Hope in Creator’s Promises

The Mandate to Multiply.

The Promise of Revival

Your Prayer Has Been Heard: How God Meets Us in Seasons of Weariness and Waiting

Worth the Wait: Living Pure in a Culture of Pressure

Coffee Talks With Worship Leaders

What the Bible Says About Advent - 29 Days of Advent Meditations

Scriptures and Hymns to Grow Your Joy This Christmas

Christmas Morning: Son Rise on a New Day

Adversity

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="JER.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="s1">The Call of Jeremiah</div><div class="p"> 4The word of the Lord came to me, saying,</div><div class="q1"> 5&#8220;Before I formed you in the womb I knew#1:5 Or chose you,</div><div class="q2">before you were born I set you apart;</div><div class="q2">I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;Alas, Sovereign Lord,&#8221; I said, &#8220;I do not know how to speak; I am too young.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7But the Lord said to me, &#8220;Do not say, &#8216;I am too young.&#8217; You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 9Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, &#8220;I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The word of the Lord came to me: &#8220;What do you see, Jeremiah?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I see the branch of an almond tree,&#8221; I replied.</div><div class="p"> 12The Lord said to me, &#8220;You have seen correctly, for I am watching#1:12 The Hebrew for watching sounds like the Hebrew for almond tree. to see that my word is fulfilled.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13The word of the Lord came to me again: &#8220;What do you see?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I see a pot that is boiling,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;It is tilting toward us from the north.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14The Lord said to me, &#8220;From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. 15I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Their kings will come and set up their thrones</div><div class="q2">in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem;</div><div class="q1">they will come against all her surrounding walls</div><div class="q2">and against all the towns of Judah.</div><div class="q1"> 16I will pronounce my judgments on my people</div><div class="q2">because of their wickedness in forsaking me,</div><div class="q1">in burning incense to other gods</div><div class="q2">and in worshiping what their hands have made.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land&#8212;against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div>
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The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="JER.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="q1"> 1&#8220;If a man divorces his wife</div><div class="q2">and she leaves him and marries another man,</div><div class="q1">should he return to her again?</div><div class="q2">Would not the land be completely defiled?</div><div class="q1">But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers&#8212;</div><div class="q2">would you now return to me?&#8221;</div><div class="q4">declares the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 2&#8220;Look up to the barren heights and see.</div><div class="q2">Is there any place where you have not been ravished?</div><div class="q1">By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,</div><div class="q2">sat like a nomad in the desert.</div><div class="q1">You have defiled the land</div><div class="q2">with your prostitution and wickedness.</div><div class="q1"> 3Therefore the showers have been withheld,</div><div class="q2">and no spring rains have fallen.</div><div class="q1">Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;</div><div class="q2">you refuse to blush with shame.</div><div class="q1"> 4Have you not just called to me:</div><div class="q2">&#8216;My Father, my friend from my youth,</div><div class="q1"> 5will you always be angry?</div><div class="q2">Will your wrath continue forever?&#8217;</div><div class="q1">This is how you talk,</div><div class="q2">but you do all the evil you can.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Unfaithful Israel</div><div class="p"> 6During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, &#8220;Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9Because Israel&#8217;s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 11The Lord said to me, &#8220;Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12Go, proclaim this message toward the north:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Return, faithless Israel,&#8217; declares the Lord,</div><div class="q2">&#8216;I will frown on you no longer,</div><div class="q1">for I am faithful,&#8217; declares the Lord,</div><div class="q2">&#8216;I will not be angry forever.</div><div class="q1"> 13Only acknowledge your guilt&#8212;</div><div class="q2">you have rebelled against the Lord your God,</div><div class="q1">you have scattered your favors to foreign gods</div><div class="q2">under every spreading tree,</div><div class="q2">and have not obeyed me,&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="q4">declares the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;Return, faithless people,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;for I am your husband. I will choose you&#8212;one from a town and two from a clan&#8212;and bring you to Zion. 15Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;people will no longer say, &#8216;The ark of the covenant of the Lord.&#8217; It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;I myself said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;How gladly would I treat you like my children</div><div class="q2">and give you a pleasant land,</div><div class="q2">the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.&#8217;</div><div class="q1">I thought you would call me &#8216;Father&#8217;</div><div class="q2">and not turn away from following me.</div><div class="q1"> 20But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,</div><div class="q2">so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,&#8221;</div><div class="q4">declares the Lord.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 21A cry is heard on the barren heights,</div><div class="q2">the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,</div><div class="q1">because they have perverted their ways</div><div class="q2">and have forgotten the Lord their God.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 22&#8220;Return, faithless people;</div><div class="q2">I will cure you of backsliding.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;Yes, we will come to you,</div><div class="q2">for you are the Lord our God.</div><div class="q1"> 23Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills</div><div class="q2">and mountains is a deception;</div><div class="q1">surely in the Lord our God</div><div class="q2">is the salvation of Israel.</div><div class="q1"> 24From our youth shameful gods have consumed</div><div class="q2">the fruits of our ancestors&#8217; labor&#8212;</div><div class="q1">their flocks and herds,</div><div class="q2">their sons and daughters.</div><div class="q1"> 25Let us lie down in our shame,</div><div class="q2">and let our disgrace cover us.</div><div class="q1">We have sinned against the Lord our God,</div><div class="q2">both we and our ancestors;</div><div class="q1">from our youth till this day</div><div class="q2">we have not obeyed the Lord our God.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch26" data-usfm="JER.26">
