Jeremiah 27 - 31 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

27In the beginning of the reign of ¹^,^aZedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying— ²thus says Yahweh to me—“Make for yourself ^abonds and the ^bbars of a yoke and put them on your neck, ³and you shall send ¹word to the king of ^aEdom, to the king of ^bMoab, to the king of the sons of ^cAmmon, to the king of ^dTyre, and to the king of ^eSidon by the hand of messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴“And you shall command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, ⁵“^aI have made the earth, the men, and the animals which are on the face of the earth ^bby My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will ^cgive it to the one who is right in My eyes. ⁶“So now, I ^ahave given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^bMy servant, and I have given him even the ^cwild beasts of the field to serve him. ⁷“^aAll the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson ^buntil the time of his own land comes; then ^cmany nations and great kings will ¹make him their servant.

⁸“And it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which ^awill not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the ^bsword, with famine, and with pestilence,” declares Yahweh, “until I have brought ¹it to an end by his hand. ⁹“But as for you, ^ado not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your ¹dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁰“For they prophesy a ^alie to you in order to ^bremove you far from your land; and I will banish you, and you will perish. ¹¹“But the nation which will ^abring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will ^bleave it on its land,” declares Yahweh, “and they will serve it and inhabit it.”’”

¹²I spoke words like all these to ^aZedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live! ¹³“Why will you ^adie, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴“So ^ado not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a ^blie to you; ¹⁵for ^aI have not sent them,” declares Yahweh, “but they ^bprophesy a lie in My name, in order that I may ^cbanish you and that you may perish, ^dyou and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the ^avessels of the house of Yahweh will now shortly be returned from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a ^blie to you. ¹⁷“Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city ^abecome a waste place? ¹⁸“But ^aif they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh is with them, let them now ^bintercede with Yahweh of hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ¹⁹“For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the ^apillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he ^acarried away into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. ²¹“Indeed, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem, ²²‘They will be ^abrought to Babylon, and they will be there until the ^bday I ¹visit them,’ declares Yahweh. ‘Then I will ^cbring them up and return them to this place.’”

Hananiah’s Rebellion Against Yahweh

28Now it happened in the same year, ^ain the beginning of the reign of ^bZedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that ^cHananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was from ^dGibeon, spoke to me in the house of Yahweh in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying, ²“^aThus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³‘Within two years I am going to return to this place ^aall the vessels of the house of Yahweh, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴‘I am ^aalso going to return to this place ^bJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the ^cexiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for I will break the ^dyoke of the king of Babylon.’”

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the sight of the priests and in the sight of all the people who were standing in the ^ahouse of Yahweh, ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, “^aAmen! May Yahweh do so; may Yahweh establish your words which you have prophesied to return the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place. ⁷“Yet ^ahear now this word which I am about to speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people! ⁸“The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times ^aprophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, of war and of calamity and of pestilence. ⁹“The prophet who prophesies of peace, ^awhen the word of the prophet comes to pass, then that prophet will be known as one whom Yahweh has truly sent.”

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took ^athe bar of the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the sight of all the people, saying, “^aThus says Yahweh, ‘Even so will I break within two full years the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’” Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹²Then the ^aword of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar of the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ¹³“Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You have broken the bars of a yoke made of wood, but you have made in their place the ^abars of a yoke made of iron.” ¹⁴‘For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “I have put a ^ayoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will ^bserve him. And ^cI have even given him the beasts of the field.”’” ¹⁵Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, Yahweh has not sent you, and ^ayou have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶“Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘^aBehold, I am about to ¹remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to ^bdie because you have ^cspoken rebellion against Yahweh.’”

¹⁷So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month.

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

29Now these are the words of the ^aletter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²(This was after King ^aJeconiah and the ^bqueen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had gone out from Jerusalem.) ³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of ^aHilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, ⁴“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have ^asent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ⁵‘^aBuild houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶‘Take ^awives and ¹become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. ⁷‘^aSeek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^bpray to Yahweh on its behalf; for in its peace you will have peace.’ ⁸“For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your ^aprophets who are in your midst and your diviners ^bdeceive you, and do not listen to ^cyour dreams which you dream. ⁹‘For they ^aprophesy a lie to you in My name; ^bI have not sent them,’ declares Yahweh.

