Give ear to the word of the Lord, O you nations, and give news of it in the sea-lands far away, and say, He who has sent Israel wandering will get him together and will keep him as a keeper does his flock.

For the Lord has given a price for Jacob, and made him free from the hands of him who was stronger than he.

Upon this complaint, I thought thus by myself: Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not the child, with whom I have had all mirth and pastime? For since the time that I first communed with him, I have him ever in remembrance: therefore my very heart driveth me unto him; gladly and lovingly will I have mercy upon him, sayeth the LORD.

How long will you vacillate, you who were once like an unfaithful daughter? For I, the Lord, promise to bring about something new on the earth, something as unique as a woman protecting a man!'"

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, "I will restore the people of Judah to their land and to their towns. When I do, they will again say of Jerusalem, 'May the Lord bless you, you holy mountain, the place where righteousness dwells.'

And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it, farmers and those who travel with the flocks.

For I will saturate [the] thirst of [the] weary, and every person [who] languishes I will replenish."

{But} each will die because of his iniquity, {everyone} who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will {be set on edge}.

Thus says Yahweh, who gives [the] sun for light by day, the regulations of [the] moon and [the] stars for light [by] night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar--Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.

whom Zedekiah king of Judah, had shut up, saying, - Why art thou prophesying, saying, - Thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! giving up this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;

And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, "Take these documents, both the sealed copy of the deed of purchase and the unsealed copy. Put them in a clay jar so that they may be preserved for a long time to come."'

For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, "Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land."'

who showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is his name;

who accomplished signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, up to this day, and in Israel, and among humankind, and you have made for yourself a name, as [it is] this day.

Look, the siege ramps have come up [to] the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the plague, and what you spoke happened, and look, you [are] seeing [it].

"Look, I am the LORD, the God who rules over all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?"

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and [where] they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

“From the day that they built it [during the reign of Solomon], even to this day, this city has been such a provocation of My anger and My wrath, that I must remove it from My sight,

I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

"Thus says Yahweh who made [the earth], Yahweh who formed it to establish it, Yahweh [is] his name:

'[They are] coming to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of the people whom I will strike in my anger and in my wrath, for whom I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness.

And it will be to me a name of jubilation, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear all the good that I [will] do [for] them, and they will fear, and they will tremble because of all the good, and because of all the prosperity that I [will] provide for it.'

[the] voice of jubilation, and [the] voice of joy, [the] voice of [the] bridegroom, and [the] voice of [the] bride, [the] voices of [those who] say, "Praise Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh [is] good, for his loyal love [is] {forever}," [the voices of those who] bring thank offerings [to] the house of Yahweh, for I will restore the fortunes of the land as in the beginning,' says Yahweh.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks.

In the towns of the hill-country, in the towns of the lowland, and in the towns of the South and in the land of Benjamin and in the country round Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, the flocks will again go under the hand of him who is numbering them, says the Lord.

In those days is Judah saved, And Jerusalem doth dwell confidently, And this is he whom Jehovah proclaimeth to her: 'Our Righteousness.'

For thus says Yahweh: 'A man who sits on the throne of the house of Israel will not be cut off for David.

And for the priests, a man from the Levites [who] offers burnt offerings and [who] burns grain offerings and [who] brings sacrifices will not be cut off {before me} {forever}.'"

then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from {having} a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers.

As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will make numerous the offspring of David my servant and the Levites [who] minister [to] me.'"

"Have you not seen how these people speak, {saying}, 'The two clans whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them'? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation {before them} [any] longer.

In peace you will die, and as [there was] burning for your ancestors, the former kings who were {before you}, so they will burn for you, and they will lament for you, "Alas, lord!" For [the] word I have spoken,' {declares} Yahweh." '"

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after king Zedekiah {made} a covenant with all the people who [were] in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them,

that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondservants of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother.

And all the officials and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant to let go each one his [male] slave and each one his female slave, not enslaving them again, and they obeyed and they let [them] go.

But {afterward} they turned back and they brought back the [male] slaves and the female slaves whom they had let go free, and they subdued them as [male] slaves and female slaves.

"At [the] end of seven years you must let go each one his fellow countryman, the Hebrew who has been sold to you and who has served you six years, and you must let him go free from you." But your ancestors did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ears.

So then you recently turned and repented, doing what was right in My sight, each man proclaiming release [from servitude] to his countryman [who was his bond servant]; and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My Name.

But you turned back and you profaned my name when you brought back each one his [male] slave and each one his female slave, whom you had let go free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be to you as [male] slaves and as female slaves.'

And I will make the men who transgressed my covenant, who have not kept the words of the covenant that they {made} {before me}, [like] the calf which they cut in two and they passed between its parts--

the officials of Judah, and the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf--

Even these I will give up into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives: and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.

And Zedekiah the king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, who retreated from you.

“Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the [side] chambers; then give them [who are pledged not to drink wine] some wine to drink.”

And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, who was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all told him, "Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them, 'I, the Lord, say: "You must learn a lesson from this about obeying what I say!

