Jeremiah 21
21
The Lord Will Fight against Jerusalem
1King Zedekiah#21.1 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. of Judah sent for Pashhur son of Malchiah and for a priest named Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. Then he told them, “Talk with Jeremiah for me.”
So they came to me and said, 2#2 K 25.1-11; 2 Ch 36.17-21. “King Nebuchadnezzar#21.2 Nebuchadnezzar: Ruled 605–562 b.c. of Babylonia has attacked Judah. Please ask the Lord to work miracles for our people, as he has done in the past, so that Nebuchadnezzar will leave us alone.”
3-7I told them that the Lord God of Israel had told me to say to King Zedekiah:
The Babylonians have surrounded Jerusalem and want to kill you and your people. You are asking me to save you, but you have made me furious. So I will stretch out my mighty arm and fight against you myself. Your army is using spears and swords to fight the Babylonians, but I will make your own weapons turn and attack you. I will send a horrible disease to kill many of the people and animals in Jerusalem, and there will be nothing left to eat. Finally, I will let King Nebuchadnezzar and his army fight their way to the center of Jerusalem and capture everyone who is left alive, including you and your officials. But Nebuchadnezzar won't be kind or show any mercy—he will have you killed! I, the Lord, have spoken.
8 #
4 Macc 15.2. Then I told them that the Lord had said:
People of Jerusalem, I, the Lord, give you the choice of life or death. 9The Babylonian army has surrounded Jerusalem, so if you want to live, you must go out and surrender to them. But if you want to die because of hunger, disease, or war, then stay here in the city. 10I have decided not to rescue Jerusalem. Instead, I am going to let the king of Babylonia burn it to the ground. I, the Lord, have spoken.
The Lord Warns the King of Judah
* 11Pay attention, you that belong
to the royal family.
12Each new day, make sure
that justice is done,
and rescue those
who are being robbed.
Or else my anger will flame up
like a fire that never goes out.
13Jerusalem,
from your mountaintop
you look out over the valleys#21.13 Jerusalem … valleys: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
and think you are safe.
But I, the Lord, am angry,
14and I will punish you
as you deserve.
I'll set your palace#21.14 your palace: The Hebrew text has “the forest”; the largest room in the king's palace was known as Forest Hall (see 1 Kings 7.2,3). on fire,
and everything around you
will go up in smoke.
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Jeremiah 21: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 21
21
A Message for Zedekiah
1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,#Literally “to say” 2“Please inquire of Yahweh on behalf of us, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his miraculous acts, so that he may go up from against us.”
3Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands,#Hebrew “hand” with which you are fighting against them, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the center of this city. 5And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand, and with strong arm, and in anger,#Literally “nose” and in fury, and in great wrath. 6And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both humankind and animal; by a great plague they will die. 7And afterward,”#Literally “after thus” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, “I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with the edge#Literally “mouth” of the sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion.” ’
The Way of Life and the Way of Death
8“And to this people you shall say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am setting before you#Literally “to the face of you” the way of life and the way of death. 9He who stays in this city will die by the sword, or by the famine, or by the plague. And he who goes out and goes over to the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you will live, and his life will be to him as booty. 10For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.” ’
A Series of Messages for the House of the King of Judah
11“And to the house of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, 12O house of David, thus says Yahweh,
“Execute judgment in the morning, justice,
and deliver the one who has been seized
from the hand of the oppressor,
lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and it burns,
and there is no one who quenches it#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
because of the evil of your deeds.
13Look, I am against you,
O inhabitants#Hebrew “inhabitant” of the valley,
O rock of the plain,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh;
“you who say, ‘Who can descend against us,
or who can enter into our hiding place?’
14And I will punish you
according to the fruit of your deeds,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“And I will kindle a fire in its forest,
and it will devour all its surroundings.” ’ ”
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