Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹The LORD gave me another message. He said,

²“Do not get married or have children in this place.

³For this is what the LORD says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers:

⁴They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”

⁵This is what the LORD says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.

⁶Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness.

⁷No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead — not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.

⁸“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all.

⁹For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.

¹⁰“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the LORD our God?’

¹¹“Then you will give them the LORD’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word.

¹²And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.

¹³So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night — and I will grant you no favors!’

¹⁴“But the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’

¹⁵Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.

¹⁶“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the LORD. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves.

¹⁷I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.

¹⁸I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.”

¹⁹LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, “Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols.

²⁰Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!”

²¹The LORD says, “Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the LORD.

¹“The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel — engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars.

²Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.

³So I will hand over my holy mountain — along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines — as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.

⁴The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.”

⁵This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.

⁶They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.

⁷“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

⁸They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

⁹“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

¹⁰But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

¹¹Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools.

¹²But we worship at your throne — eternal, high, and glorious!

¹³O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.

¹⁴O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!

¹⁵People scoff at me and say, “What is this ‘message from the LORD’ you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?”

¹⁶LORD, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. I have not urged you to send disaster. You have heard everything I’ve said.

¹⁷LORD, don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.

¹⁸Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me, but don’t let me experience shame and dismay. Bring a day of terror on them. Yes, bring double destruction upon them!

¹⁹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in and out, and then in each of the other gates.

²⁰Say to all the people, ‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem.

²¹This is what the LORD says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.

²²Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,

²³but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or accept my discipline.

²⁴“‘But if you obey me, says the LORD, and do not carry on your trade at the gates or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy,

²⁵then kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will always ride in and out among the people of Judah in chariots and on horses, and this city will remain forever.

²⁶And from all around Jerusalem, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the western foothills and the hill country and the Negev, the people will come with their burnt offerings and sacrifices. They will bring their grain offerings, frankincense, and thanksgiving offerings to the LORD’s Temple.

²⁷“‘But if you do not listen to me and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.’”

¹The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,

²“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”

³So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.

⁴But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

⁵Then the LORD gave me this message:

⁶“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

⁷If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,

⁸but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.

⁹And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,

¹⁰but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.

¹¹“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”

¹²But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”

¹³So this is what the LORD says: “Has anyone ever heard of such a thing, even among the pagan nations? My virgin daughter Israel has done something terrible!

¹⁴Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?

¹⁵But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.

¹⁶Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement.

¹⁷I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.”

¹⁸Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.”

¹⁹LORD, hear me and help me! Listen to what my enemies are saying.

²⁰Should they repay evil for good? They have dug a pit to kill me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your anger.

²¹So let their children starve! Let them die by the sword! Let their wives become childless widows. Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be killed in battle!

²²Let screaming be heard from their homes as warriors come suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit for me and have hidden traps along my path.

²³LORD, you know all about their murderous plots against me. Don’t forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die before you. Deal with them in your anger.

¹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a clay jar. Then ask some of the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you.

²Go out through the Gate of Broken Pots to the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and give them this message.

³Say to them, ‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will bring a terrible disaster on this place, and the ears of those who hear about it will ring!

⁴“‘For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wickedness. The people burn incense to foreign gods — idols never before acknowledged by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children.

⁵They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!

⁶So beware, for the time is coming, says the LORD, when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

⁷“‘For I will upset the careful plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.

⁸I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

⁹I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone. Then those trapped inside will eat their own sons and daughters and friends. They will be driven to utter despair.’

¹⁰“As these men watch you, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought.

¹¹Then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the bodies here in Topheth, the garbage dump, until there is no more room for them.

¹²This is what I will do to this place and its people, says the LORD. I will cause this city to become defiled like Topheth.