¹⁰“For thus says Yahweh, ‘When ^aseventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will ¹visit you and establish My ^bgood word to you, to return you to this place. ¹¹‘For I know the ^aplans that I ¹have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for ^bpeace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a ^chope. ¹²‘Then you will ^acall upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will ^blisten to you. ¹³‘You will ^aseek Me and find Me when you ^bsearch for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴‘I will be ^afound by you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will ¹^,^breturn your ²fortunes and will ^cgather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have banished you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will ^dcause you to return to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

¹⁵“Because you have said, ‘Yahweh has raised up ^aprophets for us in Babylon’— ¹⁶for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did ^anot go with you into exile— ¹⁷thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the ^asword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^bsplit-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. ¹⁸‘I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will ^agive them over to be a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a ^bcurse and an object of horror and of ^chissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have banished them, ¹⁹because they have ^anot listened to My words,’ declares Yahweh, ‘which I sent to them by ^bMy slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending; but you did not listen,’ declares Yahweh. ²⁰“You, therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles, whom I have ^asent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are ^aprophesying to you falsely in My name, ‘Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes. ²²‘And because of them a ^acurse will be ¹used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon ^broasted in the fire ²³because they have ^aacted with wicked foolishness in Israel and ^bhave committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have ^cspoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who ^dknows and am a witness,” declares Yahweh.’”

²⁴And to ^aShemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, ²⁵“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent ^aletters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem and to ^bZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶“Yahweh has given you to be a priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the ¹^,^aoverseer in the house of Yahweh over every ^bmadman who ^cprophesies, to ^dput him in the stocks and in the iron collar, ²⁷so now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of ^aAnathoth who prophesies to you? ²⁸“For he has ^asent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be ^blong; ^cbuild houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”’”

²⁹^aSo Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying, ³¹“Send to ^aall the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh concerning ^bShemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has ^cprophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has ^dmade you trust in a lie,” ³²therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am about to ^apunish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed; he will ^bnot have anyone living among this people, ^cand he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares Yahweh, “because he has ^dspoken rebellion against Yahweh.”’”

Yahweh Will Return the Fortunes of His People

30The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, ²“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^aWrite all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. ³‘For behold, ^adays are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will ¹^,^breturn the ²fortunes of My people ^cIsrael and Judah.’ Yahweh says, ‘I will also ^dcause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’”

⁴Now these are the words which Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:

⁵“For thus says Yahweh, ‘We have heard a sound of ^atrembling,Of dread, and there is no peace.

⁶‘Ask now, and seeIf a male can give birth.Why do I see every manWith his hands on his loins, ^aas a woman in childbirth?And why have all faces turned pale?⁷‘Alas! For that ^aday is great,There is ^bnone like it;And it is the time of Jacob’s ^cdistress,But he will be ^dsaved from it.

⁸‘And it will be in that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘that I will ^abreak his yoke from off your neck and will tear off your ^bbonds; and strangers will no longer ^cmake ¹them their slaves. ⁹‘But they shall be a slave to Yahweh their God and ^aDavid their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰‘^aFear not, O Jacob My ¹servant,’ declares Yahweh,‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;For behold, I will save you ^bfrom afarAnd your seed from the land of their captivity.And Jacob will return and will be ^cquiet and at ease,And ^dno one will make him tremble.¹¹‘For ^aI am with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to save you;For I will ^bmake a complete destruction of all the nations where I have scattered you,Only I will ^cnot make a complete destruction of you.But I will ^dchasten you justlyAnd will by no means leave you unpunished.’

¹²“For thus says Yahweh, ‘Your injury is incurable,And your ^awound is desperately sick.

