them everything the Lord their God sent him to tell them. ² Azariah (son of Hoshaiah), Johanan (son of Kareah), and all the arrogant people said to Jeremiah, “You’re lying! The Lord our God didn’t send you to tell us that we must not go to live in Egypt. ³ But Baruch, son of Neriah, has turned you against us in order to hand us over to the Babylonians. Then they will kill us or take us as captives to Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan (son of Kareah), all the army commanders, and all the people didn’t obey the Lord. They didn’t stay in Judah. ⁵ Johanan (son of Kareah) and all the army commanders took all the people who were left in Judah to Egypt. These were all the people who had come back to Judah from the places where they had been scattered. ⁶ They took men, women, children, and the king’s daughters. They took every person whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, including the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch, son of Neriah. ⁷ They didn’t listen to the Lord, so they went to Egypt. They went as far as Tahpanhes.

Jeremiah Prophesies That Egypt Will Be Invaded by Nebuchadnezzar

⁸ Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes. He said, ⁹ “Take some large stones, and bury them under the brick pavement at the entrance to the Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Do this while the people of Judah watch you. ¹⁰ Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones that I buried, and I will spread his royal canopy above them. ¹¹ He will defeat Egypt. He will bring death to those who are supposed to die. He will capture those who are supposed to be captured. He will kill in battle those who are supposed to be killed in battle. ¹² He ^[b] will set fire to the temples of Egypt’s gods. He will burn down the temples and take their gods captive. Nebuchadnezzar will put on Egypt as his coat as a shepherd puts on his coat. He will leave Egypt peacefully. ¹³ At Beth Shemesh he will break the monuments in Egypt and burn down the temples of Egypt’s gods.’ ”

The Jews in Egypt Will Be Punished for Their Idolatry

44 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah about all the Jews living in Egypt at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and Pathros. ² This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disasters I brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah. Today they are deserted ruins. ³ It is because their people did evil, and they made me angry. They went to burn incense and serve other gods that neither you nor your ancestors heard of. ⁴ I have sent my servants the prophets to you again and again to tell you not to do these detestable things that I hate. ⁵ But you wouldn’t listen or pay attention. You wouldn’t turn from your wicked ways and wouldn’t stop burning incense as an offering to other gods. ⁶ That is why my fury and anger were poured out and continued to burn in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. So they became the desolate ruin that they are today.

⁷ Now, this is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Why do you bring this terrible disaster on yourselves? Why do you keep destroying men, women, children, and babies from Judah until none are left? ⁸ Why do you make me angry by burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you have come to live. You will destroy yourselves and be cursed and ridiculed by all the nations on earth. ⁹ Have you forgotten the wicked things done by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their wives, and by you and your wives in Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ You have not humbled yourselves even to this day. You haven’t feared me or lived your lives by my teachings or by my decrees that I gave your ancestors.

¹¹ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to bring disaster on you and destroy all of Judah. ¹² I will take away from Judah those who are left, those who were determined to go to live in Egypt. They will die in Egypt. All of them, from the least important to the most important, will die in wars or be brought to an end by famines. They will become something cursed, ridiculed, and disgraced. ¹³ I will punish those living in Egypt as I punished Jerusalem with wars, famines, and plagues. ¹⁴ None of the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will survive or return to Judah, where they long to return and live. Only a few refugees will return there.

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women who were standing there, and all the people who lived at Pathros in Egypt answered Jeremiah. They said, ¹⁶ “We won’t listen to the message that you have spoken to us in the Lord’s name. ¹⁷ We will do everything we said we would do. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out wine offerings to her as our ancestors, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. We had plenty to eat then, and we lived comfortably and saw no disaster. ¹⁸ But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing but wars and famines.”

¹⁹ The women added, “When we burned incense to the queen of heaven, poured out wine offerings to her, and made cakes for her with her image on them, do you think our husbands didn’t approve?”

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, to everyone who answered him, ²¹ “Doesn’t the Lord remember that you burned incense in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem along with your ancestors, your kings and your officials, and the people in the land? ²² The Lord could no longer bear the wicked and detestable things you did. That is why your land has become something ruined, destroyed, and cursed. No one lives in that land today. ²³ You burned incense as offerings to other gods, sinned against the Lord, and wouldn’t obey him. You didn’t live by his teachings, decrees, or written instructions. That is why you have met with this disaster as it is today.”

²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, “Listen to the Lord’s word, all you people of Judah who are in Egypt. ²⁵ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives made promises, and you have kept them. You said, ‘We will certainly do what we vow. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out wine offerings to her.’

“So go ahead. Keep your vows, and do what you vow. ²⁶ But listen to the Lord’s word, all you people of Judah who live in Egypt. ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that no one from Judah who lives anywhere in Egypt will ever again call on my name and take the oath, “As the Almighty Lord lives.” ²⁷ I am going to watch over them. I am going to watch over them to bring disasters, not blessings. In Egypt the people from Judah will die in wars and famines until everyone is gone. ²⁸ Those who escape the wars will return to Judah from Egypt. Then all the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs. ²⁹ I will give you this sign,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will punish you in this place so that you will know that my threats of disaster will happen to you. ³⁰ This is what the Lord says: I’m going to hand Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to his enemies and to those who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to those who wanted to kill him.’ ”

The Lord’s Promise to the Scribe Baruch

45 This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch, son of Neriah. Baruch wrote these things on a scroll as Jeremiah dictated them during the fourth year that Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was king of Judah. Jeremiah said, ² “This is what the Lord God of Israel says to you, Baruch: ³ You said, ‘I’m so miserable! The Lord has added grief to my pain. I’m worn out from groaning. I can’t find any rest.’

⁴ “Say this to Baruch, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will tear down what I have built. I will uproot what I have planted throughout the earth. ⁵ Are you looking for great things for yourself? Don’t look for them, because I’m going to bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord. But wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.’ ”

A Prophecy against Egypt

46 The Lord spoke this message to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations.

² This is the message about Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated his army at Carchemish along the Euphrates River during the fourth year that Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was king of Judah.

¹³ The Lord spoke this message to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who will defeat Egypt.

²⁵ The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says,

A Prophecy against Philistia

47 The Lord spoke this message to the prophet Jeremiah about the Philistines before Pharaoh defeated Gaza. ² This is what the Lord says: