Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.

²This was after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the court officials, the other officials of Judah, and all the craftsmen and artisans had been deported from Jerusalem.

³He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah’s letter said:

⁴This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:

⁵“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.

⁶Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!

⁷And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

⁸This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams,

⁹because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD.

¹⁰This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen.

¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

¹⁴I will be found by you,” says the LORD. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

¹⁵You claim that the LORD has raised up prophets for you in Babylon.

¹⁶But this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem — your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon.

¹⁷This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.

¹⁸Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery.

¹⁹For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who are in exile have not listened either,” says the LORD.

²⁰Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, all you captives there in Babylon.

²¹This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about your prophets — Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah — who are telling you lies in my name: “I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for execution before your eyes.

²²Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’

²³For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

²⁴The LORD sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon:

²⁵“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You wrote to Zephaniah,

²⁶“The LORD has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the LORD. You are responsible to put into stocks and neck irons any crazy man who claims to be a prophet.

²⁷So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you?

²⁸Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said, ‘Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.’”

²⁹But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him.

³⁰Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

³¹“Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies,

³²I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has incited you to rebel against me. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

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

²“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah.

³For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it again. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

⁴This is the message the LORD gave concerning Israel and Judah.

⁵This is what the LORD says: “I hear cries of fear; there is terror and no peace.

⁶Now let me ask you a question: Do men give birth to babies? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like a woman in labor?

⁷In all history there has never been such a time of terror. It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel. Yet in the end they will be saved!

⁸For in that day,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains. Foreigners will no longer be their masters.

⁹For my people will serve the LORD their God and their king descended from David — the king I will raise up for them.

¹⁰“So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,” says the LORD. “For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them.

¹¹For I am with you and will save you,” says the LORD. “I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.”

¹²This is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable — a terrible wound.

¹³There is no one to help you or to bind up your injury. No medicine can heal you.

¹⁴All your lovers — your allies — have left you and do not care about you anymore. I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy. For your sins are many, and your guilt is great.

¹⁵Why do you protest your punishment — this wound that has no cure? I have had to punish you because your sins are many and your guilt is great.

¹⁶“But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked.

¹⁷I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” says the LORD. “For you are called an outcast — ‘Jerusalem for whom no one cares.’”

¹⁸This is what the LORD says: “When I bring Israel home again from captivity and restore their fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its ruins, and the palace reconstructed as before.

¹⁹There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not diminish them; I will honor them, not despise them.

²⁰Their children will prosper as they did long ago. I will establish them as a nation before me, and I will punish anyone who hurts them.

²¹They will have their own ruler again, and he will come from their own people. I will invite him to approach me,” says the LORD, “for who would dare to come unless invited?

²²You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

²³Look! The LORD’s anger bursts out like a storm, a driving wind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.

²⁴The fierce 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.

¹“In that day,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.

²This is what the LORD says: “Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”

³Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

⁴I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.

⁵Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.

⁶The day will come when watchmen will shout from the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem to worship the LORD our God.’”

⁷Now this is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Israel. Shout for the greatest of nations! Shout out with praise and joy: ‘Save your people, O LORD, the remnant of Israel!’

⁸For I will bring them from the north and from the distant corners of the earth. I will not forget the blind and lame, the expectant mothers and women in labor. A great company will return!

⁹Tears of joy will stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They will walk beside quiet streams and on smooth paths where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my oldest child.

¹⁰“Listen to this message from the LORD, you nations of the world; proclaim it in distant coastlands: The LORD, who scattered his people, will gather them and watch over them as a shepherd does his flock.

¹¹For the LORD has redeemed Israel from those too strong for them.

¹²They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the LORD’s good gifts — the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone.

¹³The young women will dance for joy, and the men — old and young — will join in the celebration. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.

¹⁴The priests will enjoy abundance, and my people will feast on my good gifts. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹⁵This is what the LORD says: “A cry is heard in Ramah — deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted — for her children are gone.”

¹⁶But now this is what the LORD says: “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you,” says the LORD. “Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.

¹⁷There is hope for your future,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own land.

¹⁸I have heard Israel saying, ‘You disciplined me severely, like a calf that needs training for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the LORD my God.

¹⁹I turned away from God, but then I was sorry. I kicked myself for my stupidity! I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’

²⁰“Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?” says the LORD. “I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.

²¹Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Mark well the path by which you came. Come back again, my virgin Israel; return to your towns here.

