Bible in 90 Days

²³ A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people are saying? They say, ‘The Lord once chose the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But now he has turned his back on them.’ So they hate my people. They do not think of them as a nation anymore. ²⁵ I say, ‘What if I had not made my covenant with day and night? What if I had not established the laws of heaven and earth? ²⁶ Only then would I turn my back on the children of Jacob and my servant David. Only then would I not choose one of David’s sons to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will bless my people with great success again. I will love them with tender love.’ ”

Zedekiah Is Warned

34 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and all his armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against all the towns around it. All the kingdoms and nations Nebuchadnezzar ruled over were helping him. At that time a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, ² “I am the Lord, the God of Israel. Go to Zedekiah, the king of Judah. Tell him, ‘The Lord says, “I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon. He will burn it down. ³ You will not escape from his power. You will certainly be captured. You will be handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes. He will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.

⁴ “ ‘ “But listen to the Lord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. I say that you will not be killed by a sword. ⁵ You will die in a peaceful way. People made fires to honor the kings who died before you. In the same way, they will make a fire in your honor. They will mourn for you. They will say, ‘My poor master!’ I myself make this promise,” announces the Lord.’ ”

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. ⁷ At that time Nebuchadnezzar’s armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against Lachish and Azekah. These two cities were still holding out. They were the only cities left in Judah that had high walls around them.

The People Set Their Slaves Free

⁸ A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem. He had told them to set their Hebrew slaves free. ⁹ All of them had to do this. That applied to male and female slaves alike. No one was allowed to hold another Hebrew as a slave. ¹⁰ So all the officials and people entered into this covenant. They agreed to set their male and female slaves free. They agreed not to hold them as slaves anymore. Instead, they set them free. ¹¹ But later they changed their minds. They took back the people they had set free. They made them slaves again.

¹² Then a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. ¹³ The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, “I made a covenant with your people of long ago. I brought them out of Egypt. That is the land where they were slaves. I said, ¹⁴ ‘Every seventh year you must set your people free. Each of you must set free all the Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. Let them serve you for six years. Then you must let them go free.’ (Deuteronomy 15:12) But your people of long ago did not listen to me. They did not pay any attention to me. ¹⁵ Recently you turned away from your sins. You did what is right in my eyes. Each of you set your Hebrew slaves free. You even made a covenant in front of me. You did it in the house where I have put my Name. ¹⁶ But now you have turned around. You have treated my name as if it were not holy. Each of you has taken back your male and female slaves. You had set them free to go where they wished. But now you have forced them to become your slaves again.”

¹⁷ So the Lord says, “You have not obeyed me. You have not set your Hebrew slaves free. So now I will set you free,” announces the Lord. “I will set you free to be destroyed by war, plague and hunger. I will make all the kingdoms on earth displeased with you. ¹⁸ Those people who have broken my covenant will be punished. They have not lived up to the terms of the covenant they made in front of me. When you made that covenant, you cut a calf in two. Then you walked between its pieces. Now I will cut you to pieces. ¹⁹ That includes all of you who walked between the pieces of the calf. It includes the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests. It also includes some of the people of the land. ²⁰ So I will hand over all those people to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.

²¹ “I will hand over King Zedekiah and his officials to their enemies. I will hand them over to those who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the armies of the king of Babylon. They have now pulled back from you. ²² But I am going to give an order,” announces the Lord. “I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it. They will capture it and burn it down. And I will completely destroy the towns of Judah. No one will be able to live there.”

The Family Line of Rekab

35 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came during the time Jehoiakim was king over Judah. Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. The message said, ² “Go to the members of the family line of Rekab. Invite them to come to one of the side rooms in my house. Then give them wine to drink.”

