1 ^kIn his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And the Lord sent against him bands of the ^lChaldeans and ^mbands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, ⁿaccording to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, ^ofor the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also ^pfor the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon.

The Obedience of the Rechabites

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ⁿJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Go to the house of the ^oRechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of ^pthe chambers; then offer them wine to drink.” 3 So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. 4 I brought them to the house of the Lord into ^pthe chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, ^qthe man of God, which was near ^pthe chamber of the officials, above ^pthe chamber of ^rMaaseiah the son of Shallum, ^skeeper of the threshold. 5 Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” 6 But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for ^tJonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. 7 You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, ^uthat you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ 8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, 9 and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But ^vwhen Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of ^wthe army of the Chaldeans and ^wthe army of the Syrians.’ ^xSo we are living in Jerusalem.”

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^yWill you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the Lord. 14 The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. I have spoken to you ^zpersistently, but you have not listened to me. 15 I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them ^zpersistently, saying, ^a‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and ^bdo not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ ^cBut you did not incline your ear or listen to me. 16 The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me. 17 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, ^dbecause I have spoken to them and they have not listened, ^dI have called to them and they have not answered.”

18 But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, 19 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man ^eto stand before me.”

8 ^tNow the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

7 ^sAnd the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, ^tfor the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt ^ufrom the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

8 ^vJehoiachin was ^weighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^xaccording to all that his father had done.

Jerusalem Captured

10 At that time the servants of ^yNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And ^yNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12 ^zand Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. ^aThe king of Babylon took him prisoner ^bin the eighth year of his reign 13 and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord ^cand the treasures of the king’s house, ^dand cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, ^ewhich Solomon king of Israel had made, ^fas the Lord had foretold. 14 ^gHe carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, ^h10,000 captives, ⁱand all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, ^jexcept the poorest people of the land. 15 ^kAnd he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, ^l7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

1 ^uZedekiah the son of Josiah, ^vwhom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^wConiah the son of Jehoiakim.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

18 ^qZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^rHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^saccording to all that Jehoiakim had done.

2 ^xBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.