The words of Jonadab son of Rechab who commanded his sons not to drink wine, were raised up; and they drank not even to this clay, for they heard the command of their father: and spake to you, rising early and speaking; and ye heard not to me.

So I, the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, say: "I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer."'"

Then Jeremiah spoke to the Rechabite community, "The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, 'You have obeyed the orders of your ancestor Jonadab. You have followed all his instructions. You have done exactly as he commanded you.'

So the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, 'Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.'"

So you must go and you shall read aloud from the scroll that you have written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people [in] the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast, and also you shall read aloud in the hearing of all those of Judah who came from their towns.

{And then} in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast {before} Yahweh.

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. That room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate. There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said.

Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said.

All the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah and the grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. They ordered him to tell Baruch, "Come here and bring with you the scroll you read in the hearing of the people." So Baruch son of Neriah went to them, carrying the scroll in his hand.

Then the king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and Jehudi read it aloud in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the officials who stood next to the king.

And the king and any of his servants who heard all these words were not startled, and they did not tear their garments.

The king did not even listen to Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, who had urged him not to burn the scroll.

He also ordered Jerahmeel, who was one of the royal princes, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. However, the Lord hid them.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, "There will not be for him [one who] sits on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat in the day and to the frost in the night.

I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed."'"

Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides unto them many like words.

And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had made king, reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim.

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.

And the army of Pharaoh had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who were laying siege to Jerusalem, heard their report and they withdrew from Jerusalem.

"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire [of] me, "Look, the army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, [is] going to return to his land Egypt.

For [even] if you struck the whole army of [the] Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and [only] men pierced through remained among them, each one in his tent, they would rise up and they would burn this city with fire.'"

But when he was at the Benjamin door, a captain of the watch named Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, who was stationed there, put his hand on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are going to give yourself up to the Chaldaeans.

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?

And where [are] your prophets who prophesied to you, {saying}, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land'?

"Thus says Yahweh, 'The [one who] stays in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But the [one who] goes out to the Chaldeans will live. And his life will be for him as booty, and he will live.'

Then the officials said to the king, "Please, this man must be killed, {because} he [is] making slack the hands of {the soldiers} who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them words like these, for this man [is] not seeking for welfare to this people, {but only} for harm."

Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you.

When Ebed-melech the Cushite, {a eunuch} who [was] in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the pit--now the king [was] sitting at the Gate of Benjamin--

My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.

Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian and said, "Take from hence thirty men whom thou wilt, and draw up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die."

So Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremiah in secret, {saying}, "{As Yahweh lives}, who has made for us this life, I will not kill you and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life."

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "The Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, says, 'You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon. If you do, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down. Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared.

And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, "I [am] afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and they abuse me."

But Jeremiah said, “They will not hand you over [to them]. Please obey [the voice of] the Lord [who speaks to you through me] in what I am saying to you. Then it will go well with you and you will live.

Now look, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah [are] being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon. And look, [they are] saying, '{Your trusted friends} have misled you, and they have prevailed against you. Your feet are stuck in the mud, [so] they turned backward.'

Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters in the Middle Gate.

Then the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those deserting who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, deported [to] Babylon.

And some of the poor people, {who had nothing}, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, left in the land of Judah. And he gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, Nebushazban, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon

"Go and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, 'The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, "I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it. When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it.

But I will deliver thee in that day, Declareth Yahweh, - and thou shalt not be given up into the hand of the men from the face of whom, thou, mightest shrink with fear.

The thing that happened unto Jeremiah, from Yahweh, after Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had let him go from Ramah, - when he had taken him, he having been bound in fetters in the midst of all the captive-host of Jerusalem, and Judah, who were being carried away captive to Babylon.

And ere yet he could make reply - Go thou back then unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath set in charge over the cities of Judah, and dwell thou with him in the midst of the people, or whithersoever it may be right in thine eyes to go, go! So the chief of the royal executioners gave him an allowance and a present and let him go.

Then came Jeremiah unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him in the midst of the people who were left in the land.

Now, when all the captains of the forces which were in the field - they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had set Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge over the land, - and that he had committed to him men and women and children, and the poor of the land of those who had not been carried away captive to Babylon,

So all these officers and their troops came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite.

But as for me, behold me! remaining in Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who may come unto us, Ye, however, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your reties which ye have seized.

Likewise also, all the Jews, who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in any of the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had granted a remnant to Judah, and that he had set in charge over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan,

And Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] in the open country came to Gedaliah [at] Mizpah

Then, Johanan son of Kareah, spake unto Gedaliah secretly, in Mizpah, saying, - Let me go I pray thee, and smite Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and not, a man, shall know it, - wherefore should he smite thee to death, and all Judah who have gathered themselves unto thee, be dispersed, and the remnant of Judah perish?

But in the seventh month Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama who was a member of the royal family and had been one of Zedekiah's chief officers, came with ten of his men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating a meal together with him there at Mizpah,

Then arose Ishmael son of Nethaniah - and the ten men who were with him and they smote Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan - with the sword and slew him whom the king of Babylon had set in charge, over the land.

And Ishmael smote, all the Jews who were with him even with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there the men of war.