The Daily Audio Bible

A False Prophecy, Too Soon

28 Now it was the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah son of Azzur the prophet from Gibeon spoke to me in the House of Adonai, in the presence of the kohanim and of all the people, saying, ² thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, saying: “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon! ³ Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of Adonai’s House that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and brought to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, back to this place with all the captives of Judah that went to Babylon”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the kohanim and in the presence of all the people that stood in Adonai’s House. ⁶ So the prophet Jeremiah said: “Amen! May Adonai do so! May Adonai fulfill your words that you have prophesied, bringing back the vessels of Adonai’s House and all those who are taken away captive, from Babylon to this place! ⁷ Yet hear now this word that I am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people. ⁸ The prophets who have been before me and before you of ancient times prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms—of war, catastrophe and plague. ⁹ The prophet who prophesies shalom—when the word of the prophet has come to pass, then will the prophet be known as one that Adonai has truly sent.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke-bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹ Hananiah proclaimed in the presence of all the people, saying, thus says Adonai: “Just so I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two full years.” So the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹² Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke-bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying: ¹³ “Go, tell Hananiah, saying, thus says Adonai: ‘You have broken the yoke-bars of wood—but in its place you will make yoke-bars of iron.’” ¹⁴ For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will serve him, and I have also given him the beasts of the field.”

¹⁵ Then said the prophet Jeremiah to the prophet Hananiah: “Hear now, Hananiah! Adonai has not sent you, yet you have caused this people to trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore thus says Adonai: I am about to send you away from off the face of the earth. This year you will die, since you have spoken apostasy against Adonai.”

¹⁷ So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

After Seventy Years, a Future Hope

29 Now these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders remaining in exile, as well as to the kohanim, the prophets and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried off captive from Jerusalem to Babylon ² (after Jeconiah the king, the queen-mother, the officers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths, had to leave Jerusalem). The letter was sent ³ by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, ⁴ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, to all those in captivity, whom I removed as captives into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ “Build houses and live in them; also plant gardens and eat their fruit; ⁶ take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ Also seek the shalom of the city where I took you as captives in exile, and pray to Adonai for it—for in its shalom will you have shalom.”

⁸ For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets who are among you or your diviners beguile you, and pay no attention to the dreams which you make them keep dreaming. ⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in My Name; I have not sent them.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁰ For thus says Adonai: “After 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will visit you, and fulfill My good word toward you—to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans that I have in mind for you,” declares Adonai, “plans for shalom and not calamity—to give you a future and a hope.

¹² “Then you will call on Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me,^[a] when you will search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ Then I will be found by you,” says Adonai, “and I will return you from exile, and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” says Adonai, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you as captives into exile.”

¹⁵ For you have said: “Adonai has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.” ¹⁶ For thus says Adonai about the king who sits on the throne of David and about all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go with you into captivity, ¹⁷ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to send on them the sword, famine and pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with the sword, famine and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse and an astonishment, a hissing and a disgrace—among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they have not listened to My words,” declares Adonai, “which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, sending them early and often, but you would not hear.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

²⁰ “But you, hear the word of Adonai, all you of the exile whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon,” ²¹ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: I will soon deliver them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—and he will slay them before your eyes. ²² So a curse will be taken up by everyone in exile from Judah who are in Babylon, saying: ‘May Adonai make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire’— ²³ because they have been disgraceful in Israel, committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and speaking words in My Name falsely, which I did not command them. But I am the One who knows and I am witness.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

²⁴ Now concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you will surely say, ²⁵ thus declares Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, saying: “Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the kohen, and to all the kohanim, saying: ²⁶ ‘Adonai has made you kohen instead of Jehoiada the kohen, so that there should be officers in the House of Adonai for every madman prophesying and so that you will put him in the stocks and iron collar. ²⁷ So now, why haven’t you rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself out to be a prophet to you? ²⁸ For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying: “The exile will be long—build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”

²⁹ So Zephaniah the kohen read this letter in the ears of the prophet Jeremiah. ³⁰ Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying: ³¹ Send word to all of the captivity, saying, thus says Adonai concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,” ³² therefore thus says Adonai, “I will indeed punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. There will be none living among this people, and he will not see the good that I will do to My people,” declares Adonai, “because he has spoken rebellion against Adonai.”

Greeting

1 Paul, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua by the command of God our Savior and Messiah Yeshua, our hope.

² To Timothy, a true child in faith:

Grace, mercy, shalom from God the Father and Messiah Yeshua, our Lord!

Beware of False Teachers

³ As I urged you, when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay in Ephesus to direct certain people not to pass on different instruction, ⁴ or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These give rise to useless speculations rather than God’s training which is in faithfulness. ⁵ Now the goal of this command is love from of a pure heart and a clear conscience and a genuine faith. ⁶ Some, having missed the mark, have turned away to fruitless discussion— ⁷ wanting to be teachers of Torah, even though they do not understand what they keep saying or what they so dogmatically assert.

⁸ But we know that the Torah is good if one uses it legitimately, ⁹ knowing that the Torah is not given for a tzaddik but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and worldly, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ the sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave-traders, liars, perjurers, and for anything else that opposes sound teaching— ¹¹ in keeping with what was entrusted to me, the glorious Good News of the blessed God.

Mercy to the Worst of Sinners

¹² I thank Messiah Yeshua our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to service— ¹³ even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. Yet I was shown mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord overflowed with the faith and love that are in Messiah Yeshua. ¹⁵ Trustworthy is the saying and deserving of complete acceptance: “Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners”—of whom I am foremost. ¹⁶ Yet for this reason I was shown mercy—so that in me as the foremost, Messiah Yeshua might demonstrate His complete patience, as an example for those about to put their trust in Him for eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God,^[a] be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Fight the Good Fight

¹⁸ This charge I entrust to you, Timothy my son, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you, so that by them you fight the good fight, ¹⁹ holding onto faith and a good conscience. By rejecting these, some have suffered shipwreck regarding their faith. ²⁰ Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander—whom I have handed over to satan to be disciplined not to blaspheme.

Slow to Anger, Full of Chesed

Psalm 86