Jeremiah 38

¹²Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;

¹²and their associates who did the work at the temple—822 men; Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah;

³the descendants of Parosh, 2,172;

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.”

²⁸“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”

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!”

⁴Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.

¹⁸For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the Lord.’”

⁵But as for you, do you seek great things for yourself? Stop seeking! For I will bring disaster on every living creature, declares the Lord, but wherever you go, I will grant your life as a spoil of war.”

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.

²¹For this is what the Lord God says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?

¹⁷So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’

⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains.

¹⁰For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the Lord. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it with fire.’

³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the Lord says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

⁴Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.

¹¹Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears!”

²⁰They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil

⁷Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

⁹For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” But now, my God, strengthen my hands.

¹⁰Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,

²⁰When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha.

³⁹And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil!”

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the Lord’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

²²And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?”

²⁵The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is set securely on high.

⁹Achish replied, “I know that you are as pleasing in my sight as an angel of God. But the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go into battle with us.’

²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

²I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

¹⁴Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

²²All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you—those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’

¹⁶So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.

⁵²Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.

⁵³They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.

¹⁰There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

¹³But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”

²(This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.)

¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

¹⁶“Go and tell Ebed-melech the Cushite that this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to fulfill My words against this city for harm and not for good, and on that day they will be fulfilled before your eyes.

¹⁷But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you will not be delivered into the hands of the men whom you fear.

²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

³⁴because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—

⁴For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

⁵Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”

⁶By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

⁸Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.

¹¹Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?

¹⁰“All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

⁷So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.

¹The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the Lord; He directs it where He pleases.

²As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

³⁵he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s Praetorium.

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

³⁰Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him.

¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.

¹⁵And while Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord had come to him:

⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

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.”

¹⁶But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

¹⁷Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there a word from the Lord?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

²Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the Lord your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes.

³Pray that the Lord your God will tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”

¹⁷“What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you.”

¹⁸So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him. “He is the Lord,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.”

²⁰For you have deceived yourselves by sending me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us and we will do it.’

⁶⁷“If You are the Christ, tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe.

⁶⁸And if I ask you a question, you will not answer.

¹⁷Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there a word from the Lord?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard that Jeremiah had been telling all the people:

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.

²He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”

¹⁶For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me—the breath of life I have made.

¹This is the burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

¹²And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!

¹⁷Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

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.

⁸Furthermore, you are to tell this people that this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.

³Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

⁶if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

⁷then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

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.

³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the Lord says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

⁴Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.

⁴Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

⁵but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.

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.”

²³All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

⁷Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

⁸but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.

⁴²Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.

¹²“I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?

¹³But you have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor?

²²All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you—those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha.

¹¹Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?

⁹Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away to Babylon the remnant of the people who had remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to him.

¹³So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.

³Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

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.”

²⁰Early in the morning they got up and left for the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, “Hear me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be upheld; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.”

²⁹“Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.”

¹¹Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.

⁴They are obstinate and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’

⁵And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁷But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.

³So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

⁴But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.

³O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

²⁷For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

¹⁵But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the Lord has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”

¹¹Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

²She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

⁶the men, the women, the children, the king’s daughters, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had allowed to remain with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as well as Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.

¹³He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.

¹⁴Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”

⁵“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.”

¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people of Mizpah—the daughters of the king along with all the others who remained in Mizpah—over whom Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.

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.’”

⁶There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.

⁷And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

¹²And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!

¹³Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the Lord has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

⁸but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.

⁹The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on Zedekiah.

²⁷When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he relayed to them the exact words the king had commanded him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”

⁵“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.”

²⁰But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

¹⁵The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

²Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the Lord your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes.

⁸Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.

¹⁹And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.

²“How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The Lord answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

³Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you are to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate.”

⁶Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

¹⁵“Tell me,” Saul’s uncle asked, “what did Samuel say to you?”

¹⁶And Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.

²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

²⁰Then I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, declares the Lord.

²¹I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

¹³and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

¹⁸And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.