³ So I went to get Jaazaniah. He was the son of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the son of Habazziniah. I also went to get Jaazaniah’s brothers and all his sons. That included all the members of the family line of Rekab. ⁴ I brought them into the Lord’s house. I took them into the room of the sons of Hanan. He was the son of Igdaliah. He was also a man of God. His room was next to the room of the officials. Their room was above the room of Maaseiah. He was the son of Shallum. He also was one of those who guarded the temple doors. ⁵ Then I got bowls full of wine and some cups. I set them down in front of the men from the family line of Rekab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ But they replied, “We don’t drink wine. That’s because Jehonadab gave us a command. He was the son of Rekab. He was also one of our own people from long ago. He commanded, ‘You and your children after you must never drink wine. ⁷ Also you must never build houses. You must never plant crops or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. Instead, you must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are wandering around.’ ⁸ We have done everything Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, commanded us to do. So we and our wives and our children have never drunk wine. ⁹ We have never built houses to live in. We’ve never had vineyards, fields or crops. ¹⁰ We’ve always lived in tents. We’ve completely obeyed everything Jehonadab commanded our people of long ago. ¹¹ But Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched into this land. Then we said, ‘Come. We must go to Jerusalem. There we can escape the armies of Babylon and Aram.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It said, ¹³ “The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Go. Speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Tell them, “Won’t you ever learn a lesson? Won’t you ever obey my words?” announces the Lord. ¹⁴ “Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, ordered his children not to drink wine. And they have kept his command. To this day they do not drink wine. They obey the command Jehonadab gave their people long ago. But I have spoken to you again and again. In spite of that, 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 evil ways. You must change the way you act. Do not worship other gods. Do not serve them. Then you will live in the land. I gave it to you and your people of long ago.’ But you have not paid any attention. You have not listened to me. ¹⁶ The children of Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, have obeyed the command Jehonadab gave them long ago. But the people of Judah have not obeyed me.” ’ ”

¹⁷ So the Lord God who rules over all speaks. The God of Israel says, “Listen! I am going to bring horrible trouble on Judah. I will also bring it on everyone who lives in Jerusalem. I will bring on them every trouble I said I would. I spoke to them. But they did not listen. I called out to them. But they did not answer.”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah spoke to the members of the family line of Rekab. Jeremiah said, “The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘You have obeyed the command Jehonadab gave your people of long ago. You have followed all his directions. You have done everything he ordered.’ ¹⁹ So the Lord who rules over all speaks. The God of Israel says, ‘Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, will always have someone from his family line to serve me.’ ”

Jehoiakim Burns Up Jeremiah’s Scroll

36 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. The message said, ² “Get a scroll. Write on it all the words I have spoken to you. Write down what I have said about Israel, Judah and all the other nations. Write what I have said to you from the time of King Josiah until now. ³ The people of Judah will hear about all the trouble I plan to bring on them. Maybe then each of them will turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the evil things they have done.”

⁴ So Jeremiah sent for Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jeremiah told him to write down all the words the Lord had spoken to him. And Baruch wrote them on the scroll. ⁵ Then Jeremiah said to him, “I’m not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ So you go there. Go on a day when the people are fasting. Read to them from the scroll. Read the words of the Lord you wrote down as I gave them to you. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. ⁷ They will hear what the Lord will do to them when his burning anger blazes out against them. Then perhaps they will pray to him. And maybe each of them will turn from their evil ways.”

⁸ Baruch, the son of Neriah, did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do. He went to the Lord’s temple. There he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. ⁹ It was in the fifth year that Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, was king of Judah. It was the ninth month of that year. A time of fasting at the Lord’s temple had been ordered. All the people in Jerusalem were told to take part in it. So were those who had come in from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰ Baruch read to all the people who were at the Lord’s temple. He read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll. He was in the room of Gemariah the secretary. It was located in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple. Gemariah was the son of Shaphan.

¹¹ Micaiah was the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Micaiah heard Baruch reading all the Lord’s words that were written on the scroll. ¹² Then he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace. All the officials were sitting there. They included the secretary Elishama and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah. Elnathan, the son of Akbor, was also there. So was Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, was there too. And so were all the other officials. ¹³ Micaiah told all of them what he had heard. He told them everything Baruch had read to the people from the scroll. ¹⁴ All the officials sent Jehudi to speak to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jehudi was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Cushi. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Come. Bring the scroll you have read to the people.” So Baruch went to them. He carried the scroll with him. ¹⁵ The officials said to him, “Please sit down. Read the scroll to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ They heard all its words. Then they looked at one another in fear. They said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷ They said to Baruch, “Tell us. How did you happen to write all these things? Did Jeremiah tell you to do this?”

¹⁸ “Yes,” Baruch replied. “He told me to write down all these words. So I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

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

²⁰ The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary. Then they went to the king in the courtyard. They reported everything to him. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi read it to the king. All the officials were standing beside the king. So they heard it too. ²² It was the ninth month. The king was sitting in his winter apartment. A fire was burning in the fire pot in front of him. ²³ Jehudi read three or four sections from the scroll. Then the king cut them off with a secretary’s knife. He threw them into the fire pot. He did that until the entire scroll was burned up in the fire. ²⁴ The king and some of his attendants heard all these words. But they weren’t afraid. They didn’t tear their clothes. ²⁵ Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll. But he wouldn’t listen to them. ²⁶ Instead, the king commanded three men to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them. The three men were Jerahmeel, Seraiah and Shelemiah. Jerahmeel was a member of the royal court. Seraiah was the son of Azriel. And Shelemiah was the son of Abdeel.

