Zedekiah to Die in Babylon
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when cNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army dand all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to eZedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: fBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 3 gYou shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. gYou shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’ 4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! hThus says the Lord concerning you: h‘You shall not die by the sword. 5 You shall die in peace. iAnd as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall jburn spices for you kand lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.”
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, 7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, lLachish and mAzekah, nfor these were the only ofortified cities of Judah that remained.
8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah phad made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem qto make a proclamation of liberty to them, 9 rthat everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, sso that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. 10 And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. 11 But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves rthey had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. 12 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 13 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when tI brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, 14 u‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ryou must set him free from your service.’ But vyour fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. 15 You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes qby proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and wyou made a covenant before me in the xhouse that is called by my name, 16 but then you turned around yand profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, zwhom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.
17 “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me qby proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; abehold, I proclaim to you liberty bto the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. cI will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of wthe covenant that they made before me, I will make them like1 dthe calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— 19 the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ethe eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. 20 And I will give them into the hand of their enemies fand into the hand of those who seek their lives. gTheir dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21 And hZedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon iwhich has withdrawn from you. 22 Behold, jI will command, declares the Lord, and will kbring them back to this city. kAnd they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. lI will make the cities of Judah a desolation mwithout inhabitant.”
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.”
Teach Sound Doctrine
1 But as for you, teach what accords with psound1 doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, psound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 qOlder women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, rnot slanderers sor slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, tpure, uworking at home, kind, and vsubmissive to their own husbands, wthat the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge xthe younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be ya model of good works, and in your teaching zshow integrity, adignity, 8 and bsound speech that cannot be condemned, cso that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 dBondservants2 are to be submissive to their own masters ein everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, fbut showing all good faith, gso that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
11 For hthe grace of God ihas appeared, bringing salvation jfor all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and kworldly passions, and lto live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in mthe present age, 13 nwaiting for our blessed ohope, the pappearing of the glory of our great qGod and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 rwho gave himself for us to sredeem us from all lawlessness and tto purify for himself ta people for his own possession who are uzealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and vrebuke with all authority. wLet no one disregard you.
