Author: admin

Jeremiah Buys a Field

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from theLordin the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

2 The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.

3 Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what theLordsays: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babyloniansbut will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes.

5 He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares theLord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’ ”

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of theLordcame to me:

7 Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’

8 “Then, just as theLordhad said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of theLord;

9 so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekelsof silver.

10 I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales.

11 I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy—

12 and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

13 “In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions:

14 ‘This is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.

15 For this is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

16 “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to theLord:

17 “Ah, SovereignLord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is theLordAlmighty,

19 great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve.

20 You performed signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours.

21 You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.

22 You gave them this land you had sworn to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.

23 They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster on them.

24 “See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see.

25 And though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians, you, SovereignLord, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.’ ”

26 Then the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah:

27 “I am theLord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

28 Therefore this is what theLordsays: I am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it.

29 The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses where the people aroused my anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.

30 “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares theLord.

31 From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight.

32 The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem.

33 They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.

34 They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it.

35 They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.

36 “You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what theLord, the God of Israel, says:

37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.

38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.

39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.

40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.

41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

42 “This is what theLordsays: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.

43 Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without people or animals, for it has been given into the hands of the Babylonians.’

44 Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes,declares theLord.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/32-9a3c1efd6131512d8178deca8d4eca38.mp3?version_id=111—

Promise of Restoration

1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of theLordcame to him a second time:

2 “This is what theLordsays, he who made the earth, theLordwho formed it and established it—theLordis his name:

3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

4 For this is what theLord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword

5 in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.

6 “ ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.

7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivityand will rebuild them as they were before.

8 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.

9 Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’

10 “This is what theLordsays: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more

11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of theLord, saying,

“Give thanks to theLordAlmighty,

for theLordis good;

his love endures forever.”

For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says theLord.

12 “This is what theLordAlmighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.

13 In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says theLord.

14 “ ‘The days are coming,’ declares theLord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

15 “ ‘In those days and at that time

I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;

he will do what is just and right in the land.

16 In those days Judah will be saved

and Jerusalem will live in safety.

This is the name by which itwill be called:

TheLordOur Righteous Savior.’

17 For this is what theLordsays: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel,

18 nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’ ”

19 The word of theLordcame to Jeremiah:

20 “This is what theLordsays: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time,

21 then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.

22 I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’ ”

23 The word of theLordcame to Jeremiah:

24 “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘TheLordhas rejected the two kingdomshe chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.

25 This is what theLordsays: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth,

26 then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunesand have compassion on them.’ ”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/33-1369ef9e1bbb8727378400dc3415b24a.mp3?version_id=111—

Warning to Zedekiah

1 While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from theLord:

2 “This is what theLord, the God of Israel, says: Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, ‘This is what theLordsays: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

3 You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and given into his hands. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.

4 “ ‘Yet hear theLord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what theLordsays concerning you: You will not die by the sword;

5 you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honor of your predecessors, the kings who ruled before you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas, master!” I myself make this promise, declares theLord.’ ”

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.

Freedom for Slaves

8 The word came to Jeremiah from theLordafter King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves.

9 Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage.

10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free.

11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.

12 Then the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah:

13 “This is what theLord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said,

14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.

15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.

16 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.

17 “Therefore this is what theLordsays: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares theLord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.

19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,

20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.

21 “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.

22 I am going to give the order, declares theLord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/34-b9d61d53fb7efa415e3f22b4a32cd93e.mp3?version_id=111—

The Rekabites

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from theLordduring the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

2 “Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of theLordand give them wine to drink.”

3 So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites.

4 I brought them into the house of theLord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper.

5 Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

6 But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadabson of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.

7 Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’

8 We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine

9 or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.

10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us.

11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonianand Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

12 Then the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah, saying:

13 “This is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares theLord.

14 ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me.

15 Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me.

16 The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’

17 “Therefore this is what theLordGod Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’ ”

18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’

19 Therefore this is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’ ”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/35-a9c7ccd9a93946db9af50e2237d25bf1.mp3?version_id=111—

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from theLord:

2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.