²⁷ A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came after the king burned the scroll. On the scroll were the words Baruch had written down. Jeremiah had told him to write them. The message said, ²⁸ “Get another scroll. Write on it all the words that were on the first one. King Jehoiakim burned that one up. ²⁹ Also tell King Jehoiakim, ‘The Lord says, “You burned that scroll. You said to Baruch, ‘Why did you write that the king of Babylon would certainly come? Why did you write that he would destroy this land? And why did you write that he would remove from it people and animals alike?’ ” ³⁰ So now the Lord has something to say about Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. He says, “No one from Jehoiakim’s family line will sit on David’s throne. Jehoiakim’s body will be thrown out. It will lie outside in the heat by day and in the frost at night. ³¹ I will punish him and his children and his attendants. I will punish them for their sinful ways. I will bring on them all the trouble I said I would. And I will bring it on the people of Jerusalem and Judah. They have not listened to me.” ’ ”

³² So Jeremiah got another scroll. He gave it to Baruch the secretary. He was the son of Neriah. Jeremiah told Baruch what to write on it. Baruch wrote down all the words that were on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned up in the fire. And many more words were written on it. They were similar to those that had already been written.

Jeremiah Is Put in Prison

37 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, appointed Zedekiah to be king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. Zedekiah ruled in place of Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim. ² Zedekiah and his attendants didn’t pay any attention to what the Lord had said through Jeremiah the prophet. And the people of the land didn’t pay any attention either.

³ But King Zedekiah sent Jehukal to Jeremiah the prophet. Zedekiah sent Zephaniah the priest along with him. Jehukal was the son of Shelemiah. Zephaniah was the son of Maaseiah. Jehukal and Zephaniah brought the king’s message to Jeremiah. It said, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

⁴ At that time Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people. Jeremiah had not yet been put in prison. ⁵ The armies of Babylon were attacking Jerusalem. They received a report that Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt to help Zedekiah. So armies of Babylon pulled back from Jerusalem.

⁶ A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁷ The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, “The king of Judah has sent you to ask me for advice. Tell him, ‘Pharaoh’s army has marched out to help you. But it will go back to its own land. It will return to Egypt. ⁸ Then the armies of Babylon will come back here. They will attack this city. They will capture it. Then they will burn it down.’

⁹ “The Lord says, ‘Do not fool yourselves. You think, “The Babylonians will leave us alone.” But they will not! ¹⁰ Suppose you destroy all the armies of Babylon that are attacking you. Suppose only wounded men are left in their tents. Even then they will come out and burn down this city.’ ”

¹¹ The armies of Babylon had pulled back from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army. ¹² So Jeremiah started to leave the city. He was planning to go to the territory of Benjamin. Jeremiah wanted to get his share of the property among the people there. ¹³ He got as far as the Benjamin Gate. But the captain of the guard arrested him. He said, “You are going over to the side of the Babylonians!” The captain’s name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Hananiah.

¹⁴ Jeremiah said to Irijah, “That isn’t true! I’m not going to the side of the Babylonians.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. Instead, he arrested Jeremiah. He brought Jeremiah to the officials. ¹⁵ They were angry with him. So they had him beaten. Then they took him to the house of Jonathan the secretary. It had been made into a prison. That’s where they put Jeremiah.

¹⁶ Jeremiah was put into a prison cell below ground level. He remained there a long time. ¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for him. King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to the palace. There the king spoke to him in private. The king asked, “Do you have a message from the Lord for me?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah continued, “Why have you put me in prison? What crime have I committed against you? What have I done to your attendants or these people? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets who prophesied to you? They said, ‘The king of Babylon won’t attack you. He won’t march into this land.’ ²⁰ But now please listen, my king and master. Let me make my appeal to you. Please don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary. If you do, I’ll die there.”

²¹ Then King Zedekiah gave the order. His men put Jeremiah in the courtyard of the guard. They gave him a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers. They did it every day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah Is Thrown Into an Empty Well

38 Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jehukal and Pashhur heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people. Shephatiah was the son of Mattan. Gedaliah was the son of Pashhur. Jehukal was the son of Shelemiah. And Pashhur was the son of Malkijah. These four men heard Jeremiah say, ² “The Lord says, ‘Those who stay in this city will die of war, hunger or plague. But those who go over to the side of the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives. They will remain alive.’ ³ The Lord also says, ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the armies of the king of Babylon. They will capture it.’ ”

⁴ Then these officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. What he says is making the soldiers who are left in this city lose hope. It’s making all the people lose hope too. He isn’t interested in what is best for the people. In fact, he’s trying to destroy them.”