¹³Yes, all the houses in Jerusalem, including the palace of Judah’s kings, will become like Topheth — all the houses where you burned incense on the rooftops to your star gods, and where liquid offerings were poured out to your idols.’”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, the garbage dump where he had delivered this message, and he stopped in front of the Temple of the LORD. He said to the people there,

¹⁵“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will bring disaster upon this city and its surrounding towns as I promised, because you have stubbornly refused to listen to me.’”

¹Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple of the LORD, heard what Jeremiah was prophesying.

²So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin Gate of the LORD’s Temple.

³The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, “Pashhur, the LORD has changed your name. From now on you are to be called ‘The Man Who Lives in Terror.’

⁴For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword.

⁵And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city — the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings — will be carried off to Babylon.

⁶As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied that everything would be all right.’”

⁷O LORD, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me.

⁸When I speak, the words burst out. “Violence and destruction!” I shout. So these messages from the LORD have made me a household joke.

⁹But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!

¹⁰I have heard the many rumors about me. They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.” They threaten, “If you say anything, we will report it.” Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. “He will trap himself,” they say, “and then we will get our revenge on him.”

¹¹But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten.

¹²O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you test those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.

¹³Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I was poor and needy, he rescued me from my oppressors.

¹⁴Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth.

¹⁵I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news — you have a son!”

¹⁶Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the LORD overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,

¹⁷because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave!

¹⁸Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

¹The LORD spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to speak with him. They begged Jeremiah,

²“Please speak to the LORD for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the LORD will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies.”

³Jeremiah replied, “Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him,

⁴‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside your walls attacking you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city.

⁵I myself will fight against you with a strong hand and a powerful arm, for I am very angry. You have made me furious!

⁶I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die.

⁷And after all that, says the LORD, I will hand over King Zedekiah, his staff, and everyone else in the city who survives the disease, war, and famine. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their other enemies. He will slaughter them and show them no mercy, pity, or compassion.’

⁸“Tell all the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: Take your choice of life or death!

⁹Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life!

¹⁰For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the LORD. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’

¹¹“Say to the royal family of Judah, ‘Listen to this message from the LORD!

¹²This is what the LORD says to the dynasty of David: “‘Give justice each morning to the people you judge! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Otherwise, my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.

¹³I will personally fight against the people in Jerusalem, that mighty fortress — the people who boast, “No one can touch us here. No one can break in here.”

¹⁴And I myself will punish you for your sinfulness, says the LORD. I will light a fire in your forests that will burn up everything around you.’”

¹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,

²‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too.

³This is what the LORD says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!

⁴If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects.

⁵But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the LORD, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’”

⁶Now this is what the LORD says concerning Judah’s royal palace: “I love you as much as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon. But I will turn you into a desert, with no one living within your walls.

⁷I will call for wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.

⁸“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the LORD destroy such a great city?’

⁹And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the LORD their God by worshiping other gods.’”

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss. Instead, weep for the captive king being led away! For he will never return to see his native land again.

¹¹For this is what the LORD says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return.

¹²He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”

¹³And the LORD says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim, who builds his palace with forced labor. He builds injustice into its walls, for he makes his neighbors work for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

¹⁴He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows. I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar and paint it a lovely red.’

¹⁵But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him.

¹⁶He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the LORD.

¹⁷“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”

¹⁸Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah: “The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’

¹⁹He will be buried like a dead donkey — dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!

²⁰Weep for your allies in Lebanon. Shout for them in Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of the river. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you.

²¹I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood — you simply will not obey me!

²²And now the wind will blow away your allies. All your friends will be taken away as captives. Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.

²³It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish — anguish like that of a woman in labor.

²⁴“As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.

²⁵I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear — to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army.

²⁶I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.

²⁷You will never again return to the land you yearn for.

²⁸“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar? Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?

²⁹O earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the LORD!

³⁰This is what the LORD says: ‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’

¹“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people — the shepherds of my sheep — for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the LORD.

²Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them.

³But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number.

⁴Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the LORD, have spoken!

⁵“For the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.

⁶And this will be his name: ‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.

