Chapter 20 – Chapter 22

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

1 And Pashur the son of Immer the priest, (and he was a governor in the Temple of Jehovah,) heard Jeremiah prophesying these words:

2 And Pashur smote Jeremiah the Prophet, and put him in the prison which was in the higher gate of Benjamin, opposite the house of Jehovah.

3 And it happened the day after, that Pashur brought out Jeremiah from prison; and Jeremiah said to him, — Not Pashur has Jehovah called thy name, But terror on every side:

4 For thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, I will make thee a terror To thyself and to all thy friends; And fall shall they by the sword of thine enemies, While thine eyes are looking on; And all Judah will I deliver Into the hand of the king of Babylon; And he shall carry them into Babylon, And shall smite them with the sword:

5 And I will give up all the strength of this city, And all its labor and its every precious thing; And all the treasures of the kings of Judah Will I give up into the hands of their enemies; And they shall spoil them and take them away, And they shall lead them into Babylon.

6 And thou, Pashur, and all the inhabitants of thy house, Go shall ye into captivity; Thou shalt come to Babylon, and there die, And there shalt thou be buried and thy friends, To whom thou hast falsely prophesied.

7 Thou hast deceived me, Jehovah, and I was deceived; Thou hast constrained me and didst prevail; I am become a scorn all the day, All make a mock of me;

8 For from the time I have spoken, I cried aloud against violence, And devastation have I proclaimed: Because the word of Jehovah became to me A reproach and derision all the day,

9 Therefore I said, I will not mention him, Nor speak any more in his name: But it became in my heart as a burning fire, Closed up in my bones; And I was wearied with forbearing, And I did not prevail.

10 For I heard the slander of many, Terror on every side, “Report ye, and we will report to him:” All my friends watch for my haltings — “He may go astray, then we shall prevail against him, And take our revenge on him.”

11 But Jehovah is with me as a terrible giant; Therefore my persecutors shall fall and not prevail; They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not succeed; It will be a perpetual reproach Which shall not be forgotten.

12 But thou, Jehovah of hosts, Art he who provest the righteous, Who seest the reins and the heart; I shall see thy vengeance on them, For to thee have I opened my cause.

13 Sing ye to Jehovah, praise ye Jehovah, For he has rescued the soul of the distressed From the hand of the wicked.

14 Cursed be the day on which I was born; The day on which my mother bare me, Let it not be blessed:

15 Cursed be the man who told my father, Saying, “Born to thee is a male child,” Who with joy made him joyful;

16 And let that man be as the cities, Which Jehovah destroyed and repented not; And let him hear a cry in the morning, And a tumult at noontide.

17 Why hast thou not slain me from the womb? That my mother might be my grave, Or her womb a perpetual conception?

18 Why from the womb did I come forth, That I might see trouble and sorrow; That my days might be consumed in reproach!

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,

2 Inquire now for us of Jehovah, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon makes war with us, if Jehovah will deal with us according to his wondrous works, that he may ascend from us.

3 And Jeremiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah, —

4 Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, — Behold, I prohibit all the warlike instruments Which are in your hands, with which ye fight Against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, Who besiege you without the walls; And I will gather them into the midst of this city:

5 And fight will I myself against you With an extended hand and with a strong arm, Yea, in wrath and fury and great indignation;

6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, Both man and beast; By a great pestilence shall they die.

7 And afterwards Jehovah said, — I will deliver Zedekiah the king of Judah. His servants also and the people, Even those who shall remain in the city, From the pestilence, and the sword, and the famine, Into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, And into the hand of their enemies, And into the hand of those who seek their life; And he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; And he will not spare them, Nor forgive, nor shew mercy.

8 To this people also shalt thou say, — Thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, I set before you The way of life and the way of death:

9 He who abides in this city shall die By the sword, or by famine, or by pestilence; But he who goeth out and dwells With the Chaldeans who besiege you, Shall live, and his life shall be for a prey:

10 For I have set my face against this city, For evil and not for good, saith Jehovah; Into the hand of the king of Babylon shall it be given, And he shall burn it with fire.