⁵ “He’s in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “I can’t do anything to oppose you.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into an empty well. It belonged to Malkijah. He was a member of the royal court. His well was in the courtyard of the guard. Zedekiah’s men lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the well. It didn’t have any water in it. All it had was mud. And Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

⁷ Ebed-Melek was an official in the royal palace. He was from the land of Cush. He heard that Jeremiah had been put into the well. The king was sitting by the Benjamin Gate at that time. ⁸ Ebed-Melek went out of the palace. He said to the king, ⁹ “My king and master, everything these men have done to Jeremiah the prophet is evil. They have thrown him into an empty well. Soon there won’t be any more bread in the city. Then he’ll starve to death.”

¹⁰ So the king gave an order to Ebed-Melek the Cushite. He said, “Take with you 30 men from here. Lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the well before he dies.”

¹¹ Then Ebed-Melek took the men with him. He went to a room in the palace. It was under the place where the treasures were stored. He got some old rags and worn-out clothes from there. Then he let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the well. ¹² Ebed-Melek the Cushite told Jeremiah what to do. Ebed-Melek said, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms. They’ll pad the ropes.” So Jeremiah did. ¹³ Then the men pulled him up with the ropes. They lifted him out of the well. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet. The king had him brought to the third entrance to the Lord’s temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Don’t hide anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Suppose I give you an answer. You will kill me, won’t you? Suppose I give you good advice. You won’t listen to me, will you?”

¹⁶ But King Zedekiah promised Jeremiah secretly, “I won’t kill you. And I won’t hand you over to those who want to kill you. That’s just as sure as the Lord is alive. He’s the one who has given us breath.”

¹⁷ So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “The Lord God who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Give yourself up to the officers of the king of Babylon. Then your life will be spared. And this city will not be burned down. You and your family will remain alive. ¹⁸ But what if you do not give yourself up to them? Then this city will be handed over to the Babylonians. They will burn it down. And you yourself will not escape from them.’ ”

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I’m afraid of some of the Jews. They are the ones who have gone over to the side of the Babylonians. The Babylonians might hand me over to them. And those Jews will treat me badly.”

²⁰ “They won’t hand you over to them,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord. Do what I tell you to do. Then things will go well with you. Your life will be spared. ²¹ Don’t refuse to give yourself up. The Lord has shown me what will happen if you do. ²² All the women who are left in your palace will be brought out. They’ll be given to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you,

²³ “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself won’t escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon. And this city will be burned down.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about the talk we’ve had. If you do, you might die. ²⁵ Suppose the officials find out that I’ve talked with you. And suppose they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king. Tell us what the king said to you. Don’t hide it from us. If you do, we’ll kill you.’ ²⁶ Then tell them, ‘I was begging the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house. I don’t want to die there.’ ”

²⁷ All the officials came to Jeremiah. And they questioned him. He told them everything the king had ordered him to say. None of them had heard what he told the king. So they didn’t say anything else to him.

²⁸ Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard. He stayed there until the day Jerusalem was captured.

Jerusalem Is Destroyed

Here is how Jerusalem was captured. 39 ¹ Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched out against Jerusalem. He came with all his armies and attacked it. It was in the ninth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah. It was in the tenth month. ² The city wall was broken through. It happened on the ninth day of the fourth month. It was in the 11th year of Zedekiah’s rule. ³ All the officials of the king of Babylon came. They took seats near the Middle Gate. Nergal-Sharezer from Samgar was there. Nebo-Sarsekim, a chief officer, was also there. So was Nergal-Sharezer, a high official. And all the other officials of the king of Babylon were there too. ⁴ King Zedekiah and all the soldiers saw them. Then they ran away. They left the city at night. They went by way of the king’s garden. They went out through the gate between the two walls. And they headed toward the Arabah Valley.

⁵ But the armies of Babylon chased them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains near Jericho. They captured him there. And they took him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. That’s where Nebuchadnezzar decided how Zedekiah would be punished. ⁶ The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah. He forced Zedekiah to watch it with his own eyes. He also killed all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ Then he poked out Zedekiah’s eyes. He put him in bronze chains. And he took him to Babylon.