⁷“In that day,” says the LORD, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’

⁸Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

⁹My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the LORD has spoken against them.

¹⁰For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. The land itself is in mourning — its wilderness pastures are dried up. For they all do evil and abuse what power they have.

¹¹“Even the priests and prophets are ungodly, wicked men. I have seen their despicable acts right here in my own Temple,” says the LORD.

¹²“Therefore, the paths they take will become slippery. They will be chased through the dark, and there they will fall. For I will bring disaster upon them at the time fixed for their punishment. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹³“I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil, for they prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people of Israel into sin.

¹⁴But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse! They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.”

¹⁵Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. For it is because of Jerusalem’s prophets that wickedness has filled this land.”

¹⁶This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says to his people: “Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the LORD!

¹⁷They keep saying to those who despise my word, ‘Don’t worry! The LORD says you will have peace!’ And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires, they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’

¹⁸“Have any of these prophets been in the LORD’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen?

¹⁹Look! The LORD’s anger bursts out like a storm, a whirlwind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.

²⁰The anger of the LORD will not diminish until it has finished all he has planned. In the days to come you will understand all this very clearly.

²¹“I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying.

²²If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.

²³Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the LORD. “No, I am far away at the same time.

²⁴Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the LORD.

²⁵“I have heard these prophets say, ‘Listen to the dream I had from God last night.’ And then they proceed to tell lies in my name.

²⁶How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say.

²⁷By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get my people to forget me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal.

²⁸“Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain!

²⁹Does not my word burn like fire?” says the LORD. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?

³⁰“Therefore,” says the LORD, “I am against these prophets who steal messages from each other and claim they are from me.

³¹I am against these smooth-tongued prophets who say, ‘This prophecy is from the LORD!’

³²I am against these false prophets. Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people. I, the LORD, have spoken!

³³“Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, ‘What prophecy has the LORD burdened you with now?’ You must reply, ‘You are the burden! The LORD says he will abandon you!’

³⁴“If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, ‘I have a prophecy from the LORD,’ I will punish that person along with his entire family.

³⁵You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’

³⁶But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the LORD.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

³⁷“This is what you should say to the prophets: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’

³⁸But suppose they respond, ‘This is a prophecy from the LORD!’ Then you should say, ‘This is what the LORD says: Because you have used this phrase, “prophecy from the LORD,” even though I warned you not to use it,

³⁹I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my presence, along with this city that I gave to you and your ancestors.

⁴⁰And I will make you an object of ridicule, and your name will be infamous throughout the ages.’”

¹After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the officials of Judah and all the craftsmen and artisans, the LORD gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the LORD’s Temple in Jerusalem.

²One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat.

³Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.”

⁴Then the LORD gave me this message:

⁵“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians.

⁶I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them.

⁷I will give them hearts that recognize me as the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.

⁸“But the bad figs,” the LORD said, “represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.

⁹I will make them an object of horror and a symbol of evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I scatter them.

¹⁰And I will send war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors.”

¹This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.

²Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem,

³“For the past twenty-three years — from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now — the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.

⁴“Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention.

⁵Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever.

⁶Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’

⁷“But you would not listen to me,” says the LORD. “You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.

⁸And now the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me,

⁹I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.

¹⁰I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your millstones will fall silent, and the lights in your homes will go out.

¹¹This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²“Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the LORD. “I will make the country of the Babylonians a wasteland forever.

¹³I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book — all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.

¹⁴Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people.”

¹⁵This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

¹⁶When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it — every nation to which the LORD sent me.

¹⁸I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.

¹⁹I gave the cup to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials, and all his people,

²⁰along with all the foreigners living in that land. I also gave it to all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.

²¹Then I gave the cup to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,

²²and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.

²³I gave it to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.

²⁴I gave it to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,

²⁵and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.

²⁶And I gave it to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other — all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the LORD’s anger.

²⁷Then the LORD said to me, “Now tell them, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit; fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.’

²⁸And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, ‘The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: You have no choice but to drink from it.