²²How long will you wander, my wayward daughter? For the LORD will cause something new to happen — Israel will embrace her God. ”

²³This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people of Judah and its towns will again say, ‘The LORD bless you, O righteous home, O holy mountain!’

²⁴Townspeople and farmers and shepherds alike will live together in peace and happiness.

²⁵For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”

²⁶At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.

²⁷“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah.

²⁸In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the LORD, have spoken!

²⁹“The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

³⁰All people will die for their own sins — those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.

³¹“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

³²This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the LORD.

³³“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

³⁴And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

³⁵It is the LORD who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, and this is what he says:

³⁶“I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!”

³⁷This is what the LORD says: “Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have done. I, the LORD, have spoken!

³⁸“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

³⁹A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah.

⁴⁰And the entire area — including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the Horse Gate — will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be captured or destroyed.”

¹The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.

²Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.

³King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it.

⁴King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face.

⁵He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and I will deal with him there,’ says the LORD. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed.’”

⁶At that time the LORD sent me a message. He said,

⁷“Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”

⁸Then, just as the LORD had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the LORD.

⁹So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it.

¹⁰I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.

¹¹Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,

¹²and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

¹³Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,

¹⁴“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’

¹⁵For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”

¹⁶Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the LORD:

¹⁷“O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

¹⁸You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁹You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve.

²⁰You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt — things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name famous to this day.

²¹“You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror.

²²You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before — a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.

²⁴“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said.

²⁵And yet, O Sovereign LORD, you have told me to buy the field — paying good money for it before these witnesses — even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”

²⁶Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²⁷“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?

²⁸Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

²⁹The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods.

³⁰Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the LORD.

³¹“From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.

³²“The sins of Israel and Judah — the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets — have stirred up my anger.

³³My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.

³⁴They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.

³⁵They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

³⁶“Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:

³⁷I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety.

³⁸They will be my people, and I will be their God.

³⁹And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.

⁴⁰And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.

⁴¹I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.

⁴²“This is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them.

⁴³Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’

⁴⁴Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold — deeds signed and sealed and witnessed — in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the LORD gave him this second message:

²“This is what the LORD says — the LORD who made the earth, who formed and established it, whose name is the LORD:

³Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.

⁴For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: You have torn down the houses of this city and even the king’s palace to get materials to strengthen the walls against the siege ramps and swords of the enemy.

⁵You expect to fight the Babylonians, but the men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my terrible anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness.

⁶“Nevertheless, the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem’s wounds and give it prosperity and true peace.

⁷I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and rebuild their towns.

⁸I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion.

⁹Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see all the good I do for my people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them.

¹⁰“This is what the LORD says: You have said, ‘This is a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah’s other towns, there will be heard once more

¹¹the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the LORD. They will sing, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, for the LORD is good. His faithful love endures forever!’ For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past, says the LORD.

¹²“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: This land — though it is now desolate and has no people and animals — will once more have pastures where shepherds can lead their flocks.

¹³Once again shepherds will count their flocks in the towns of the hill country, the foothills of Judah, the Negev, the land of Benjamin, the vicinity of Jerusalem, and all the towns of Judah. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹⁴“The day will come, says the LORD, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them.

¹⁵“In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.

¹⁶In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: ‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’

¹⁷For this is what the LORD says: David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever.

¹⁸And there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me.”

¹⁹Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²⁰“This is what the LORD says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other,

²¹only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me.

²²And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”

²³The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,

²⁴“Have you noticed what people are saying? — ‘The LORD chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation.

²⁵But this is what the LORD says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky.

²⁶I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.”

¹King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all the armies from the kingdoms he ruled, and he fought against Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. At that time this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Go to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

³You will not escape his grasp but will be captured and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face. Then you will be exiled to Babylon.

⁴“‘But listen to this promise from the LORD, O Zedekiah, king of Judah. This is what the LORD says: You will not be killed in war

⁵but will die peacefully. People will burn incense in your memory, just as they did for your ancestors, the kings who preceded you. They will mourn for you, crying, “Alas, our master is dead!” This I have decreed, says the LORD.’”

⁶So Jeremiah the prophet delivered the message to King Zedekiah of Judah.

⁷At this time the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah — the only fortified cities of Judah not yet captured.

⁸This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people, proclaiming freedom for the slaves.

⁹He had ordered all the people to free their Hebrew slaves — both men and women. No one was to keep a fellow Judean in bondage.

