Jeremiah 29

²⁵this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You said to Zephaniah:

²⁶‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada, to be the chief officer in the house of the Lord, responsible for any madman who acts like a prophet—you must put him in stocks and neck irons.

²⁰Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far,

²³and sent them with this letter: The apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

²²I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.

¹“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

²I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.

¹After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord.

²One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

²⁴“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.

²⁵In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans.

⁹Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁰In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the Lord. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

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

¹²Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him captive.

¹³As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the Lord and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord.

¹⁸And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

¹After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord.

¹³Shallum was the father of Hilkiah, Hilkiah was the father of Azariah,

²⁵Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

²⁰and commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king:

¹¹Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

⁸Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

¹²and commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king:

⁵“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

¹Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

⁷I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things.

⁶If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.

⁶I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

⁵Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

²⁸For he has sent to us in Babylon, claiming: Since the exile will be lengthy, build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat their produce.’”

¹⁰For this is what the Lord says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

²⁶And there they will dwell securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

⁹He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years.

⁵¹Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord has decreed.”

²¹And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

³and I will have you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,

⁴but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”

¹So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.

²“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

¹First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—

²for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.

¹⁰Then they will be able to offer sacrifices of a sweet aroma to the God of heaven and to pray for the lives of the king and his sons.

²³Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven must be done diligently for His house. For why should wrath fall on the realm of the king and his sons?

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority,

¹⁴or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

²⁷Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”

¹Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

⁹The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

⁹But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

¹⁴Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.

¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, but you have persuaded this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁵For I have not sent them, declares the Lord, and yet they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore I will banish you, and you will perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

³¹“Send a message telling all the exiles what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you—though I did not send him—and has made you trust in a lie,

²³For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the Lord.”

²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

⁶I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

⁷I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

⁴²For this is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good I have promised them.

⁴³And fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.’

¹²But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the Lord, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

²²‘They will be carried to Babylon and will remain there until the day I attend to them again,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

⁵Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.

²⁶It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

⁷Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

³Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁹He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.

¹⁷You have heard, O Lord, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

²⁴Even before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

²⁹But if from there you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

²Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.

⁷Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

⁷I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

¹“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.

²This is what the Lord God says: Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’

³For behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore from captivity My people Israel and Judah, declares the Lord. I will restore them to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’”

⁹As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

²⁰And Isaiah boldly says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.”

¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

³³This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “The sons of Israel are oppressed, and the sons of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to release them.

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.

¹In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.

³the word of the Lord came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the Lord’s hand was upon him.

¹In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people:

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

⁸For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.

⁹For they are falsely prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the Lord.”

²“This is what the Lord says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live.

³This is what the Lord says: This city will surely be delivered into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.

¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.

³¹So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

²One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

¹In the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, write down today’s date, for on this very day the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem.

⁸But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

⁹I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

¹⁸I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.

⁸As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation by sword and famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I have destroyed it by his hand.

²³How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.

¹¹He will come and strike down the land of Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword.

¹⁷Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the Lord—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁸And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

¹⁸For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

⁸Therefore, the wrath of the Lord has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.

⁴I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

¹⁷Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the Lord—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁹I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

²⁵The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁹Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.

⁵and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen,

¹⁴The words of Jonadab son of Rechab have been carried out. He commanded his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk it to this very day because they have obeyed the command of their forefather. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not obeyed Me!

¹⁵Again and again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: ‘Turn now, each of you, from your wicked ways, and correct your actions. Do not go after other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I have given to you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me.

¹⁷Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the Lord—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

³“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

⁴And the Lord has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

¹³And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer,

⁵“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

¹⁰Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies!

¹¹Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

¹⁵I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.

¹⁴“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the Lord. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!

¹⁴The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

⁸For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.

⁹For they are falsely prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the Lord.”

¹⁵You will leave behind your name as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord God will slay you; but to His servants He will give another name.

⁶And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”

²¹So they were tied up, wearing robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and they were thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.

²⁰So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

¹¹“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the Lord make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

²²If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!

⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁴And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

²¹This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you lies in My name: “I will deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes.

²¹For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord examines all his paths.

⁸For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.

⁹For they are falsely prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the Lord.”

³¹“Send a message telling all the exiles what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you—though I did not send him—and has made you trust in a lie,

³²this is what the Lord says: ‘I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good that I will bring to My people, declares the Lord, for he has preached rebellion against the Lord.’”

³Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us!”

²⁴The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers.

²⁹(Zephaniah the priest, however, had read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet.)

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said,

²“Please inquire of the Lord on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all His past wonders, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

¹⁷Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters kept coming to them.

¹⁹Moreover, these nobles kept reporting to me Tobiah’s good deeds, and they relayed my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

¹When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

²he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

¹¹When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.

²⁰Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane. Why would you listen to Him?”

⁷The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have arrived—let Israel know it. The prophet is called a fool, and the inspired man insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and hostility.

²⁴At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!”

¹If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

²and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,”

⁴⁷Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.

⁴⁸If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

²⁶‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada, to be the chief officer in the house of the Lord, responsible for any madman who acts like a prophet—you must put him in stocks and neck irons.

¹⁷But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

²Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to reside there.’

³Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, so that they may put us to death or exile us to Babylon!”

⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

¹²And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

¹³But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”

⁵“Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.

¹⁰For this is what the Lord says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

¹This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the others Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²⁵this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You said to Zephaniah:

⁹For they are falsely prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the Lord.”

¹⁴“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the Lord. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!

⁸Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord God.

⁹My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.

²²Because you have disheartened the righteous with your lies, even though I have caused them no grief, and because you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways to save their lives,

²³therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will deliver My people from your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

²³For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the Lord.”

²⁴You are to tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite that

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁹And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”

²⁰And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

⁶He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

³⁰This is what the Lord says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or to rule again in Judah.”

²But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”

³⁰Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the Lord declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.

³¹Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age.