3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words theLordhad spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to theLord’s temple.

6 So you go to the house of theLordon a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of theLordthat you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before theLordand will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by theLordare great.”

8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at theLord’s temple he read the words of theLordfrom the scroll.

9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before theLordwas proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah.

10 From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at theLord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.

11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of theLordfrom the scroll,

12 he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

13 After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll,

14 all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand.

15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”

So Baruch read it to them.

16 When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”

17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

18 “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

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

20 After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him.

21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.

22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him.

23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.

24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.

25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But theLordhad hidden them.

27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah:

28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.

29 Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what theLordsays: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?”

30 Therefore this is what theLordsays about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.

31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’ ”

32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/36-9bc467114337ed3434915768c404aa43.mp3?version_id=111—

Jeremiah in Prison

1 Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachinson of Jehoiakim.

2 Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words theLordhad spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

3 King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to theLordour God for us.”

4 Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.

5 Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonianswho were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah the prophet:

7 “This is what theLord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt.

8 Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’

9 “This is what theLordsays: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not!

10 Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonianarmy that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”

11 After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,

12 Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there.

13 But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”

14 “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.

15 They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

16 Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time.

17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from theLord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison?

19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’?

20 But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”

21 King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/37-351fe25cbe5af231bcf9cf0c32d8e786.mp3?version_id=111—

Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern

1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukalson of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said,

2 “This is what theLordsays: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonianswill live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’

3 And this is what theLordsays: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’ ”

4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

5 “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”

6 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

7 But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite,an officialin the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,

8 Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him,

9 “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”

10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

11 So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

12 Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,

13 and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

14 Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of theLord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”

15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

16 But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as theLordlives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what theLordGod Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live.

18 But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’ ”

19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

20 “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey theLordby doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.

21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what theLordhas revealed to me:

22 All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:

“ ‘They misled you and overcame you—

those trusted friends of yours.

Your feet are sunk in the mud;

your friends have deserted you.’

23 “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city willbe burned down.”

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die.

25 If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’

26 then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

27 All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

28 And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

The Fall of Jerusalem

This is how Jerusalem was taken:

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/38-2d6a79e8ce68f2bb1cd83f42402aea39.mp3?version_id=111—

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it.

2 And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through.

3 Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon.

4 When Zedekiah king 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 headed toward the Arabah.

5 But the Babylonianarmy pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.

6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah.

7 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

8 The Babyloniansset fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

9 Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people.

10 But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard:

12 “Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.”

13 So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon

14 sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.

15 While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of theLordcame to him:

16 “Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes.

17 But I will rescue you on that day, declares theLord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear.

18 I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares theLord.’ ”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/39-9ef83590f5f0cae1f1ce70c5715dece3.mp3?version_id=111—

Jeremiah Freed

1 The word came to Jeremiah from theLordafter Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon.

2 When the commander of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, “TheLordyour God decreed this disaster for this place.

3 And now theLordhas brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against theLordand did not obey him.

4 But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please.”

5 However, before Jeremiah turned to go,Nebuzaradan added, “Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please.”

Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go.

6 So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.

Gedaliah Assassinated

7 When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon,

8 they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniahthe son of the Maakathite, and their men.

9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.

10 I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and olive oil, and put them in your storage jars, and live in the towns you have taken over.”

11 When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom and all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them,

12 they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit.

13 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

14 and said to him, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

15 Then Johanan son of Kareah said privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”

16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Don’t do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/40-f498dbb1a8264ff223b686e84d385151.mp3?version_id=111—

1 In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there,

2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.

3 Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babyloniansoldiers who were there.

4 The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it,

5 eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense with them to the house of theLord.

6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”

7 When they went into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.

8 But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.” So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others.

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

10 Ishmael made captives of all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah—the king’s daughters along with all the others who were left there, over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed,

12 they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the great pool in Gibeon.

13 When all the people Ishmael had with him saw Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were with him, they were glad.

14 All the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.

15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites.

Flight to Egypt

16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon.

17 And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt

18 to escape the Babylonians.They were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JER/41-b0d794145c1e92412253e22ba7b1e595.mp3?version_id=111—