Jeremiah 21
21
No Deliverance from Babylon
1The Lord spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to speak with him. They begged Jeremiah, 2“Please speak to the Lord for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar#21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 21:7. of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies.”
3Jeremiah replied, “Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him, 4‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians#21:4 Or Chaldeans; also in 21:9. who are outside your walls attacking you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city. 5I myself will fight against you with a strong hand and a powerful arm, for I am very angry. You have made me furious! 6I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die. 7And after all that, says the Lord, I will hand over King Zedekiah, his staff, and everyone else in the city who survives the disease, war, and famine. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their other enemies. He will slaughter them and show them no mercy, pity, or compassion.’
8“Tell all the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death! 9Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! 10For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’
Judgment on Judah’s Kings
11“Say to the royal family of Judah, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord! 12This is what the Lord says to the dynasty of David:
“‘Give justice each morning to the people you judge!
Help those who have been robbed;
rescue them from their oppressors.
Otherwise, my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire
because of all your sins.
13I will personally fight against the people in Jerusalem,
that mighty fortress—
the people who boast, “No one can touch us here.
No one can break in here.”
14And I myself will punish you for your sinfulness,
says the Lord.
I will light a fire in your forests
that will burn up everything around you.’”
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Jeremiah 21: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 21
21
1The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when king Sedecias sent unto him Phassur, the son of Melchias, and Sophonias, the son of Maasias the priest, saying:
2Inquire of the Lord for us: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon maketh war against us: if so be the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful works, that he may depart from us.
3And Jeremias said to them: Thus shall you say to Sedecias:
4Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, and with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans that besiege you round about the walls: and I will gather them together in the midst of this city.
5And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great wrath.
6And I will strike the inhabitants of this city: men and beasts shall die of a great pestilence.
7And after this, saith the Lord, I will give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved to pity nor spare them nor shew mercy on them.
8And to this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
9He that shall abide in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence: but he that shall go out and flee over to the Chaldeans, that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall be to him as a spoil.
10For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11And to the house of the king of Juda: Hear ye the word of the Lord,
12O house of David, this saith the Lord: Judge ye judgement in the morning, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence out of the hand of the oppressor: lest my indignation go forth like a fire and be kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your ways.
13Behold, I come to thee that dwelleth in a valley upon a rock above a plain, saith the Lord. And you say: Who shall strike us and who shall enter into our houses?
14But I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof: and it shall devour all things round about it.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.