¹³‘There is no one to plead your cause;No healing for your sore,^aNo recovery for you.¹⁴‘All your ^alovers have forgotten you;They do not seek you;For I have ¹^,^bwounded you with the wound of an enemy,With the ^cpunishment of a ^dcruel one,Because your ^einiquity is numerousAnd your ^fsins are mighty.¹⁵‘Why do you cry out over your injury?Your pain is incurable.Because your iniquity is numerousAnd your sins are mighty,I have done these things to you.¹⁶‘Therefore all who ^adevour you will be devoured;And all your adversaries, every one of them, ^bwill go into captivity;And those who take you as spoil will be spoil,And all who plunder you I will give as plunder.¹⁷‘For I will ¹restore you to ²^,^ahealth,And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares Yahweh,‘Because they have called you a ^bbanished one, saying:“It is Zion; no one is seeking her.”’

¹⁸“Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will ¹^,^areturn the ²fortunes of the tents of JacobAnd ^bhave compassion on his dwelling places;And the ^ccity will be rebuilt on its ruin,And the ^dpalace will sit on its just place.

¹⁹‘From them will come forth ^athanksgivingAnd the voice of those who ¹^,^bcelebrate;And I will ^cmultiply them, and they will not decrease;I will also ^dhonor them, and they will not be insignificant.²⁰‘¹Their children also will be as formerly,And ²their congregation shall be ^aestablished before Me;And I will punish all ³their oppressors.²¹‘And ¹their ^amighty one shall be one of them,And ²their ruler shall come forth from ³their midst;And I will ^bbring Him near, and He shall approach Me;For who would dare to give his heart as security to ^capproach Me?’ declares Yahweh.²²‘You shall be ^aMy people,And I will be your God.’”²³Behold, the ^astorm of Yahweh!Wrath has gone forth,A ¹sweeping storm;It will burst on the head of the wicked.²⁴The ^aburning anger of Yahweh will not turn backUntil He has done and until He has establishedThe intent of His heart;In the ^blast days you will understand this.

Israel’s Mourning Turned to Joy

31“At that time,” declares Yahweh, “I will be the ^aGod of all the ^bfamilies of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

²Thus says Yahweh, “The people who survived the sword^aFound grace in the wilderness—Israel, when it went to ^bfind its relief.”

³Yahweh appeared to ¹him from afar, saying,“I have ^aloved you with an everlasting love;Therefore I have drawn you with ^blovingkindness.⁴“^aAgain I will build you, and you will be rebuilt,O virgin of Israel!Again you will ¹take up your ^btambourinesAnd go forth to the dances of those ^ccelebrating.⁵“Again you will ^aplant vineyardsOn the ¹hills of Samaria;The planters will plantAnd will ²enjoy them.⁶“For there will be a day when watchmenOn the hills of Ephraim call out,‘Arise, and ^alet us go up to Zion,To Yahweh our God.’”

⁷For thus says Yahweh, “^aSing aloud with gladness for Jacob,And shout among the ^bhead of the nations;Make it heard, give praise, and say,‘O Yahweh, ^csave Your people,The ^dremnant of Israel.’

⁸“Behold, I am ^abringing them from the north country,And I will ^bgather them from the remote parts of the earth,Among them the ^cblind and the ^dlame,The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;A great assembly, they will return here.⁹“^aWith weeping they will come,And by supplication I will lead them;I will make them walk by ^bstreams of waters,On a straight path in which they will ^cnot stumble;For I am a ^dfather to Israel,And Ephraim is ^eMy firstborn.”¹⁰Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,And declare in the ^acoastlands far away,And say, “He who dispersed Israel will ^bgather himAnd keep him as a ^cshepherd keeps his flock.”¹¹For Yahweh has ^aransomed JacobAnd redeemed him from the hand of him who was ^bstronger than he.¹²“They will ^acome and sing for joy on the ^bheight of Zion,And they will be ^cradiant over the goodness of Yahweh—Over the ^dgrain and the new wine and the oil,And over the young of the ^eflock and the herd;And their soul will be like a ^fwatered garden,And they will never waste away again.¹³“Then the virgin will be glad in the ^adance,And the young men and the old, together,For I will ^bturn their mourning into joyAnd will comfort them and give them ^cgladness for their sorrow.¹⁴“I will ¹fill the soul of the priests with ²richness,And My people will be ^asatisfied with My goodness,” declares Yahweh.