⁸ The Babylonians set the royal palace on fire. They also set fire to the houses of the people. And they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan was commander of the royal guard. Some people still remained in the city. But he took them away to Babylon as prisoners. He also took along those who had gone over to his side. And he took the rest of the people. ¹⁰ Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, left some of the poor people of Judah behind. They didn’t own anything. So at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had given orders about Jeremiah. He had given them to Nebuzaradan, the commander of the royal guard. Nebuchadnezzar had said, ¹² “Take him. Look after him. Don’t harm him. Do for him anything he asks.” ¹³ So that’s what Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, did. Nebushazban and Nergal-Sharezer were with him. So were all the other officers of the king of Babylon. Nebushazban was a chief officer. Nergal-Sharezer was a high official. All these men ¹⁴ sent for Jeremiah. They had him taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. They told Gedaliah to take Jeremiah back to his home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.

¹⁵ A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came while he was being kept in the courtyard of the guard. The Lord said, ¹⁶ “Go. Speak to Ebed-Melek the Cushite. Tell him, ‘The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I am about to make the words I spoke against this city come true. I will not give success to it. Instead, I will bring horrible trouble on it. At that time my words will come true. You will see it with your own eyes. ¹⁷ But I will save you on that day,” announces the Lord. “You will not be handed over to those you are afraid of. ¹⁸ I will save you. You will not be killed by a sword. Instead, you will escape with your life. That’s because you trust in me,” announces the Lord.’ ”

Jeremiah Is Set Free From His Chains

40 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came after Nebuzaradan, the commander of the royal guard, had set him free at Ramah. Jeremiah was being held by chains when Nebuzaradan found him. Jeremiah was among all the prisoners from Jerusalem and Judah. They were being taken to Babylon. ² But the commander of the guard found Jeremiah. The commander said to him, “The Lord your God ordered that this place be destroyed. ³ And now he has brought it about. He has done exactly what he said he would do. All these things have happened because you people sinned against the Lord. You didn’t obey him. ⁴ But today I’m setting you free from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon if you want to. I’ll take good care of you there. But if you don’t want to come, then don’t. The whole country lies in front of you. Go anywhere you want to.” ⁵ But before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan continued, “Go back to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. The king of Babylon has appointed Gedaliah to be over the towns of Judah. Go and live with him among your people. Or go anywhere else you want to.” Ahikam was the son of Shaphan.

The commander gave Jeremiah food and water. He also gave him a gift. Then he let Jeremiah go. ⁶ So Jeremiah went to Mizpah to see Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. Jeremiah stayed with him. Jeremiah lived among the people who were left behind in the land.

Gedaliah Is Murdered

⁷ Some of Judah’s army officers and their men were still in the open country. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor over Judah. Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam. The king had put Gedaliah in charge of the men, women and children who were still there. They were the poorest people in the land. They hadn’t been taken to Babylon. ⁸ When the army officers and their men heard these things, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, came. So did Johanan and Jonathan, the sons of Kareah. Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, also came. The sons of Ephai from Netophah came too. And so did Jaazaniah, the son of the Maakathite. All their men came with them. ⁹ Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, made a promise. He made the promise to give hope to all these men. He spoke in a kind way to them. He said, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Make your homes in the land of Judah. Serve the king of Babylon. Then things will go well with you. ¹⁰ I myself will stay at Mizpah. I’ll speak for you to the officials of Babylon who come to us. But you must harvest the wine, summer fruit and olive oil. Put them in your jars. Store them up. And live in the towns you have taken over.”

¹¹ All the Jews in Moab, Ammon and Edom heard what had happened. So did the Jews in all the other countries. They heard that the king of Babylon had left some people behind in Judah. They also heard that he had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, as governor over them. Ahikam was the son of Shaphan. ¹² When they heard these things, all of them came back to the land of Judah. They went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They came from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested a large amount of wine and summer fruit.

¹³ Johanan and all the other army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Johanan was the son of Kareah. ¹⁴ The officers spoke to Gedaliah. They said, “Don’t you know that Baalis has sent someone to take your life? Baalis is the king of Ammon. He has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah.” But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, didn’t believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke in private to Gedaliah in Mizpah. He said, “Let me go and kill Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. No one will know about it. Why should he take your life? Why should he cause all the Jews gathered around you to be scattered? Why should he cause the people who remain in Judah to die?”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, spoke to Johanan, the son of Kareah. He said, “Don’t do an awful thing like that! What you are saying about Ishmael isn’t true.”

41 In the seventh month Ishmael came with ten men to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. Ishmael was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Elishama. Ishmael was a member of the royal family. He had been one of the king’s officers. Ishmael and his ten men were eating together at Mizpah. ² They got up and struck down Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, with their swords. They killed him even though the king of Babylon had appointed him as governor over Judah. Ahikam was the son of Shaphan. ³ Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah. And he killed the Babylonian soldiers who were there.

