Chapter 34 – Chapter 36

Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and his whole army, and all the kingdoms of the earth, which were under his dominion, and all the nations, made war against Jerusalem and all the cities, saying, —

2 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Go and say to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, yea, say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold I deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire;

3 And thou shalt not be saved from his hand, for thou shalt surely be taken, and into his hands shalt thou be delivered, and thine eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak to thy mouth, and to Babylon shalt thou go.

4 Yet hear the word of Jehovah, thou Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith Jehovah of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword;

5 In peace shalt thou die, and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings, who were before thee, so shall they burn thee, and, “Ah! Lord!” shall they lament for thee: for the word have I spoken, saith Jehovah.

6 And Jeremiah the prophet spake to Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem,

7 When the armies of the king of Babylon were fighting against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah, which remained, even Lachish and Azekah; for these remained of the cities of Judah, being fortified cities.

8 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people, who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, —

9 That every one should let his servant and every one his maid, a Hebrew and a Hebrewess, go free, so that no one among the Jews might make his brother to serve.

10 And hear did all the princes and all the people, who had come to the covenant to let each his servant and each his maid go free, so as not to make them any more to serve, and they obeyed and dismissed them.

11 But they changed afterwards, and remanded their servants and maids whom they had set free, and forced them to be servants and maids.

12 Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, —

13 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, — I made a covenant with your fathers in the day when I brought them from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants, saying, —

14 At the end of seven years ye shall let free every one his brother, and Hebrew, who had been sold to thee and served thee six years, yea, thou shalt let him depart free from thee; but your fathers hearkened not to me nor inclined their ear.

15 But ye have turned this day and have done what is right in mine eyes, by proclaiming liberty, every one to his neighbor, and ye have made a covenant before me in the house on which my name is called.

16 But ye have gone back and have profaned my name, and ye have remanded every one his servant and every one his maid, whom ye had set free to follow their own will, and forced them to be servants and maids.

17 Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, Ye have not hearkened to me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim as to you, saith Jehovah, liberty to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will give you for a commotion to all the kingdoms of the earth;

18 Yea, I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not confirmed the words of the covenant which they had made before me by the calf which they cut into two parts, and passed between its parts,

19 Even the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the chiefs and the priests and all the people, who passed between the parts of the calf;

20 Yea, I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their carcasses shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth;

21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, even into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which have gone up from you.

22 Behold, I will command, saith Jehovah, and will make them to return to this city; and they shall take it and burn it with fire, and make the cities of Judah a waste without an inhabitant.

Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying, —

2 Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

3 Then I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, even the whole house of the Rechabites;

4 And brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was nigh the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the treasury;

5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups; and I said to them, Drink wine.

6 But they said, We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall not drink wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever;

7 And houses ye shall not build, nor sow seed, nor plant, a vineyard, nor have any such thing; but ye shall dwell in tents all your days; that ye may live many days in the land where ye are strangers.

8 And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, as to all the things which he commanded us, that we should not drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters;

9 Nor build houses to dwell in, nor have a vineyard, or a field, or seed;

10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all things which Jonadab our father hath commanded us.

11 But it was that, when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came up into the land, we then said, Come, let us enter into Jerusalem from the face of the army of the Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of the Syrians; and we have dwelt in Jerusalem.

12 Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah, saying, —

13 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Go and tell the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction, so as to obey my words? saith Jehovah:

14 Confirmed are the words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, that they should not drink wine, for they have drunk none to this day, but they have obeyed the commandment of their father: but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, yet ye have not obeyed me;

15 And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending, saying, Return, I pray you, every one from his evil way, and make right your doings, and walk not after foreign gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye inclined not your ear nor obeyed me.

16 Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the command of their father, which he had commanded them, while this people have not obeyed me, —

17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring on Judah, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil which I have pronounced against them; for I have spoken to them, and they have not hearkened; and I have called them, but they have not answered.

18 And to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Because ye have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his commandments, and have done according to all the things which he had commanded you;

19 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, There shall not fail a man from Jonadab the son of Rechab to stand before me continually.

Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

1 And it was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, —

2 Take thee a roll of a book and write in it all the words which I have spoken to thee concerning Israel and concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day in which I have spoken to thee, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.

3 It may be that the house of Judah will attend to all the evil which I purpose to do to them, so that they may return, every one from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

4 And Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken to him, in a roll of a book.

5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up, I cannot go to the house of Jehovah;

6 But go thou and read in the roll what thou hast written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah, in the ears of the people, in the house of Jehovah, on a fast day; and also in the ears of all Judah, who come from their cities shalt thou read them.

7 It may be that they will prostrate themselves before Jehovah, and return every one from his evil way; for great is the indignation, and great is the wrath which Jehovah has spoken against this people.

8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all the things which Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in the house of Jehovah.

9 And it was that in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, they proclaimed a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.

10 And Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance of the new gate of the house of Jehovah, in the ears of all the people.

11 And Micah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Jehovah from the book;

12 And he went down to the king’s house, to the scribe’s chamber; and, lo, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

13 And Micah declared to them all the words which he had heard when Baruch read in the book in the ears of the people.

14 And all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, The roll in which thou didst read in the ears of the people, take in thine hand and come: and Baruch the son of Neriah, took the roll in his hand and came to them.

15 And they said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears.

16 And it was that when they heard all the words, they feared every one as to his neighbor, and said to Baruch, Declaring we shall declare to the king all these words.

17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words from his month?

18 And Baruch said to them, With his mouth he pronounced these words to me, and I wrote them on a book with ink.

19 Then the princes said to Baruch, Go and hide thyself, thou and Jeremiah, and let no one know where ye be.

20 And they went to the king into the court, but laid up the volume in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they related all the words in the ears of the king;

21 And the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe: and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood before the king.

22 And the king was sitting in the winter-house, in the ninth month, and there was a fire-hearth burning before him:

23 And it was that when Jehudi had read three or four pages, he cut it with a penknife, and cast it into the fire which was in the fire-hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire which was in the fire-hearth.

24 But neither the king nor any of his servants feared, nor rent their garments, when they heard all these words.

25 Nevertheless Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah, interceded with the king, that he should not burn the roll; but he hearkened not to them.

26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe, and Jeremiah the prophet: but Jehovah hid them.

27 Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, —

28 Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words which were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah hath burned:

29 And to Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, shalt thou say, Thus saith Jehovah, Thou hast burned this book, saying, Why hast thou written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall surely come and shall destroy this place, and cause to cease from it man and beast?

30 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, He shall have none to sit on the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast forth to the heat by day, and to the frost by night;

31 And I will visit on him and on his seed, and on his servants, their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil which I have denounced on them: but they hearkened not.

32 Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the scribe, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had burnt in the fire; and added to them were many words of the same kind.