Chronological Plan

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the LORD’S house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

³Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster which I am planning to inflict on them because of the evil of their deeds.’

⁴And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “If you do not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you,

⁵to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened;

⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

⁷The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

⁸Yet when Jeremiah finished speaking everything that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!

⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be in ruins, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered to Jeremiah at the house of the LORD.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and sat at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’S house.

¹¹Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears!”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³Now then, reform your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will relent of the disaster which He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.

¹⁵Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words so that you hear them.”

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”

¹⁷Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸“Micah of Moresheth used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘This is what the LORD of armies has said: “Zion will be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest.” ’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah actually put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and plead for the favor of the LORD, and the LORD relented of the disaster which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against our own lives!”

²⁰Indeed, there was also a man who used to prophesy in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

²¹When King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death; but Uriah heard about it, and he was afraid, so he fled and went to Egypt.

²²Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him, to Egypt.

²³And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword and threw his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not handed over to the people to put him to death.

¹In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying—

²this is what the LORD has said to me: “Make for yourself restraints and yokes and put them on your neck,

³and send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

⁴Order them to go to their masters, saying, ‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “This is what you shall say to your masters:

⁵‘I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight.

⁶And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have also given him the animals of the field to serve him.

⁷All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.

⁸‘And it will be that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with plague,’ declares the LORD, ‘until I have eliminated it by his hand.

⁹And as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who talk to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.”

¹⁰For they are prophesying a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you away and you will perish.

¹¹But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and they will cultivate it and live in it.’ ” ’ ”

¹²I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

¹³Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴So do not listen to the words of the prophets who talk to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you;

¹⁵for I have not sent them,” declares the LORD, “but they are prophesying falsely in My name, so that I will drive you away and that you will perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they are prophesying a lie to you.

¹⁷Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city become a place of ruins?

¹⁸But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, have them now plead with the LORD of armies that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD and the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem do not go to Babylon.

¹⁹For this is what the LORD of armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the kettle stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,

²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he led into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—

²¹Yes, this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem:

²²“They will be brought to Babylon and will be there until the day I visit them,” declares the LORD. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” ’ ”

¹Now in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the prophet the son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me at the house of the LORD in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying,

²“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³Within two years I am going to bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and brought to Babylon.

⁴I am also going to bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”

⁵Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the sight of the priests and in the sight of all the people who were standing at the house of the LORD,

⁶and Jeremiah the prophet said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD fulfill your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD’S house and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place.

⁷Yet hear now this word which I am going to speak so that you and all the people can hear it!

⁸The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times also prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms regarding war, disaster, and plague.

⁹As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, then that prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.”

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

¹¹Hananiah spoke in the sight of all the people, saying, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Even so within two full years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’ ” Then Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹²Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹³“Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but in their place you have made yokes of iron.”

¹⁴For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. And I have also given him the animals of the field.” ’ ”

¹⁵Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah: the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

¹⁶Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you spoke falsely against the LORD.’ ”

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

¹Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²(This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the high officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had departed from Jerusalem.)

³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

⁴“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.

⁶Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease.

⁷Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.’

⁸For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst or your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to their interpretations of your dreams which you dream.

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.

¹⁰“For this is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

¹¹For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

¹²Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

¹³And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

¹⁵“Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’—

¹⁶for this is what the LORD says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile—

¹⁷this is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and plague; and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.

¹⁸I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague; and I will make them an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an object of horror and hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them,

¹⁹because they have not listened to My words,’ declares the LORD, ‘which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,’ declares the LORD.

²⁰‘You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name: “Behold, I am going to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your eyes.

²²Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,’

²³because they acted foolishly in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and falsely spoke words in My name which I did not command them. I am He who knows, and a witness,” declares the LORD.’ ”

²⁴Now you shall speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to the priest Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶“The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer of the house of the LORD for every insane person who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar.

²⁷So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you,

²⁸seeing that he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce’ ?” ’ ”

²⁹Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹“Send word to all the exiles, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,”

³²therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am going to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am going to do for My people,” declares the LORD, “because he has spoken falsely against the LORD.” ’ ”