 <div class="label">26</div><div class="s1">Jeremiah Threatened With Death</div><div class="p"> 1Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2&#8220;This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord&#8217;s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse#26:6 That is, its name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that it is cursed. among all the nations of the earth.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord. 8But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, &#8220;You must die! 9Why do you prophesy in the Lord&#8217;s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?&#8221; And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 10When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the Lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord&#8217;s house. 11Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, &#8220;This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: &#8220;The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. 14As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, &#8220;This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people, 18&#8220;Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, &#8216;This is what the Lord Almighty says:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Zion will be plowed like a field,</div><div class="q2">Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,</div><div class="q2">the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.&#8217;#26:18 Micah 3:12</div><div class="m"> 19&#8220;Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20(Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. 21When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king was determined to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. 22King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Akbor to Egypt, along with some other men. 23They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.)</div><div class="p"> 24Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch27" data-usfm="JER.27">
 <div class="label">27</div><div class="s1">Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar</div><div class="p"> 1Early in the reign of Zedekiah#27:1 A few Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac (see also 27:3,12 and 28:1); most Hebrew manuscripts Jehoiakim (Most Septuagint manuscripts do not have this verse.) son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2This is what the Lord said to me: &#8220;Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 3Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4Give them a message for their masters and say, &#8216;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8220;Tell this to your masters: 5With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. 6Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;&#8198;&#8220;If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand. 9So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, &#8216;You will not serve the king of Babylon.&#8217; 10They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. 11But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the Lord.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, &#8220;Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live. 13Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the Lord has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, &#8216;You will not serve the king of Babylon,&#8217; for they are prophesying lies to you. 15&#8216;I have not sent them,&#8217; declares the Lord. &#8216;They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Then I said to the priests and all these people, &#8220;This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to the prophets who say, &#8216;Very soon now the articles from the Lord&#8217;s house will be brought back from Babylon.&#8217; They are prophesying lies to you. 17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a ruin? 18If they are prophets and have the word of the Lord, let them plead with the Lord Almighty that the articles remaining in the house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon. 19For this is what the Lord Almighty says about the pillars, the bronze Sea, the movable stands and the other articles that are left in this city, 20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiachin#27:20 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem&#8212; 21yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the things that are left in the house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: 22&#8216;They will be taken to Babylon and there they will remain until the day I come for them,&#8217; declares the Lord. &#8216;Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch28" data-usfm="JER.28">
 <div class="label">28</div><div class="s1">The False Prophet Hananiah</div><div class="p"> 1In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: 2&#8220;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord&#8217;s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. 4I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin#28:4 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,&#8217; declares the Lord, &#8216;for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. 6He said, &#8220;Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord&#8217;s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. 7Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: 8From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. 9But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, 11and he said before all the people, &#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.</div><div class="p"> 12After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13&#8220;Go and tell Hananiah, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. 14This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, &#8220;Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. 16Therefore this is what the Lord says: &#8216;I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch29" data-usfm="JER.29">
 <div class="label">29</div><div class="s1">A Letter to the Exiles</div><div class="p"> 1This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This was after King Jehoiachin#29:2 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:</div><div class="pm"> 4This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5&#8220;Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.&#8221; 8Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8220;Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="pm"> 10This is what the Lord says: &#8220;When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;and will bring you back from captivity.#29:14 Or will restore your fortunes I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 15You may say, &#8220;The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,&#8221; 16but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David&#8217;s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile&#8212; 17yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: &#8220;I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse#29:18 That is, their names will be used in cursing (see verse 22); or, others will see that they are cursed. and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 19For they have not listened to my words,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="pm"> 20Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: &#8220;I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 22Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: &#8216;May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.&#8217; 23For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors&#8217; wives, and in my name they have uttered lies&#8212;which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="s1">Message to Shemaiah</div><div class="p"> 24Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 25&#8220;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, 26&#8216;The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. 27So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? 28He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31&#8220;Send this message to all the exiles: &#8216;This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, 32this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord, because he has preached rebellion against me.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch35" data-usfm="JER.35">