⁴ On the next day, people still hadn’t found out that Gedaliah had been murdered. ⁵ On that day 80 men came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards. They had torn their clothes. And they had cut themselves. They brought grain offerings and incense with them. They took them to the Lord’s house. ⁶ Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went out from Mizpah to meet them. He was weeping as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.” ⁷ They went with him into the city. Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the men who were with him killed them. And they threw them into an empty well. ⁸ But ten of the men had spoken to Ishmael. They had said, “Don’t kill us! We have some wheat and barley. We also have olive oil and honey. We’ve hidden all of it in a field.” So he didn’t kill them along with the others. ⁹ But he had thrown into the empty well all the bodies of the men he had killed. That included Gedaliah’s body. The well was the one King Asa had made. He had made it when he strengthened Mizpah against attack by Baasha, the king of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled it with the bodies of those he had killed.

¹⁰ Nebuzaradan was the commander of the royal guard. He had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over all the people at Mizpah. But Ishmael made prisoners of the people left at Mizpah. These prisoners included women who were members of the royal court. The prisoners also included everyone else left at Mizpah. Then Ishmael started out to go across the Jordan River to the land of Ammon.

¹¹ Johanan, the son of Kareah, was told what had happened. And so were all the other army officers with him. They heard about all the crimes Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had committed. ¹² So they brought all their men together. Then they went to fight against Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the large pool in Gibeon. ¹³ Ishmael had many people with him. They saw Johanan, the son of Kareah. And they saw the other army officers who were with him. So the people who had been forced to go with Ishmael were glad. ¹⁴ Ishmael had taken those people from Mizpah as prisoners. But now they turned and went over to the side of Johanan, the son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and eight of his men escaped from Johanan. They ran away to the land of Ammon.

Some Jews Take Jeremiah to Egypt

¹⁶ Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, led away all the people of Mizpah who were still alive. All the other army officers with Johanan helped him do this. He had taken them away from Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. That happened after Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. The people Johanan had taken away included soldiers, women, children and court officials. He had brought them from Gibeon. ¹⁷ They went on their way. They stopped at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem. They were going to Egypt. ¹⁸ They wanted to get away from the Babylonians. They were afraid of them. That’s because Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. The king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor over Judah.

42 Then all the army officers approached Jeremiah. They included Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah, the son of Hoshaiah. All the people from the least important of them to the most important also came. ² All of them said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please listen to our appeal. Pray to the Lord your God. Pray for all of us who are left here. Once there were many of us. But as you can see, only a few of us are left now. ³ So pray to the Lord your God. Pray that he’ll tell us where we should go. Pray that he’ll tell us what we should do.”

⁴ “I’ve heard you,” Jeremiah the prophet replied. “I’ll certainly pray to the Lord your God. I’ll do what you have asked me to do. In fact, I’ll tell you everything the Lord says. I won’t keep anything back from you.”

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “We’ll do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us to do. If we don’t, may he be a true and faithful witness against us. ⁶ It doesn’t matter whether what you say is in our favor or not. We’re asking you to pray to the Lord our God. And we’ll obey him. Things will go well with us. That’s because we will obey the Lord our God.”

⁷ Ten days later a message came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ⁸ So Jeremiah sent for Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the other army officers with him. Jeremiah also gathered together all the people from the least important of them to the most important. ⁹ He said to all of them, “The Lord is the God of Israel. You asked me to present your appeal to him. He told me, ¹⁰ ‘Stay in this land. Then I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will plant you. I will not pull you up by the roots. I have decided to stop bringing trouble on you. ¹¹ Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon. You are afraid of him now. Do not be,’ announces the Lord. ‘I am with you. I will keep you safe. I will save you from his power. ¹² I will show you my loving concern. Then he will have concern for you. And he will let you return to your land.’

¹³ “But suppose you say, ‘We won’t stay in this land.’ If you do, you will be disobeying the Lord your God. ¹⁴ And suppose you say, ‘No! We’ll go and live in Egypt. There we won’t have to face war anymore. We won’t hear the trumpets of war. And we won’t get hungry.’ ¹⁵ Then listen to what the Lord says to you who are left in Judah. He is the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Have you already made up your minds to go to Egypt? Are you going to make your homes there? ¹⁶ Then the war you fear will catch up with you there. The hunger you are afraid of will follow you into Egypt. And you will die there. ¹⁷ In fact, that will happen to all those who go and make their homes in Egypt. All of them will die of war, hunger and plague. Not one of them will live. None of them will escape the trouble I will bring on them.’ ¹⁸ He is the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of Israel. He says, ‘My great anger has been poured out on those who used to live in Jerusalem. In the same way, it will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. People will use your name in a curse. They will be shocked at you. They will say bad things about you. And they will say you are shameful. You will never see this place again.’