¹⁵Thus says Yahweh, “^aA voice is heard in ^bRamah,Wailing and bitter weeping.Rachel is weeping for her children;She ^crefuses to be comforted for her childrenBecause ^dthey are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh, “^aRestrain your voice from weepingAnd your eyes from tears,For your ^bwork will be rewarded,” declares Yahweh,“And they will ^creturn from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷“And there is ^ahope for your future,” declares Yahweh,“And your children will return to their own territory.¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim ^agrieving,‘You have ^bchastised me, and I was chastised,Like an untrained ^ccalf;^dCause me to return that I may return,For You are Yahweh my God.¹⁹‘For after I turned away, I ^arepented;And after I was instructed, I ^bslapped my thigh;I was ^cashamed and also dishonoredBecause I bore the reproach of my youth.’²⁰“Is ^aEphraim My dear son?Is he a delightful child?Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,I certainly still remember him;Therefore My ¹^,^binmost being yearns for him;I will surely ^chave compassion on him,” declares Yahweh.²¹“Set up roadmarks for yourself,Place for yourself guideposts;^aSet your heart to the highway,The way by which you went.^bReturn, O virgin of Israel,Return to these your cities.²²“How long will you go here and there,O ^afaithless daughter?For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth—A ¹woman will encompass a man.”

²³Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I ¹^,^areturn their ²fortunes, ‘Yahweh bless you, O ^babode of righteousness,O ^choly hill!’

²⁴“And Judah and all its cities will ^ainhabit it together, the farmer and they who go about with flocks. ²⁵“^aFor I satisfy the weary soul and fill up every soul who wastes away.” ²⁶At this I ^aawoke and looked, and my ^bsleep was pleasant to me.

The New Covenant

²⁷“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will ^asow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. ²⁸“And it will be that as I have ^awatched over them to ^buproot, to tear down, to pull down, to destroy, and to bring calamity, so I will watch over them to ^cbuild and to plant,” declares Yahweh.

²⁹“In those days they will not say again,‘^aThe fathers have eaten sour grapes,And the children’s teeth are ¹set on edge.’

³⁰“But ^aeveryone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be ¹set on edge.

³¹“^aBehold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will cut a ^bnew covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³²not like the ^acovenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I ^btook them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My ^ccovenant which they broke, but I was a husband to them,” declares Yahweh. ³³“But ^athis is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “^bI will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and ^cI will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴“And they will ^anot teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all ^bknow Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will ^cforgive their iniquity, and their ^dsin I will remember no more.”

³⁵Thus says Yahweh, Who ^agives the sun for light by dayAnd the statutes for the moon and the stars for light by night,Who ^bstirs up the sea so that its waves roar;^cYahweh of hosts is His name:

³⁶“^aIf these statutes are removedFrom before Me,” declares Yahweh,“Then the seed of Israel also will ^bceaseFrom being a nation before Me ¹forever.”

³⁷Thus says Yahweh, “^aIf the heavens above can be measuredAnd the foundations of the earth searched out below,Then I will also ^breject all the seed of IsraelFor all that they have done,” declares Yahweh.

³⁸“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when the ^acity will be rebuilt for Yahweh from the ^bTower of Hananel to the ^cCorner Gate. ³⁹“The ^ameasuring line will go out farther, straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. ⁴⁰“And ^athe whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook ^bKidron, to the corner of the ^cHorse Gate toward the east, shall be ^dholy to Yahweh; it will not be uprooted or pulled down anymore forever.”