¹⁰The officials and all the people had obeyed the king’s command,

¹¹but later they changed their minds. They took back the men and women they had freed, forcing them to be slaves again.

¹²So the LORD gave them this message through Jeremiah:

¹³“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors long ago when I rescued them from their slavery in Egypt.

¹⁴I told them that every Hebrew slave must be freed after serving six years. But your ancestors paid no attention to me.

¹⁵Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in the Temple that bears my name.

¹⁶But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, forcing them to be slaves once again.

¹⁷“Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Since you have not obeyed me by setting your countrymen free, I will set you free to be destroyed by war, disease, and famine. You will be an object of horror to all the nations of the earth.

¹⁸Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.

¹⁹Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people — for you have broken your oath.

²⁰I will give you to your enemies, and they will kill you. Your bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.

²¹“I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials to the army of the king of Babylon. And although they have left Jerusalem for a while,

²²I will call the Babylonian armies back again. They will fight against this city and will capture it and burn it down. I will see to it that all the towns of Judah are destroyed, with no one living there.”

¹This is the message the LORD gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah:

²“Go to the settlement where the families of the Recabites live, and invite them to the LORD’s Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms, and offer them some wine.”

³So I went to see Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah and all his brothers and sons — representing all the Recabite families.

⁴I took them to the Temple, and we went into the room assigned to the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. This room was located next to the one used by the Temple officials, directly above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the Temple gatekeeper.

⁵I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink,

⁶but they refused. “No,” they said, “we don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jehonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine.

⁷And do not build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.’

⁸So we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine to this day, nor have our wives, our sons, or our daughters.

⁹We haven’t built houses or owned vineyards or farms or planted crops.

¹⁰We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed all the commands of Jehonadab, our ancestor.

¹¹But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked this country, we were afraid of the Babylonian and Syrian armies. So we decided to move to Jerusalem. That is why we are here.”

¹²Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

¹³“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Go and say to the people in Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Come and learn a lesson about how to obey me.

¹⁴The Recabites do not drink wine to this day because their ancestor Jehonadab told them not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you refuse to obey me.

¹⁵Time after time I sent you prophets, who told you, “Turn from your wicked ways, and start doing things right. Stop worshiping other gods so that you might live in peace here in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you would not listen to me or obey me.

¹⁶The descendants of Jehonadab son of Recab have obeyed their ancestor completely, but you have refused to listen to me.’

¹⁷“Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you refuse to listen or answer when I call, I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the disasters I have threatened.’”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah turned to the Recabites and said, “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed your ancestor Jehonadab in every respect, following all his instructions.’

¹⁹Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Recab will always have descendants who serve me.’”

¹During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king in Judah, the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

²“Get a scroll, and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message, right up to the present time.

³Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.”

⁴So Jeremiah sent for Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated all the prophecies that the LORD had given him, Baruch wrote them on a scroll.

⁵Then Jeremiah said to Baruch, “I am a prisoner here and unable to go to the Temple.

⁶So you go to the Temple on the next day of fasting, and read the messages from the LORD that I have had you write on this scroll. Read them so the people who are there from all over Judah will hear them.

⁷Perhaps even yet they will turn from their evil ways and ask the LORD’s forgiveness before it is too late. For the LORD has threatened them with his terrible anger.”

⁸Baruch did as Jeremiah told him and read these messages from the LORD to the people at the Temple.

⁹He did this on a day of sacred fasting held in late autumn, during the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah. People from all over Judah had come to Jerusalem to attend the services at the Temple on that day.

¹⁰Baruch read Jeremiah’s words on the scroll to all the people. He stood in front of the Temple room of Gemariah, son of Shaphan the secretary. This room was just off the upper courtyard of the Temple, near the New Gate entrance.

¹¹When Micaiah son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan heard the messages from the LORD,

¹²he went down to the secretary’s room in the palace where the administrative officials were meeting. Elishama the secretary was there, along with Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

¹³When Micaiah told them about the messages Baruch was reading to the people,

¹⁴the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah and great-grandson of Cushi, to ask Baruch to come and read the messages to them, too. So Baruch took the scroll and went to them.

¹⁵“Sit down and read the scroll to us,” the officials said, and Baruch did as they requested.

¹⁶When they heard all the messages, they looked at one another in alarm. “We must tell the king what we have heard,” they said to Baruch.

¹⁷“But first, tell us how you got these messages. Did they come directly from Jeremiah?”

¹⁸So Baruch explained, “Jeremiah dictated them, and I wrote them down in ink, word for word, on this scroll.”