¹⁹ “The Lord has spoken to you who are left in Judah. He has said, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Here is something you can be sure of. I am warning you about it today. ²⁰ You made a big mistake when you asked me to pray to the Lord your God. You said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything he says. We’ll do it.’ ²¹ I have told you today what the Lord your God wants you to do. But you still haven’t obeyed him. You haven’t done anything he sent me to tell you to do. ²² So here is something else you can be sure of. You will die of war, hunger and plague. You want to go and make your homes in Egypt. But you will die there.”

43 Jeremiah finished telling the people everything the Lord their God had said. Jeremiah told them everything the Lord had sent him to tell them. ² After that, Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke to Jeremiah. And all the proud men joined them. They said, “You are lying! The Lord our God hasn’t sent you to speak to us. He hasn’t told you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt and make your homes there.’ ³ But Baruch, the son of Neriah, is turning you against us. He wants us to be handed over to the Babylonians. Then they can kill us. Or they can take us away to Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan, the son of Kareah, disobeyed the Lord’s command. So did all the other army officers and all the people. They didn’t stay in the land of Judah. ⁵ Instead Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the other army officers led away all the people who were left in Judah. Those people had returned to Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. ⁶ Johanan and the other officers also led away many people Nebuzaradan had left at Mizpah. They included men, women and children. They also included the king’s daughters. Nebuzaradan had left them with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. They also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. Nebuzaradan was commander of the royal guard. Ahikam was the son of Shaphan. ⁷ So the Jewish leaders disobeyed the Lord. They took everyone to Egypt. They went all the way to Tahpanhes.

⁸ In Tahpanhes a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, ⁹ “Make sure the Jews are watching you. Then get some large stones. Go to the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes. Bury the stones in the clay under the brick walkway there. ¹⁰ Then tell the Jews, ‘The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And I will set his throne over these stones that are buried here. He will set up his royal tent over them. ¹¹ He will come and attack Egypt. He will bring death to those I have appointed to die. He will take away as prisoners those I have appointed to be taken away. And he will kill with swords those I have appointed to be killed. ¹² He will set the temples of the gods of Egypt on fire. He will burn down their temples. He will take away the statues of their gods. Nebuchadnezzar will be like a shepherd who picks his coat clean of lice. Nebuchadnezzar will pick Egypt clean and then depart. ¹³ At Heliopolis in Egypt he will smash the sacred pillars to pieces. And he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.” ’ ”

Worshiping Other Gods Brings Horrible Trouble

44 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It was about all the Jews living in Lower Egypt. They were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis. It was also about all the Jews living in Upper Egypt. ² The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He said, “You saw all the trouble I brought on Jerusalem. I also brought it on all the towns in Judah. Today they lie there deserted and destroyed. ³ That’s because of the evil things their people did. They made me very angry. They burned incense to other gods. And they worshiped them. They and you and your people of long ago never knew those gods. ⁴ Again and again I sent my servants the prophets. They said, ‘Don’t worship other gods! The Lord hates it!’ ⁵ But the people didn’t listen. They didn’t pay any attention. They didn’t turn from their sinful ways. They didn’t stop burning incense to other gods. ⁶ So my burning anger was poured out. It blazed out against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. It made them the dry and empty places they are today.”

⁷ The Lord God who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “Why do you want to bring all this trouble on yourselves? You are removing from Judah its men and women, its children and babies. Not one of you will be left. ⁸ Why do you want to make me angry with the gods your hands have made? Why do you burn incense to the gods of Egypt, where you now live? You will destroy yourselves. All the nations on earth will use your name as a curse. They will say you are shameful. ⁹ Have you forgotten the evil things done by your people of long ago? The kings and queens of Judah did those same things. So did you and your wives. They were done in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ To this day the people of Judah have not made themselves humble in my sight. They have not shown any respect for me. They have not obeyed my law. They have not followed the rules I gave you and your people of long ago.”

¹¹ The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I have decided to bring horrible trouble on you. I will destroy the whole land of Judah. ¹² I will destroy the people of Judah who are left. They had decided to go to Egypt and make their homes there. But all of them will die in Egypt. They will die of war or hunger. All of them will die, from the least important of them to the most important. They will die of war or hunger. People will use their name as a curse. They will be shocked at them. They will say bad things about them. And they will say they are shameful. ¹³ I will use war, hunger and plague to punish the Jews who live in Egypt. I punished Jerusalem in the same way. ¹⁴ None of the people of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape. Not one of them will live to return to Judah. They long to return and live there. But only a few will escape from Egypt and go back.”