11 And as to the house of the king of Judah, Hear ye the word of Jehovah;

12 O house of David, thus saith Jehovah, — In the morning execute ye judgment, And free the spoiled from the hand of the oppressor, Lest go forth as fire my indignation, And burn, and there be none to extinguish it, — Because of the wickedness of their doings.

13 Behold, I am against thee, inhabitant of the valley — The rock in the plain, saith Jehovah, Who say, “Who shall descend to us? And who shall enter our habitations?”

14 I will even visit upon you The fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah; And I will kindle a fire in its forest, And it shall consume all around it.

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

1 Thus saith Jehovah, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

2 And say, — Hear the word of Jehovah, king of Judah, Who sittest on the throne of David, Thou, and thy servants, and thy people, Who enter in through these gates:

3 Thus saith Jehovah, Do judgment and justice, And rescue the spoiled from the hand of the oppressor; The stranger, the orphan, and the widow, Defraud not; exercise no violence, Nor shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if obeying ye obey this word, Then shall enter through the gates of this house Kings, sitting for David on his throne, Riding in chariots and on horses, — He himself, and his servants, and his people:

5 But if ye will not obey these words, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, That a waste shall this house become.

6 For thus saith Jehovah of the house of the king of Judah, Gilead to me art thou, the head of Lebanon; Surely I will make thee a desert, As cities which are not inhabited:

7 And I will prepare against thee destroyers, Every man and his instruments, And they shall cut down thy choice cedars, And cast them into the fire.

8 And pass shall many nations through this city, And say shall each to his friend, “Why hath Jehovah done thus to this great city?”

9 And they shall say, “Because they have forsaken The covenant of Jehovah their God, And bowed down before alien gods, and served them.”

10 Weep ye not for the dead, nor bewail him; Weeping, weep for him who migrates, For return shall he no more, That he may see the land of his nativity:

11 For thus saith Jehovah concerning Shallum The son of Josiah the king of Judah, Who reigns instead of Josiah his father, — When he shall have gone forth from this place He shall not return here any more:

12 For in the land where they shall lead him away There shall he die, And this land shall he see no more.

13 Woe to him who builds not with justice his house, And not with judgment his chambers; Who makes his neighbor to serve him for nothing, And pays him not for his work;

14 Who says, “I will build for myself A large house and wide chambers;” And he perforates for himself windows, And covered it is with cedar, And painted with vermilion.

15 Shalt thou reign because thou inclosest thyself in cedar? Thy father, did he not eat and drink? When he did judgment and justice, It was then well with him:

16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy, It was then well with him; Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah:

17 For thy eye and thy heart are not Except on thy covetousness, And on shedding innocent blood, And on rapacity and oppression, to do them.

18 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judea, They shall not bewail him, — “Ah, my brother! Ah, sister!” They shall not bewail him, — “Ah, Lord! Ah, his glory!”

19 With the burial of an ass shall he be buried, Drawn out and cast forth Beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Ascend into Lebanon and cry, And on Bashan lift up thy voice, And cry all around, For destroyed are all thy lovers.

21 I spake to thee in thy tranquillity, Thou saidst, “I will not hear:” It has been thy manner from thy youth That thou didst not hear my voice.

22 Thy pastors shall the wind consume, And thy lovers, into exile shall they go: Surely ashamed shalt thou then be, And blush for all thy wickedness.

23 Thou hast set thy seat on Lebanon, Thou hast made thy nest among the cedars: How gracious wilt thou be When come on thee shall sorrows, The pain as of one in travail!

24 Live do I, saith Jehovah; Were Coniah the son of Jehoiakim the king of Judah A sealing ring on my right hand, I would thence pluck thee off:

25 And I will deliver thee Into the hand of those who seek thy life, And into the hand of those whose face thou dreadest, Even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar The king of Babylon, And into the hand of the Chaldeans:

26 And I will cast thee and thy mother who bare thee Into a foreign land where ye were not born, And there shall ye die;

27 And into the land they set their mind to return, Thither they shall not return.

28 Is this man Coniah a despised and broken statue? Is he a vessel in which there is no delight? Why are they east forth, he and his seed, And thrown to a land which they have not known?

29 Land! land! land! hear the word of Jehovah, —

30 Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; Nay, none of his seed shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling any more in Judah.