Jeremiah 22 - 26

O Land, Hear Yahweh

Thus says Yahweh, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there you shall speak this word 2 and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says Yahweh, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you men will indeed do this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting for David on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares Yahweh, “that this house will become a waste place.”’” 6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like Gilead to Me,

Like the summit of Lebanon;

Yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness,

Like cities which are not inhabited.

For I will set apart destroyers against you,

Each with his weapons;

And they will cut down your choicest cedars

And throw them on the fire.

8 “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God and worshiped other gods and served them.’” 10

Do not weep for the dead or console him,

But weep continually for the one who goes away,

For he will never return

Or see the land of his birth.

11 For thus says Yahweh in regard to Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there; 12 but in the place where they took him away into exile, there he will die and not see this land again. 13

“Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness

And his upper rooms without justice,

Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay

And does not give him his wages,

Who says, ‘I will build myself a roomy house

With spacious upper rooms

And cut out its windows,

Paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.’

Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

And do justice and righteousness?

Then it was well with him.

He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;

Then it was well.

Is not that what it means to know Me?”

Declares Yahweh.

“But your eyes and your heart

Are set on nothing except your own greedy gain

And on shedding innocent blood

And on doing oppression and extortion.”

18 Therefore thus says Yahweh in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,

“They will not lament for him:

‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’

They will not lament for him:

‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’

He will be buried with a donkey’s burial,

Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And lift up your voice in Bashan;

Cry out also from Abarim,

For all your lovers have been broken.

I spoke to you in your prosperity,

But you said, ‘I will not listen!’

This has been your way from your youth,

That you have not listened to My voice.

The wind will sweep away all your shepherds,

And your lovers will go into captivity;

Then you will surely be ashamed and feel dishonor

Because of all your evil.

You who inhabit Lebanon,

Nested in the cedars,

How you will groan when pangs come upon you,

Pain like a woman in childbirth!

24 “As I live,” declares Yahweh, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; 25 and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, indeed, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another land—there you were not born, but there you will die. 27 But as for the land to which their soul desires to return, they will not return to it. 28

Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?

Or is he an undesirable vessel?

Why have he and his seed been hurled out

And cast into a land that they had not known?

O land, land, land,

Hear the word of Yahweh!

30 Thus says Yahweh,

‘Write this man down childless,

A man who will not succeed in his days;

For no man of his seed will succeed

Sitting on the throne of David

Or ruling again in Judah.’”

The Righteous Branch

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh. 2 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. 3 “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will also raise up shepherds over them, and they will shepherd them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh. 5

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and prosper

And do justice and righteousness in the land.

In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell securely;

And this is His name by which He will be called,

‘Yahweh our righteousness.’

7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and brought back the seed of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I had banished them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Condemned

As for the prophets:

My heart is broken within me;

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of Yahweh

And because of His holy words.

For the land is full of adulterers;

For the land mourns because of the curse.

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil,

And their might is not right.

“For both prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares Yahweh.

“Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them;

They will be driven away into the thick darkness and fall down in it;

For I will bring their evil upon them,

The year of their punishment,” declares Yahweh.

“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an appalling thing:

The committing of adultery and walking in lying;

And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his evil.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood

And make them drink poisoned water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”

16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are leading you into vanity;

They speak a vision of their own heart,

Not from the mouth of Yahweh.

They keep saying to those who spurn Me,

‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace”’;

And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘Evil will not come upon you.’

But who has stood in the council of Yahweh,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given heed to His word and heard?

Behold, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling storm;

It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.

The anger of Yahweh will not turn back

Until He has done and established the purposes of His heart;

In the last days you will clearly understand it.

I did not send these prophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

But if they had stood in My council,

Then they would have caused My words to be heard by My people

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

“Am I a God who is near,” declares Yahweh,

“And not a God far off?

Can a man hide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares Yahweh.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares Yahweh.