¹⁵ All the Jews who were living in Lower and Upper Egypt gathered to give Jeremiah their answer. A large crowd had come together. It included men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods. Their wives were there with them. All of them said to Jeremiah, ¹⁶ “We won’t listen to the message you have spoken to us in the Lord’s name! ¹⁷ We will certainly do everything we said we would. We’ll burn incense to the female god called the Queen of Heaven. We’ll pour out drink offerings to her. We’ll do just as we and our people of long ago have done. Our kings and our officials also did it. All of us did it in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food. We were well off. We didn’t suffer any harm. ¹⁸ But then we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven. We stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. And ever since that time we haven’t had anything. Instead, we’ve been dying of war and hunger.”

¹⁹ The women added, “We burned incense to the Queen of Heaven. We poured out drink offerings to her. And our husbands knew we were making cakes that looked like her. They knew we were pouring out drink offerings to her.”

²⁰ Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people who were answering him. He spoke to men and women alike. He said, ²¹ “Didn’t the Lord know you were burning incense in the towns of Judah? Didn’t he care that you were also doing it in the streets of Jerusalem? You and your people of long ago were doing it. Your kings and officials were doing it too. So were the rest of the people in the land. ²² The Lord couldn’t put up any longer with the evil things you were doing. He hated the things you did. So your land became a curse. It became a dry and empty desert. No one lived there. And that’s the way it still is today. ²³ You have burned incense to other gods. You have sinned against the Lord. You haven’t obeyed him or his law. You haven’t followed his rules. You haven’t lived up to the terms of the covenant he made with you. That’s why all this trouble has come on you. You have seen it with your own eyes.”

²⁴ Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people. That included the women. He said, “All you people of Judah in Egypt, listen to the Lord’s message. ²⁵ The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘You and your wives have done what you promised you would do. You said, “We will certainly keep the promises we made to the Queen of Heaven. We’ll burn incense to her. We’ll pour out drink offerings to her.” ’

“Go ahead then. Do what you said you would! Keep your promises! ²⁶ But listen to the Lord’s message. Listen, all you Jews living in Egypt. ‘I make a promise by my own great name,’ says the Lord. ‘Here is what I promise. “No one from Judah who lives anywhere in Egypt will ever again pray in my name. None of them will ever make this promise. They will never say, ‘You can be sure that the Lord and King is alive.’ ” ²⁷ I am watching over them to do them harm and not good. The Jews in Egypt will die of war and hunger until all of them are destroyed. ²⁸ Some will not be killed. They will return to Judah from Egypt. But they will be very few. Then all the people of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know the truth. They will know whether what I say or what they say will come true.

²⁹ “ ‘I will give you a sign that I will punish you in this place,’ announces the Lord. ‘Then you can be sure that my warnings of harm against you will come true.’ ³⁰ The Lord says, ‘I am going to hand over Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt. I will hand him over to his enemies who want to kill him. In the same way, I handed over King Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He was the enemy who wanted to kill Zedekiah.’ ”

The Lord Speaks to Baruch

45 Jeremiah talked to Baruch, the son of Neriah. It was in the fourth year that Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, was king of Judah. It was when Baruch had written down on a scroll the words Jeremiah the prophet told him to write. Jeremiah had said, ² “The Lord is the God of Israel. Baruch, he says to you, ³ ‘You have said, “How terrible it is for me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I’m worn out from all my groaning. I can’t find any rest.” ’ ⁴ But here is what the Lord has told me to say to you, Baruch. ‘The Lord says, “I will destroy what I have built up. I will pull up by the roots what I have planted. I will do this throughout the earth. ⁵ So should you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. I will bring trouble on everyone,” announces the Lord. “But no matter where you go, I will let you escape with your life.” ’ ”

A Message About Egypt

46 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet. It was about the nations.

² Here is what the Lord says about Egypt.

Here is his message against the army of Pharaoh Necho. He was king of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, won the battle over Necho’s army. That happened at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. It was in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. The message says,

¹³ Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was coming to attack Egypt. Here is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about it. He said,

²⁵ The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I am about to punish Amon, the god of Thebes. I will also punish Pharaoh. I will punish Egypt and its gods and kings. And I will punish those who depend on Pharaoh. ²⁶ I will hand them over to those who want to kill them. I will give them to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and his officers. But later, many people will live in Egypt again as in times past,” announces the Lord.

A Message About the Philistines

47 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet. It was about the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked the city of Gaza.

² The Lord said,