Jeremiah 21-30

English Standard Version Anglicised

Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar

21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him ^(A)Pashhur the son of Malchiah and ^(B)Zephaniah the priest, the son of ^(C)Maaseiah, saying, ^2 (D)“Enquire of the Lord for us, ^(E)for Nebuchadnezzar^[a] king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to ^(F)all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them: ⁴ “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(G)Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. ^(H)And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. ⁵ I myself will fight against you ^(I)with outstretched hand and strong arm, ^(J)in anger and in fury and in great wrath. ⁶ And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷ Afterwards, declares the Lord, ^(K)I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. ^(L)He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’

⁸ “And to this people you shall say: ^(M)‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, ^(N)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who stays in this city shall die ^(O)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and ^(P)surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live ^(Q)and shall have his life as a prize of war. ¹⁰ For ^(R)I have set my face against this city for harm and ^(S)not for good, declares the Lord: ^(T)it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

Message to the House of David

¹¹ “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ² and say, ^(AD)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(AE)Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ^(AF)do no wrong or violence ^(AG)to the resident alien, ^(AH)the fatherless, and the widow, nor ^(AI)shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you will indeed obey this word, ^(AJ)then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. ⁵ But if you will not obey these words, I ^(AK)swear by myself, declares the Lord, that ^(AL)this house shall become a desolation. ⁶ For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

⁸ “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbour, ^(AQ)“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” ^9 (AR)And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them.”’”

Message to the Sons of Josiah

¹¹ For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and ^(AU)who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, ¹² but ^(AV)in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

¹⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

^24 (BT)“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were ^(BU)the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off ²⁵ and ^(BV)give you ^(BW)into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ^26 (BX)I will hurl you and ^(BY)the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. ²⁷ But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”

The Righteous Branch

23 ^(CG)“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. ² Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^(CH)the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^(CI)Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. ^3 (CJ)Then I will gather the remnant of my flock ^(CK)out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^(CL)and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ^4 (CM)I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

^5 (CN)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ^(CO)Branch, and ^(CP)he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and ^(CQ)Israel will ^(CR)dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^(CS)‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

^7 (CT)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt’, ⁸ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he^[c] had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

⁹ Concerning the prophets:

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(DR)filling you with vain hopes. ^(DS)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷ They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(DT)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(DU)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(DV)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

^23 (EG)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ^24 (EH)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(EI)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵ I have heard what the prophets have said ^(EJ)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(EK)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶ How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(EL)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who think to make my people forget my name ^(EM)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(EN)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ^28 (EO)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(EP)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(EQ)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ^29 (ER)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(ES)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ^30 (ET)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(EU)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(EV)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

^33 (EW)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[d] and ^(EX)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴ And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord’, ^(EY)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵ Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbour and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(EZ)you pervert the words of ^(FA)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord”, when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord’,” ³⁹ therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and ^(FB)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ^40 (FC)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(FD)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

24 ^(FE)After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^(FF)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^(FG)the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^(FH)two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. ² One basket had very good figs, ^(FI)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^(FJ)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³ And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^(FK)whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ^6 (FL)I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^(FM)I will build them up, and not tear them down; ^(FN)I will plant them, and not uproot them. ^7 (FO)I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ^(FP)and they shall be my people ^(FQ)and I will be their God, ^(FR)for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

⁸ “But thus says the Lord: Like ^(FS)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^(FT)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^(FU)dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will make them ^(FV)a horror^[e] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^(FW)a reproach, ^(FX)a byword, ^(FY)a taunt, and ^(FZ)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send ^(GA)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Seventy Years of Captivity