 <div class="label">35</div><div class="s1">The Rekabites</div><div class="p"> 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2&#8220;Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons&#8212;the whole family of the Rekabites. 4I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. 5Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, &#8220;Drink some wine.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6But they replied, &#8220;We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab#35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant of Jehonadab; here and often in this chapter son of Rekab gave us this command: &#8216;Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. 7Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.&#8217; 8We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. 10We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. 11But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, &#8216;Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian#35:11 Or Chaldean and Aramean armies.&#8217; So we have remained in Jerusalem.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13&#8220;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, &#8216;Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?&#8217; declares the Lord. 14&#8216;Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather&#8217;s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, &#8220;Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.&#8221; But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, &#8220;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.&#8217; 19Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch36" data-usfm="JER.36">
 <div class="label">36</div><div class="s1">Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah&#8217;s Scroll</div><div class="p"> 1In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2&#8220;Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5Then Jeremiah told Baruch, &#8220;I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord&#8217;s temple. 6So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord&#8217;s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. 9In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. 10From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord&#8217;s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.</div><div class="p"> 11When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12he went down to the secretary&#8217;s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, 14all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, &#8220;Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.&#8221; So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. 15They said to him, &#8220;Sit down, please, and read it to us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So Baruch read it to them. 16When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, &#8220;We must report all these words to the king.&#8221; 17Then they asked Baruch, &#8220;Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Baruch replied, &#8220;he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Then the officials said to Baruch, &#8220;You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don&#8217;t let anyone know where you are.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. 21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe&#8217;s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.</div><div class="p"> 27After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah&#8217;s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28&#8220;Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. 29Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, &#8220;Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?&#8221; 30Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch37" data-usfm="JER.37">
 <div class="label">37</div><div class="s1">Jeremiah in Prison</div><div class="p"> 1Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin#37:1 Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.</div><div class="p"> 3King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: &#8220;Please pray to the Lord our God for us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5Pharaoh&#8217;s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians#37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14 who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.</div><div class="p"> 6Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7&#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, &#8216;Pharaoh&#8217;s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. 8Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, &#8216;The Babylonians will surely leave us.&#8217; They will not! 10Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian#37:10 Or Chaldean; also in verse 11 army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh&#8217;s army, 12Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. 13But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, &#8220;You are deserting to the Babylonians!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;That&#8217;s not true!&#8221; Jeremiah said. &#8220;I am not deserting to the Babylonians.&#8221; But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.</div><div class="p"> 16Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. 17Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, &#8220;Is there any word from the Lord?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Jeremiah replied, &#8220;you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, &#8220;What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, &#8216;The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land&#8217;? 20But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
 <div class="chapter ch38" data-usfm="JER.38">
 <div class="label">38</div><div class="s1">Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern</div><div class="p"> 1Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal#38:1 Hebrew Jukal, a variant of Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2&#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians#38:2 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 18, 19 and 23 will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.&#8217; 3And this is what the Lord says: &#8216;This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Then the officials said to the king, &#8220;This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;He is in your hands,&#8221; King Zedekiah answered. &#8220;The king can do nothing to oppose you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king&#8217;s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.</div><div class="p"> 7But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite,#38:7 Probably from the upper Nile region an official#38:7 Or a eunuch in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, 9&#8220;My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, &#8220;Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, &#8220;Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.&#8221; Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.</div><div class="s1">Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again</div><div class="p"> 14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. &#8220;I am going to ask you something,&#8221; the king said to Jeremiah. &#8220;Do not hide anything from me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, &#8220;If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: &#8220;As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, &#8220;This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. 18But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;They will not hand you over,&#8221; Jeremiah replied. &#8220;Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: 22All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;They misled you and overcame you&#8212;</div><div class="q2">those trusted friends of yours.</div><div class="q1">Your feet are sunk in the mud;</div><div class="q2">your friends have deserted you.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 23&#8220;All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will#38:23 Or and you will cause this city to be burned down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. 25If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, &#8216;Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,&#8217; 26then tell them, &#8216;I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan&#8217;s house to die there.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.</div><div class="p"> 28And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.</div><div class="s1">The Fall of Jerusalem</div><div class="p">This is how Jerusalem was taken:</div>
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