¹⁹“You and Jeremiah should both hide,” the officials told Baruch. “Don’t tell anyone where you are!”

²⁰Then the officials left the scroll for safekeeping in the room of Elishama the secretary and went to tell the king what had happened.

²¹The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by.

²²It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm.

²³Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up.

²⁴Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard.

²⁵Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he wouldn’t listen.

²⁶Then the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the LORD had hidden them.

²⁷After the king had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jeremiah’s words, the LORD gave Jeremiah another message. He said,

²⁸“Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned.

²⁹Then say to the king, ‘This is what the LORD says: You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals.

³⁰Now this is what the LORD says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied — exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.

³¹I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their sins. I will pour out on them and on all the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would not listen to my warnings.’”

³²So Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to his secretary, Baruch. He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. Only this time he added much more!

¹Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim as the king of Judah. He was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

²But neither King Zedekiah nor his attendants nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the LORD said through Jeremiah.

³Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.”

⁴Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned, so he could come and go among the people as he pleased.

⁵At this time the army of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah. When the Babylonian army heard about it, they withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem.

⁶Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

⁷“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The king of Judah sent you to ask me what is going to happen. Tell him, ‘Pharaoh’s army is about to return to Egypt, though he came here to help you.

⁸Then the Babylonians will come back and capture this city and burn it to the ground.’

⁹“This is what the LORD says: Do not fool yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren’t!

¹⁰Even if you were to destroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded survivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the ground!”

¹¹When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s approaching army,

¹²Jeremiah started to leave the city on his way to the territory of Benjamin, to claim his share of the property among his relatives there.

¹³But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him and said, “You are defecting to the Babylonians!” The sentry making the arrest was Irijah son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah.

¹⁴“That’s not true!” Jeremiah protested. “I had no intention of doing any such thing.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen, and he took Jeremiah before the officials.

¹⁵They were furious with Jeremiah and had him flogged and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary. Jonathan’s house had been converted into a prison.

¹⁶Jeremiah was put into a dungeon cell, where he remained for many days.

¹⁷Later King Zedekiah secretly requested that Jeremiah come to the palace, where the king asked him, “Do you have any messages from the LORD?” “Yes, I do!” said Jeremiah. “You will be defeated by the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah asked the king, “What crime have I committed? What have I done against you, your attendants, or the people that I should be imprisoned like this?

¹⁹Where are your prophets now who told you the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?

²⁰Listen, my lord the king, I beg you. Don’t send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for I will die there.”

²¹So King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon. Instead, he was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. The king also commanded that Jeremiah be given a loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was put in the palace prison.

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people. He had been saying,

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’

³The LORD also says: ‘The city of Jerusalem will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”

⁴So these officials went to the king and said, “Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people. This man is a traitor!”

⁵King Zedekiah agreed. “All right,” he said. “Do as you like. I can’t stop you.”

⁶So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.

⁷But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate,

⁸so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him.

⁹“My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”

¹⁰So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope.

¹²Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready,

¹³they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard — the palace prison — where he remained.

¹⁴One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the LORD’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.”

¹⁵Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

¹⁶So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “As surely as the LORD our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down.

¹⁸But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’”

¹⁹“But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!”

²⁰Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the LORD. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.

²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me:

²²All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying, ‘What fine friends you have! They have betrayed and misled you. When your feet sank in the mud, they left you to your fate!’

²³All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t tell anyone you told me this, or you will die!

²⁵My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don’t tell us, we will kill you.’

²⁶If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”

²⁷Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king.

²⁸And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

¹In January of the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with his entire army to besiege Jerusalem.

²Two and a half years later, on July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, a section of the city wall was broken down.

³All the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, and Nebo-sarsekim, a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.

⁴When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw that the Babylonians had broken into the city, they fled. They waited for nightfall and then slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.

⁵But the Babylonian troops chased them and overtook Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

⁶The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons at Riblah. The king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.

⁷Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains to lead him away to Babylon.

⁸Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned Jerusalem, including the royal palace and the houses of the people, and they tore down the walls of the city.

⁹Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had defected to him, and everyone else who remained.

¹⁰But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in the land of Judah, and he assigned them to care for the vineyards and fields.

¹¹King Nebuchadnezzar had told Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, to find Jeremiah.

¹²“See that he isn’t hurt,” he said. “Look after him well, and give him anything he wants.”