25 ^(GB)The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³ “For twenty-three years, ^(GC)from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^(GD)persistently to you, ^(GE)but you have not listened. ^4 (GF)You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^(GG)persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵ saying, ^(GH)‘Turn now, every one of you, ^(GI)from his evil way and evil deeds, and ^(GJ)dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and for ever. ^6 (GK)Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^(GL)or provoke me to anger ^(GM)with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ ^7 (GN)Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^(GO)that you might provoke me to anger ^(GP)with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ^9 (GQ)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(GR)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^(GS)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰ Moreover, ^(GT)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(GU)the grinding of the millstones and ^(GV)the light of the lamp. ^11 (GW)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^(GX)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^(GY)seventy years. ¹² Then after ^(GZ)seventy years are completed, ^(HA)I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^(HB)the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^(HC)making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^(HD)in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ^14 (HE)For many nations ^(HF)and great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^(HG)and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath

¹⁵ Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^(HH)“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶ They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^(HI)the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, ^(HJ)and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: ^18 (HK)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^(HL)to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ^19 (HM)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, ²⁰ and ^(HN)all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^(HO)the land of Uz and all the kings of ^(HP)the land of the Philistines (^(HQ)Ashkelon, ^(HR)Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(HS)Ashdod); ^21 (HT)Edom, ^(HU)Moab, and the sons of ^(HV)Ammon; ²² all the kings of ^(HW)Tyre, all the kings of ^(HX)Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across ^(HY)the sea; ^23 (HZ)Dedan, ^(IA)Tema, ^(IB)Buz, and all who cut ^(IC)the corners of their hair; ²⁴ all the ^(ID)kings of Arabia and all the kings of ^(IE)the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(IF)Elam, and all the kings of ^(IG)Media; ²⁶ all the kings of ^(IH)the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^(II)Babylon^[f] shall drink.

²⁷ “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(IJ)Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^(IK)the sword that I am sending among you.’

²⁸ “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(IL)You must drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(IM)I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^(IN)for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰ “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

^33 (IU)“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ^(IV)They shall not be lamented, ^(IW)or gathered, or buried; ^(IX)they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

26 ^(JJ)In the beginning of the reign of ^(JK)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(JL)Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord ^(JM)all the words that I command you to speak to them; ^(JN)do not hold back a word. ^3 (JO)It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, ^(JP)that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them ^(JQ)because of their evil deeds. ⁴ You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(JR)If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, ^5 (JS)and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you ^(JT)urgently, ^(JU)though you have not listened, ⁶ then I will make this house ^(JV)like Shiloh, and I will make this city ^(JW)a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

^7 (JX)The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸ And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then ^(JY)the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be ^(JZ)like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, ^(KA)without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰ When ^(KB)the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the ^(KC)entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. ¹¹ Then ^(KD)the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ^(KE)“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. ¹³ Now therefore ^(KF)mend your ways and your deeds, ^(KG)and obey the voice of the Lord your God, ^(KH)and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. ^14 (KI)But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. ¹⁵ Only know for certain that if you put me to death, ^(KJ)you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Jeremiah Spared from Death

^16 (KK)Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ^(KL)“This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ^17 (KM)And certain of ^(KN)the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, ¹⁸ “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? ^(KP)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favour of the Lord, ^(KQ)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? ^(KR)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”

²⁰ There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from ^(KS)Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. ²¹ And when ^(KT)King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. ²² Then ^(KU)King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, ^(KV)Elnathan the son of ^(KW)Achbor and others with him, ²³ and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, ^(KX)who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴ But the hand of ^(KY)Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.

The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^[g] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ² Thus the Lord said to me: ^(KZ)“Make yourself straps and ^(LA)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³ Send word^[h] to the king of ^(LB)Edom, the king of ^(LC)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(LD)Ammon, the king of ^(LE)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵ “It is I who ^(LF)by my great power and my outstretched arm ^(LG)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, ^(LH)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ^6 (LI)Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ^(LJ)my servant, ^(LK)and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ^7 (LL)All the nations shall serve him and ^(LM)his son and ^(LN)his grandson, ^(LO)until the time of his own land comes. ^(LP)Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸ “‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(LQ)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(LR)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹ So ^(LS)do not listen to your ^(LT)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(LU)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ ^10 (LV)For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ^11 (LW)But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’”

