Pashur's fearful doom. CHAP. XXI. Jeremiah's complaint. hath not called thy name Pashur, livered the soul of the poor from but Magor-missabib. the hand of evil-doers. 4 For thus saith the LORD, Be- 14 1 Cursed be the day wherein hold, I will make thee a terror I was born; let not the day wherein to thyself, and to all thy friends: my mother bare me be blessed. and they shall fall by the sword of 15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born unto thee; making him very glad. their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall 16 And let that man be as the carry them captive into Babylon, cities which the LORD overthrew, and shall slay them with the and repented not: and let him hear sword. the cry in the morning, and the 5 Moreover I will deliver all shouting at noon-tide; the strength of this city, and all 17 Because he slew me not from the labours thereof, and all the the womb; or that my mother precious things thereof, and all the might have been my grave, and treasures of the kings of Judah her womb to be always great with will I give into the hand of their me. enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies. 71 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. 8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. 18 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame ? CHAP. XXI. The Siege of Jerusalem foretold. HE word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. 31Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: 9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any 4 Thus saith the LORD God of more, in his name. But his word Israel; Behold, I will turn back was in my heart as a burning fire the weapons of war that are in shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. 10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against you with an out-stretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 11 But the LORD is with me as 6 And I will smite the inhabia mighty terrible one: therefore tants of this city, both man and my persecutors shall stumble, and beast: they shall die of a great they shall not prevail; they shall pestilence. be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgot ten. 7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebnchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand 13 Sing unto the LORD, praise of those that seek their life: and ye the LORD: for he hath de-lhe shall-anite them with the edge 12 But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause. 675 Exhortation to repentance. JEREMIAH, of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. 8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. 9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. 10 For 1 have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 11 T And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD; 12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which Who shall come down against or who shall enter into our habitations? Bay us 14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it. CHAP. XXII. Jeremiah exhorteth to Righte ousness. HUS saith the LORD; Go Tdown to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, Judgment of Shallum, 5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely 1 will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. 7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? 9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. 10 1 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. 11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: 12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more. 13 Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; 14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 2 And say, Hear the word of the 15 Shalt thou reign, because thou LORD, O king of Judah, that sit-closest thyself in cedar? did not test upon the throne of David, thou, thy father eat and drink, and do and thy servants, and thy people judgment and justice, and then it that enter in by these gates: was well with him? 3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD. 17 But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. 4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates 18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of this house kings sitting upon the concerning Jehoiakim the son of throne of David, riding in chariots Josiah king of Judah; They shall and on horses, he, and his servants, not lament for him, saying, Ah and his people. my brother! or, Ah sister! they 676 CHAP. XXIII. Jehoiakim, and Coniah. shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. 21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. 22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. 23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! 24 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; 25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. 27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. 23 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his secd, and are cast into a land which they know not? 29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. 30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. CHAP. XXIII. Christ, the Branch, promised. 70 be unto the pastors that Christ is promised you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. 5 1 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 But, the LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. 9 My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness, 10 For the land is full of adul terers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. 11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. 12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophe W destroy and scatter the sheep sied in Baal, and caused my people of my pasture! saith the LORD. Israel to err. 2 Therefore thus saith the LORD 14 I have seen also in the proGod of Israel against the pastors phets of Jerusalem. a horrible that feed my people; Ye have thing: they commit adultery, and scattered my flock, and driven walk in lies: they strengthen also them away, and have not visited the hands of evil-doers, that none them: behold, I will visit upon doth return from his wickedness 677 The overthrow of land all my words which I have then shalt thou say unto them, pronounced against it, even all thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye that is written in this book, which shall certainly drink. Jeremiah hath prophesied against JEREMIAH, divers nations foretold 29 For lo, I begin to bring evil all the nations. on the city which is called by 14 For many nations and great my name, and should ye be kings shall serve themselves of them utterly unpunished? Ye shall not also: and I will recompense them be unpunished: for I will call for a according to their deeds, and ac-sword upon all the inhabitants of cording to the works of their own the earth, saith the LORD of hands. hosts. 15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the winecup of this fury at my hand, aud cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me : 18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. 32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 20 And all the mingled people, 33 And the slain of the LORD and all the kings of the land of Uz, shall be at that day from one end and all the kings of the land of the of the earth even unto the other end Philistines, and Ashkelon, and of the earth: they shall not be laAzzah, and Ekron, and the rem-mented, neither gathered, nor bunant of Ashdod, ried; they shall be dung upon the 21 Edom, and Moab, and the ground. children of Ammon, 22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, 23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, 24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, 25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and riso no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, 680 34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. 35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture. 37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger. CHAP. XXVI. Jeremiah exhorteth to Repentance. chiakim the son of Josiah N the beginning of the reign of king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying, Jeremiah is arraigned, CHAP. XXVI. and acquitted 2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand | the evil that he hath pronounced in the court of the LORD's house, against you. and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word: 14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you: 15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon 3 If so be they will hearken, yourselves, and upon this city, and and turn every man from his evil upon the inhabitants thereof: for way, that I may repent me of of a truth the LORD hath sent mo the evil, which I purpose to do unto you to speak all these words unto them because of the evil of in your ears. their doings. 4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, If ye will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; 6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. 9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 10 1 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house. 11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. 16 1 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God. 17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying 18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusn lem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls. 20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah: 21 And when Jehoiakim the king with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, be was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; 22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt. 23 And they fetched forth Urijah 12 Then spake Jeremiah unto out of Egypt, and brought him all the princes, and to all the peo-unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew ple, saying, The LORD sent me to him with the sword, and cast his prophesy against this house and dead body into the graves of the against this city all the words that common people. ye have heard. 13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God: and the LORD will repent him of 24 Nevertheless, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. 681 |