¹³So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard; Nebushazban, a chief officer; Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser; and the other officers of Babylon’s king

¹⁴sent messengers to bring Jeremiah out of the prison. They put him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who took him back to his home. So Jeremiah stayed in Judah among his own people.

¹⁵The LORD had given the following message to Jeremiah while he was still in prison:

¹⁶“Say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will do to this city everything I have threatened. I will send disaster, not prosperity. You will see its destruction,

¹⁷but I will rescue you from those you fear so much.

¹⁸Because you trusted me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

¹The LORD gave a message to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the other captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being sent to exile in Babylon.

²The captain of the guard called for Jeremiah and said, “The LORD your God has brought this disaster on this land,

³just as he said he would. For these people have sinned against the LORD and disobeyed him. That is why it happened.

⁴But I am going to take off your chains and let you go. If you want to come with me to Babylon, you are welcome. I will see that you are well cared for. But if you don’t want to come, you may stay here. The whole land is before you — go wherever you like.

⁵If you decide to stay, then return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. He has been appointed governor of Judah by the king of Babylon. Stay there with the people he rules. But it’s up to you; go wherever you like.” Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, gave Jeremiah some food and money and let him go.

⁶So Jeremiah returned to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and he lived in Judah with the few who were still left in the land.

⁷The leaders of the Judean military groups in the countryside heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the poor people who were left behind in Judah — the men, women, and children who hadn’t been exiled to Babylon.

⁸So they went to see Gedaliah at Mizpah. These included: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, and all their men.

⁹Gedaliah vowed to them that the Babylonians meant them no harm. “Don’t be afraid to serve them. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well for you,” he promised.

¹⁰“As for me, I will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to meet with us. Settle in the towns you have taken, and live off the land. Harvest the grapes and summer fruits and olives, and store them away.”

¹¹When the Judeans in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and the other nearby countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few people in Judah and that Gedaliah was the governor,

¹²they began to return to Judah from the places to which they had fled. They stopped at Mizpah to meet with Gedaliah and then went into the Judean countryside to gather a great harvest of grapes and other crops.

¹³Soon after this, Johanan son of Kareah and the other military leaders came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.

¹⁴They said to him, “Did you know that Baalis, king of Ammon, has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to assassinate you?” But Gedaliah refused to believe them.

¹⁵Later Johanan had a private conference with Gedaliah and volunteered to kill Ishmael secretly. “Why should we let him come and murder you?” Johanan asked. “What will happen then to the Judeans who have returned? Why should the few of us who are still left be scattered and lost?”

¹⁶But Gedaliah said to Johanan, “I forbid you to do any such thing, for you are lying about Ishmael.”

¹But in midautumn of that year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and had been one of the king’s high officials, went to Mizpah with ten men to meet Gedaliah. While they were eating together,

²Ishmael and his ten men suddenly jumped up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor.

³Ishmael also killed all the Judeans and the Babylonian soldiers who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah.

⁴The next day, before anyone had heard about Gedaliah’s murder,

⁵eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria to worship at the Temple of the LORD. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves, and had brought along grain offerings and frankincense.

⁶Ishmael left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, “Oh, come and see what has happened to Gedaliah!”

⁷But as soon as they were all inside the town, Ishmael and his men killed all but ten of them and threw their bodies into a cistern.

⁸The other ten had talked Ishmael into letting them go by promising to bring him their stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey that they had hidden away.

⁹The cistern where Ishmael dumped the bodies of the men he murdered was the large one dug by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah to protect himself against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with corpses.

¹⁰Then Ishmael made captives of the king’s daughters and the other people who had been left under Gedaliah’s care in Mizpah by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard. Taking them with him, he started back toward the land of Ammon.

¹¹But when Johanan son of Kareah and the other military leaders heard about Ishmael’s crimes,

¹²they took all their men and set out to stop him. They caught up with him at the large pool near Gibeon.

¹³The people Ishmael had captured shouted for joy when they saw Johanan and the other military leaders.

¹⁴And all the captives from Mizpah escaped and began to help Johanan.

¹⁵Meanwhile, Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan into the land of Ammon.

¹⁶Then Johanan son of Kareah and the other military leaders took all the people they had rescued in Gibeon — the soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom Ishmael had captured after he killed Gedaliah.

¹⁷They took them all to the village of Geruth-kimham near Bethlehem, where they prepared to leave for Egypt.

¹⁸They were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they heard that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the Babylonian king.