¹² To ^(LX)Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: ^(LY)“Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^(LZ)serve him and his people and live. ^13 (MA)Why will you and your people die ^(MB)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(MC)as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ^14 (MD)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon’, ^(ME)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁵ I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but ^(MF)they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ^(MG)Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ^(MH)‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon’, ^(MI)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ^17 (MJ)Do not listen to them; ^(MK)serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city ^(ML)become a desolation? ¹⁸ If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then ^(MM)let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, ^(MN)that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ^19 (MO)For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, ^(MP)when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(MQ)concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ^22 (MR)They shall be carried to Babylon ^(MS)and remain there ^(MT)until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. ^(MU)Then I will bring them back ^(MV)and restore them to this place.”

Hananiah the False Prophet

28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of ^(MW)Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of ^(MX)Azzur, the prophet from ^(MY)Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(MZ)I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ^3 (NA)Within ^(NB)two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place ^(NC)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, ^(ND)for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, ⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(NE)“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. ⁷ Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ^8 (NF)The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ^9 (NG)As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the ^(NH)yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. ¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ^(NI)“Thus says the Lord: ^(NJ)Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of ^(NK)all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹² Sometime after the prophet ^(NL)Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations ^(NM)an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(NN)and they shall serve him, ^(NO)for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” ¹⁵ And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, ^(NP)the Lord has not sent you, ^(NQ)and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, ^(NR)because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles

29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to ^(NS)the surviving elders of the exiles, and to ^(NT)the priests, ^(NU)the prophets, and ^(NV)all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² This was after ^(NW)King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. ³ The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^(NX)Shaphan and Gemariah the son of ^(NY)Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: ⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ^5 (NZ)Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^(OA)pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(OB)Do not let your prophets and ^(OC)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^{[i] 9} for ^(OD)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(OE)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: ^(OF)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(OG)I will visit you, ^(OH)and I will fulfil to you my promise ^(OI)and bring you back to this place. ^11 (OJ)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[j] and not for evil, ^(OK)to give you a future and a hope. ^12 (OL)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(OM)and I will hear you. ^13 (ON)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(OO)with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^(OP)and I will restore your fortunes and ^(OQ)gather you from all the nations and all the places ^(OR)where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵ “Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’, ¹⁶ thus says the Lord concerning ^(OS)the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ¹⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them ^(OT)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(OU)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with ^(OV)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(OW)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(OX)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(OY)where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^(OZ)that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ ²⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles ^(PA)whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ²¹ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, ^(PB)who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. ^22 (PC)Because of them ^(PD)this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^(PE)whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”, ²³ because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, ^(PF)they have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and ^(PG)they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. ^(PH)I am the one who knows, ^(PI)and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

Shemaiah's False Prophecy

²⁴ To ^(PJ)Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: ²⁵ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to ^(PK)Zephaniah the son of ^(PL)Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶ ‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have ^(PM)charge in the house of the Lord ^(PN)over every madman who prophesies, to put him in ^(PO)the stocks and neck irons. ²⁷ Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah ^(PP)of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? ²⁸ For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; ^(PQ)build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

^29 (PR)Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. ^30 (PS)Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ³¹ “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning ^(PT)Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because ^(PU)Shemaiah had prophesied to you ^(PV)when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, ³² therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish ^(PW)Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, ^(PX)and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, ^(PY)for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”

Restoration for Israel and Judah

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(PZ)Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. ^3 (QA)For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, ^(QB)when I will restore ^(QC)the fortunes of my people, ^(QD)Israel and Judah, says the Lord, ^(QE)and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

⁴ These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning ^(QF)Israel and Judah:

⁸ “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will ^(QL)break his ^(QM)yoke from off your neck, and I will ^(QN)burst your bonds, ^(QO)and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.^{[k] 9} But they shall serve the Lord their God and ^(QP)David their king, whom I will raise up for them.