25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy a lie in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26 How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy a lie, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they recount to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? 28 The prophet who has a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares Yahweh. 29 “Is not My word like fire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30 Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal My words from each other. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who have prophesied lying dreams,” declares Yahweh, “and who recounted them and led My people astray by their lying and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them, and I did not command them, and they do not furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares Yahweh. 33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ Yahweh declares, ‘I will abandon you.’ 34 Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35 Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 36 For you will no longer remember the oracle of Yahweh because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 38 For if you all say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’ surely thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of Yahweh!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’”’ 39 Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and abandon you, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, so that you are out of My presence. 40 I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

The Good and the Rotten Figs

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken away into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, Yahweh showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Yahweh! 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very rotten figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3 Then Yahweh said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the rotten figs, very rotten, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.” 4 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will recognize as good the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will return them to this land; and I will build them up and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am Yahweh; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. 8 ‘But like the rotten figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says Yahweh—so I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who inhabit the land of Egypt. 9 I will give them over to be a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a byword and a curse in all places where I will banish them. 10 I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence upon them until they come to an end from being upon the land which I gave to them and their fathers.’”

Seventy Years of Captivity

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4 And Yahweh has sent to you all His slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, 5 saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the ground which Yahweh has given to you and your fathers forever and ever; 6 and do not walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will bring no evil against you.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Yahweh, “in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own evil demise. 8 “Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not listened to My words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and of hissing and an everlasting waste place. 10 Moreover, I will make the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp, to perish from them. 11 This whole land will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Punishment Against Babylon

12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, even the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. 13 I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 —For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands—’” 15 For thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16 They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” 17 Then I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a waste place, an object of horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people, 20 and all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod), 21 Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon, 22 and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea, 23 and Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair, 24 and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert, 25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media, 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’ 28 And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “You shall surely drink! 29 For behold, I am beginning to bring evil against this city which is called by My name. But shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares Yahweh of hosts.’ 30 “Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,

‘Yahweh will roar from on high

And give forth His voice from His holy habitation;

He will roar mightily against His pasture.

He will bellow a shout like those who tread the grapes,

Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

A rumbling has come to the end of the earth

Because Yahweh has a contention against the nations.

He is entering into judgment with all flesh;

As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares Yahweh.”

32 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Behold, evil is going forth

From nation to nation,

And a great storm is being stirred up

From the remotest parts of the earth.

33 “Those slain by Yahweh on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground. 34

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;

And roll yourselves in ashes, you masters of the flock;

For the days of your slaughter and your scatterings are being fulfilled,

And you will fall like a desirable vessel.

Refuge will perish from the shepherds

And escape from the mighty ones of the flock.

Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds,

And the wailing of the mighty ones of the flock!

For Yahweh is destroying their pasture,

And the peaceful pastures are made silent

Because of the burning anger of Yahweh.

He has forsaken His hiding place like the lion;

For their land has become an object of horror

Because of the burning desire of the oppressor

And because of His burning anger.”

The Words of Yahweh Against Judah

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Stand in the court of the house of Yahweh, and you shall speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not take away a word! 3 Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the evil which I am devising to bring against them because of the evil of their deeds.’ 4 And you will say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have given before you, 5 to listen to the words of My slaves the prophets, whom I have been sending to you, rising up early and sending, but you have not listened, 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.”’”

Plot to Murder Jeremiah

7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh. 8 Now it happened that when Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must surely die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be laid waste, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh. 10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of Yahweh and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the house of Yahweh. 11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A judgment of death for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.” 12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13 So now, make good your ways and your deeds and listen to the voice of Yahweh your God; and Yahweh will relent of the evil demise which He has spoken against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your eyes. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

Jeremiah Spared from Death

16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “No judgment of death for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.” 17 Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus Yahweh of hosts has said,

“Zion will be plowed as a field,

And Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

And the mountain of the house will become the high places of a forest.”’

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Yahweh and entreat the favor of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the evil demise which He had spoken against them? But we are committing a great evil against ourselves.” 20 Indeed, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Yahweh, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land words similar to all those of Jeremiah. 21 And King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words. So the king sought to put him to death; but Uriah heard it, and he was afraid and fled and went to Egypt. 22 Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him went into Egypt. 23 And they brought Uriah out from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with a sword and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people. 24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death.