²⁹I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that bears my name. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!’

³⁰“Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, “‘The LORD will roar against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout like those who tread grapes; he will shout against everyone on earth.

³¹His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with the sword. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

³²This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!”

³³In that day those the LORD has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.

³⁴Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like a fragile vase.

³⁵You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape.

³⁶Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds. The leaders of the flock are wailing in despair, for the LORD is ruining their pastures.

³⁷Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the LORD’s fierce anger.

³⁸He has left his den like a strong lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the LORD’s fierce anger.

¹This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.

²“This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard in front of the Temple of the LORD, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word.

³Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will change my mind about the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.

⁴“Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: If you will not listen to me and obey my word I have given you,

⁵and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets — for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them —

⁶then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.’”

⁷The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the LORD’s Temple.

⁸But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the LORD had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. “Kill him!” they shouted.

⁹“What right do you have to prophesy in the LORD’s name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and left with no inhabitants?” And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court.

¹¹The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. “This man should die!” they said. “You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city.”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to the officials and the people in his own defense. “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this Temple and this city,” he said. “The LORD gave me every word that I have spoken.

¹³But if you stop your sinning and begin to obey the LORD your God, he will change his mind about this disaster that he has announced against you.

¹⁴As for me, I am in your hands — do with me as you think best.

¹⁵But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard.”

¹⁶Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”

¹⁷Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to all the people assembled there.

¹⁸They said, “Remember when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.’

¹⁹But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the LORD. They begged him for mercy. Then the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. So we are about to do ourselves great harm.”

²⁰At this time Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the LORD. And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did.

²¹When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plan and escaped in fear to Egypt.

²²Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah.

²³They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.

²⁴Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan stood up for Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.

¹This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah.

²This is what the LORD said to me: “Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather straps.

³Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors who have come to see King Zedekiah in Jerusalem.

⁴Give them this message for their masters: ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:

⁵With my great strength and powerful arm I made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose.

⁶Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.

⁷All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his time is up. Then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon.

⁸So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the LORD. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.

⁹“‘Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, “The king of Babylon will not conquer you.”

¹⁰They are all liars, and their lies will lead to your being driven out of your land. I will drive you out and send you far away to die.

¹¹But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

¹²Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. “If you want to live, submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon and his people.

¹³Why do you insist on dying — you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon’s king?

¹⁴Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer you.’ They are liars.

¹⁵This is what the LORD says: ‘I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die — you and all these prophets, too.’”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold articles taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie!

¹⁷Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed?

¹⁸If they really are prophets and speak the LORD’s messages, let them pray to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Let them pray that the articles remaining in the LORD’s Temple and in the king’s palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem will not be carried away to Babylon!’

¹⁹“For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has spoken about the pillars in front of the Temple, the great bronze basin called the Sea, the water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles.

²⁰King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

²¹Yes, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about the precious things still in the Temple, in the palace of Judah’s king, and in Jerusalem:

²²‘They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them,’ says the LORD. ‘Then I will bring them back to Jerusalem again.’”

¹One day in late summer of that same year — the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah — Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said,

²“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks.

³Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon.

⁴And I will bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

⁵Jeremiah responded to Hananiah as they stood in front of all the priests and people at the Temple.

⁶He said, “Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the LORD does everything you say. I hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple and all the captives.

⁷But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people.

⁸The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of war, disaster, and disease.

⁹So a prophet who predicts peace must show he is right. Only when his predictions come true can we know that he is really from the LORD.”

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it in pieces.

¹¹And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Just as this yoke has been broken, within two years I will break the yoke of oppression from all the nations now subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’” With that, Jeremiah left the Temple area.

¹²Soon after this confrontation with Hananiah, the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

¹³“Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but you have replaced it with a yoke of iron.

¹⁴The LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.’”

¹⁵Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, but the people believe your lies.

¹⁶Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘You must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the LORD.’”

¹⁷Two months later the prophet Hananiah died.