Old/New Testament
37 1 Zedekiah succeedeth Jeconiah. 3 He sendeth unto Jeremiah to pray for him. 12 Jeremiah going into the land of Benjamin is taken. 15 He is beaten and put in prison.
1 And (A)King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned for [a]Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel [b]made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land would obey the words of the Lord which he spake by the [c]ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah.
3 And Zedekiah the king [d]sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the Priest to the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.
4 (Now Jeremiah went [e]in and out among the people: for they had not put him into the prison.
5 Then Pharaoh’s host was [f]come out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, heard tidings of them, they [g]departed from Jerusalem.)
6 Then came the word of the Lord unto the Prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to the King of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me, Behold, Pharaoh’s host, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.
9 Thus saith the Lord, [h]Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
10 For though ye had smitten the whole host of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained, but wounded men among them, yet should every man rise up in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
11 ¶ When the host of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, because of Pharaoh’s army,
12 Then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the [i]land of Benjamin, separating himself thence from among the people.
13 And when he was in the [j]gate of Benjamin, there was a chief officer, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, and he took Jeremiah the Prophet, saying, Thou [k]fleest to the Chaldeans.
14 Then said Jeremiah, That is false, I flee not to the Chaldeans: but he would not hear him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
15 Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and smote him, and laid him in prison in the house of Jehonathan the Scribe: for they had made that the [l]prison.
16 When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the prisons, and had remained there a long time,
17 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out, and the king asked him secretly, in his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, Yea: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babel.
18 Moreover, Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?
19 (B)Where are now your prophets, which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babel shall not come against you, nor against this land?
20 Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the King: let my prayer be [m]acceptable before thee, that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jehonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
21 Then Zedekiah the King commanded, that they should put Jeremiah in the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the baker’s street until all the [n]bread in the city were eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
38 1 By the motion of the rulers Jeremiah is put into a dungeon. 14 At the request of Ebed-Melech the King commandeth Jeremiah to be brought forth of the dungeon. 17 Jeremiah showeth the King how he might escape death.
1 Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of [o]Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,
2 Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city, shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans, shall live: for he shall have his life for [p]a prey, and shall live.
3 Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babel’s army, which shall take it.
4 Therefore the Princes said unto the king, We beseech you, let this man be put to death: for thus he [q]weakeneth the hands of the men of war [r]that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the wealth of this people, but the hurt.
5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can deny [s]you nothing.
6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords: and in the dungeon there was no water but mire: so Jeremiah stuck fast in the mire.
7 Now when Ebed-Melech ye [t]black Moor, one of the Eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon, (then the king sat in the [u]gate of Benjamin)
8 And Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying,
9 My lord the king, [v]these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the Prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he dieth for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the black Moor, saying, Take from hence thirty men [w]with thee, and take Jeremiah the Prophet out of the dungeon before he die.
11 So Ebed-Melech took the men with him, and went to the house of the king under the treasury, and took there old rotten rags, and old worn clouts, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 And Ebed-Melech the black Moor said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old rotten rags and worn, under thine arm holes, between the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
13 So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon, and Jeremiah remained in the [x]court of the prison.
14 ¶ Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the Prophet unto him, into the third entry that is in the House of the Lord, and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing: hide nothing from me.
15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not slay me? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hear me.
16 So the King sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the Lord liveth, that made us these souls, I will not slay thee, nor give thee into the hands of those men that seek thy life.
17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord God of hosts the God of Israel, If thou wilt go forth unto the king of Babel’s [y]princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt up with fire, and thou shalt live, and thine house.
18 But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babel’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hands.
19 And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am careful for the Jews that are fled unto the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hands, and they [z]mock me.
20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee: hearken unto the voice of the Lord, I beseech thee, which I speak unto thee: so shall it be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
21 But if thou wilt refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath showed me.
22 And behold, all the women that are [aa]left in the king of Judah’s house, shall be brought forth to the king of Babel’s princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have persuaded thee, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are fastened in the mire, and they are turned back.
23 So they shall bring out all thy wives, and thy children to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hands, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babel: and this city shalt thou cause to be burnt with fire.
24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.
25 But if the princes understand that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now, what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not slay thee: also what the King said unto thee,
26 Then shalt thou say unto them, I humbly [ab]besought the king that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.
27 Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah and asked him, And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded: so they left off speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived.
28 So Jeremiah abode still in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.
39 2 Nebuchadnezzar beseigeth Jerusalem. 4 Zedekiah fleeing, is taken of the Chaldeans. 6 His sons are slain. 7 His eyes are thrust out. 11 Jeremiah is provided for. 26 Ebed-Melech is delivered from captivity.
1 In (C)the ninth year of Zedekiah King of Judah in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel and all his host against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken [ac]up.
3 And all the princes of the King of Babel came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babel.
4 And when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went out of the city by night, through the king’s garden, and by the [ad]gate between the two walls, and he went toward the wilderness.
5 But the Chaldean’s host pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the desert of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel unto [ae]Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
6 Then the king of Babel slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babel slew all the nobles of Judah.
7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him in chains to carry him to Babel.
8 And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house, and the houses of the people with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Then Nebuzaradan the [af]chief steward carried away captive into Babel the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that were fled and fallen unto him, with the rest of the people that remained.
10 But Nebuzaradan the chief steward left the [ag]poor that had nothing in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel gave charge concerning Jeremiah [ah]unto Nebuzaradan the chief steward, saying,
12 Take him, and [ai]look well to him, and do him no harm, but do unto him [aj]even as he shall say unto thee.
13 So Nebuzaradan the chief steward sent, and Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergal-Sharezar, Rabmag, and all the King of Babel’s princes:
14 Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto [ak]Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.
15 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
16 Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the black Moor, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good, and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
17 But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men whom thou fearest.
18 For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee, because thou [al]hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.
3 1 Now he showeth how far inferior Moses is to Christ, 5, 6 even so much as the servant to the Master: and so he bringeth in certain exhortations and threatenings taken out of David, 8 against such as either stubbornly resist, 12 or else are very slow to obey.
1 Therefore, [a]holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly vocation, consider the [b]Apostle and high Priest of our [c]profession Christ Jesus:
2 [d]Who was faithful to him that hath [e]appointed him, [f]even as (A)Moses was in all his house.
3 [g]For this man is counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he which hath builded the house, hath more honor than the house.
4 For every house is builded of some man, and he that hath built all things, is God.
5 [h]Now Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a witness of the things which should be spoken after.
6 But Christ is as the Son, over his own house, [i]whose [j]house we are, if we hold fast that [k]confidence and that rejoicing of that hope unto the end.
7 Wherefore, as the holy Ghost saith, (B)Today if ye [l]shall hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the [m]provocation, according to the day of the temptation in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years long.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They [n]err ever in their heart, neither have they known my ways.
11 Therefore I swear in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest.
12 [o]Take heed brethren, lest at any time there be in any of you an evil heart, and unfaithful, to depart away from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, [p]while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 [q]For we are made partakers of Christ, if we keep sure unto the end that [r]beginning, wherewith we are upholden,
15 [s]So long as it is said, Today if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some when they heard, provoked him to anger: howbeit, not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he displeased forty years? Was he not displeased with them that sinned, (C)whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but unto them that obeyed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in, because of unbelief.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.