11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were making plans to kill me. 1
I did not know they were saying, 2
“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! 3
Let’s remove Jeremiah 4 from the world of the living
so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” 5
11:20 So I said to the Lord, 6
“O Lord who rules over all, 7 you are a just judge!
You examine people’s hearts and minds. 8
I want to see you pay them back for what they have done
because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” 9
11:21 Then the Lord told me about 10 some men from Anathoth 11 who were threatening to kill me. 12 They had threatened, 13 “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!” 14
15:10 I said, 15
“Oh, mother, how I regret 16 that you ever gave birth to me!
I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. 17
I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.
Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” 18
18:18 Then some people 19 said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! 20 There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. 21 Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! 22 Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”
18:19 Then I said, 23
“Lord, pay attention to me.
Listen to what my enemies are saying. 24
18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?
Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. 25
Just remember how I stood before you
pleading on their behalf 26
to keep you from venting your anger on them. 27
18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 28
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 29
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses
when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. 30
For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden traps for me to step into.
18:23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill me.
Do not pardon their crimes!
Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! 31
Let them be brought down in defeat before you!
Deal with them while you are still angry! 32
20:7 Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet,
and I allowed you to do it.
You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. 33
Now I have become a constant laughingstock.
Everyone ridicules me.
20:8 For whenever I prophesy, 34 I must cry out, 35
“Violence and destruction are coming!” 36
This message from the Lord 37 has made me
an object of continual insults and derision.
20:9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message.
I will not speak as his messenger 38 any more.”
But then 39 his message becomes like a fire
locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. 40
I grow weary of trying to hold it in;
I cannot contain it.
20:10 I 41 hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.
Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! 42
They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” 43
All my so-called friends 44 are just watching for
something that would lead to my downfall. 45
They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,
so we can prevail over 46 him and get our revenge on him.
37:1 Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jeconiah 47 son of Jehoiakim as king. He was elevated to the throne of the land of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 48 37:2 Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah. 49
37:3 King Zedekiah sent 50 Jehucal 51 son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah 52 son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.” 37:4 (Now Jeremiah had not yet been put in prison. 53 So he was still free to come and go among the people as he pleased. 54 37:5 At that time the Babylonian forces 55 had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. 56 They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. 57 ) 37:6 The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah a message for them. He told him to tell them, 58 37:7 “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him. 59 Tell him, “The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt. 60 37:8 Then the Babylonian forces 61 will return. They will attack the city and will capture it and burn it down. 37:9 Moreover, I, the Lord, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces 62 will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away. 63 37:10 For even if you were to defeat all the Babylonian forces 64 fighting against you so badly that only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down.”’” 65
37:11 The following events also occurred 66 while the Babylonian forces 67 had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem 68 because the army of Pharaoh was coming. 37:12 Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there. 69 37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. 70 There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, 71 who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, 72 “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” 73 37:14 Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” 74 But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials. 37:15 The officials were very angry 75 at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners. 76
37:16 So 77 Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. 78 He 79 was kept there for a long time. 37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, 80 “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, 81 “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 82 37:18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison? 83 37:19 Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that 84 the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land? 37:20 But now please listen, your royal Majesty, 85 and grant my plea for mercy. 86 Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.” 87 37:21 Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread 88 be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept 89 in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
38:1 Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal 90 son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur 91 son of Malkijah had heard 92 the things that Jeremiah had been telling the people. They had heard him say, 38:2 “The Lord says, ‘Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. 93 Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians 94 will live. They will escape with their lives.’” 95 38:3 They had also heard him say, 96 “The Lord says, ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon. They will capture it.’” 97 38:4 So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing 98 the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. 99 This 100 man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” 101 38:5 King Zedekiah said to them, “Very well, you can do what you want with him. 102 For I cannot do anything to stop you.” 103 38:6 So the officials 104 took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern 105 of Malkijah, one of the royal princes, 106 that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse. There was no water in the cistern, only mud. So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud. 107
38:7 An Ethiopian, Ebed Melech, 108 a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put 109 in the cistern. While the king was holding court 110 at the Benjamin Gate, 38:8 Ebed Melech departed the palace and went to speak to the king. He said to him, 38:9 “Your royal Majesty, those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city. 111 38:10 Then the king gave Ebed Melech the Ethiopian the following order: “Take thirty 112 men with you from here and go pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.” 38:11 So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasure room in the palace. 113 He got some worn-out clothes and old rags 114 from there and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 38:12 Ebed Melech 115 called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes. 116 Jeremiah did as Ebed Melech instructed. 117 38:13 So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined 118 to the courtyard of the guardhouse.
38:14 Some time later 119 Zedekiah sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entrance 120 of the Lord’s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, “I would like to ask you a question. Do not hide anything from me when you answer.” 121 38:15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. 122 If I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 38:16 So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised, 123 “As surely as the Lord lives who has given us life and breath, 124 I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.” 125
38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “The Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, 126 says, ‘You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon. If you do, your life will be spared 127 and this city will not be burned down. Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared. 38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians 128 and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” 129 38:19 Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. 130 The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.” 131 38:20 Then Jeremiah answered, “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you. 132 Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared. 133 38:21 But if you refuse to surrender, the Lord has shown me a vision of what will happen. Here is what I saw: 38:22 All the women who are left in the royal palace of Judah will be led out to the officers of the king of Babylon. They will taunt you saying, 134
‘Your trusted friends misled you;
they have gotten the best of you.
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they have turned their backs on you.’ 135
38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians. 136 You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the 137 king of Babylon. This city will be burned down.” 138
38:24 Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had. 139 If you do, you will die. 140 38:25 The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. 141 Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.’ 142 38:26 If they do this, tell 143 them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to die in the dungeon of Jonathan’s house.’” 144 38:27 All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah. 145 He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say. 146 They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation. 147 38:28 So Jeremiah remained confined 148 in the courtyard of the guardhouse until the day Jerusalem 149 was captured.
The following events occurred when Jerusalem 150 was captured. 151