The Living Bible (249 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his armies from all the kingdoms he ruled, came and fought against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah:
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Go tell Zedekiah, king of Judah, that the Lord says this: I will give this city to the king of Babylon and he shall burn it.
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You shall not escape; you shall be captured and taken before the king of Babylon; he shall pronounce sentence against you and you shall be exiled to Babylon.
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But listen to this, O Zedekiah, king of Judah: God says you won’t be killed in war and carnage
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but that you will die quietly among your people, and they will burn incense in your memory, just as they did for your fathers. They will weep for you and say, “Alas, our king is dead!” This I have decreed, says the Lord.
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So Jeremiah delivered the message to King Zedekiah.
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At this time the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah—the only walled cities of Judah still standing.
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This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah of Judah had freed all the slaves in Jerusalem—
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(for King Zedekiah had ordered everyone to free his Hebrew slaves, both men and women. He had said that no Jew should be the master of another Jew for all were brothers.
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The princes and all the people had obeyed the king’s command and freed their slaves, but the action was only temporary.
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They changed their minds and made their servants slaves again.
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That is why the Lord gave the following message to Jerusalem.)
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The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your fathers long ago when I brought them from their slavery in Egypt.
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I told them that every Hebrew slave must be freed after serving six years. But this was not done.
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Recently you began doing what was right, as I commanded you, and freed your slaves. You had solemnly promised me in my Temple that you would do it.
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But now you refuse and have defiled my name by shrugging off your oath and have made them slaves again.
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Therefore, says the Lord, because you will not listen to me and release them, I will release you to the power of death by war and famine and disease. And I will scatter you over all the world as exiles.
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Because you have refused the terms of our contract, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows. Yes, I will butcher you, whether you are princes, court officials, priests, or people—for you have broken your oath.
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I will give you to your enemies, and they shall kill you. I will feed your dead bodies to the vultures and wild animals.
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And I will surrender Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials to the army of the king of Babylon, though he has departed from the city for a little while.
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I will summon the Babylonian armies back again, and they will fight against it and capture this city and burn it. And I will see to it that the cities of Judah are completely destroyed and left desolate without a living soul.
This is the message the Lord gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim (son of Josiah) was the king of Judah:
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Go to the settlement where the families of the Rechabites live and invite them to the Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms and offer them a drink of wine.
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So I went over to see Jaazaniah (son of Jeremiah, who was the son of Habazziniah) and brought him and all his brothers and sons—representing all the Rechab families—
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to the Temple, into the room assigned for the use of the sons of Hanan the prophet (the son of Igdaliah). This room was located next to the one used by the palace official, directly above the room of Maaseiah (son of Shallum), who was the Temple doorman.
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I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink,
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but they refused.
“No,” they said. “We don’t drink, for Jonadab our father (son of Rechab) commanded that none of us should ever drink, neither we nor our children forever.
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He also told us not to build houses or plant crops or vineyards and not to own farms, but always to live in tents; and that if we obeyed, we would live long, good lives in our own land.
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And we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine since then, nor have our wives or our sons or daughters either.
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We haven’t built houses or owned farms or planted crops.
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We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything that Jonadab our father commanded us.
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But when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, arrived in this country, we were afraid and decided to move to Jerusalem. That’s why we are here.”
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Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
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The Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go and say to Judah and Jerusalem, Won’t you learn a lesson from the families of Rechab?
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They don’t drink because their father told them not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you won’t listen or obey.
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I have sent you prophet after prophet to tell you to turn back from your wicked ways and to stop worshiping other gods, and that if you obeyed, then I would let you live in peace here in the land I gave to you and your fathers. But you wouldn’t listen or obey.
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The families of Rechab have obeyed their father completely, but you have refused to listen to me.
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Therefore, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Because you refuse to listen or answer when I call, I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the evil I have ever threatened.
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Then Jeremiah turned to the Rechabites and said: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says that because you have obeyed your father in every respect, he shall always have descendants who will worship me.”
In the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim
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of Judah (son of Josiah) the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
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“Get a scroll and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every one of them.
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Perhaps when the people of Judah see in writing all the terrible things I will do to them, they will repent. And then I can forgive them.”
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So Jeremiah sent for Baruch (son of Neriah), and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down all the prophecies.
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When all was finished, Jeremiah said to Baruch, “Since I am a prisoner here,
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you read the scroll in the Temple on the next day of fasting, for on that day people will be there from all over Judah.
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Perhaps even yet they will turn from their evil ways and ask the Lord to forgive them before it is too late, even though these curses of God have been pronounced upon them.”
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Baruch did as Jeremiah told him to and read all these messages to the people at the Temple.
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This occurred on the day of fasting held in December of the fifth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim (son of Josiah). People came from all over Judah to attend the services at the Temple that day.
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Baruch went to the office of Gemariah the scribe (son of Shaphan) to read the scroll. (This room was just off the upper assembly hall of the Temple, near the door of the New Gate.)
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When Micaiah (son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan) heard the messages from God,
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he went down to the palace to the conference room where the administrative officials were meeting. Elishama (the scribe) was there, as well as Delaiah (son of Shemaiah), Elnathan (son of Achbor), Gemariah (son of Shaphan), Zedekiah (son of Hananiah), and all the others with similar responsibilities.
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When Micaiah told them about the messages Baruch was reading to the people,
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the officials sent Jehudi (son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi) to ask Baruch to come and read the messages to them too, and Baruch did.
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By the time he finished they were badly frightened. “We must tell the king,” they said.
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“But first, tell us how you got these messages. Did Jeremiah himself dictate them to you?”
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So Baruch explained that Jeremiah had dictated them to him word by word, and he had written them down in ink upon the scroll.
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“You and Jeremiah both hide,” the officials said to Baruch. “Don’t tell a soul where you are!”
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Then the officials hid the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe and went to tell the king.
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The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama the scribe and read it to the king as all his officials stood by.
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The king was in a winterized part of the palace at the time, sitting in front of a fireplace,
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for it was December and cold.
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And whenever Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would take his knife, slit off the section, and throw it into the fire, until the whole scroll was destroyed.
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And no one protested except Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah. They pled with the king not to burn the scroll, but he wouldn’t listen to them. Not another of the king’s officials showed any signs of fear or anger at what he had done.
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Then the king commanded Jerahmeel (a member of the royal family
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) and Seraiah (son of Azriel) and Shelemiah (son of Abdeel) to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord hid them!
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After the king had burned the scroll, the Lord said to Jeremiah:
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Get another scroll and write everything again just as you did before,
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and say this to the king: “This is what the Lord says! You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this country and everything in it.
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And now the Lord adds this concerning you, Jehoiakim, king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit upon the throne
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of David. His dead body shall be thrown out to the hot sun and frosty nights,
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and I will punish him and his family and his officials because of their sins. I will pour out upon them all the evil I promised—upon them and upon all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, for they wouldn’t listen to my warnings.”
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Then Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to Baruch all he had written before, only this time the Lord added a lot more!