In the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there.

But they didn't listen, nor did they pay attention. They pursued their own plans, stubbornly following their own evil desires. They went backward and not forward.

So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, just as the LORD had commanded me.

I went to the Euphrates and dug it up. I got the belt from the place where I had hidden it. The belt was ruined! It was not good for anything.

So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was doing work at the potter's wheel.

Then Jeremiah went from Topheth where the LORD had sent him to prophesy. He stood in the courtyard of the LORD's Temple, saying to all the people,

"For this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Shallum, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah: "He went out from this place and won't return to it again.

Are you a king because you try to outdo everyone with cedar? Your father ate and drank and upheld justice and righteousness, did he not? And then it went well for him.

He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn't this what it means to know me?

King Jehoiakim, all his troops, and all the officials heard his words, and the king sought to kill him. Uriah heard about this and was afraid, so he fled and went to Egypt.

I'll bring back Jehoiakim's son Jeconiah, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon to this place,' declares the LORD, "for I'll break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

Hananiah, in front of all the people, said, "This is what the LORD says: "In the same way, within two years, I'll break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.'" Then Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

he went down to the palace, to the scribe's office, where all the officials were sitting. Elishama the scribe, Shemaiah's son Delaiah, Achbor's son Elnathan, Shaphan's son Gemariah, Hananiah's son Zedekiah, and all the other officials were there.

Then all the officials sent Nethaniah's son Jehudi, (who was also the grandson of Shelemiah and Cushi's great-grandson), to Baruch, who said, "Take the scroll that you read to the people and come." Neriah's son Baruch took the scroll with him and went to them.

The officials went to the king in the courtyard, but they deposited the scroll in the office of Elishama the scribe. Then they reported everything written on the scroll to the king.

so Ebed-melech went out of the palace and spoke to the king:

So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the palace, underneath the storeroom. He took worn out rags and worn out clothes from there, and using ropes he lowered them down to Jeremiah in the cistern.

When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled and went out of the city at night through the king's garden through the gate between the two walls. Then he went out on the road toward the Arabah.

Nethaniah's son Ishmael went out from Mizpah to meet them, crying as he went. As he met them he told them, "Come meet with Ahikam's son Gedaliah."

So they took all the men and went to fight Nethaniah's son Ishmael, and they found him at the large pool that is at Gibeon.

All the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and went back to Kareah's son Jonathan.

But Nethaniah's son Ishmael and eight other men escaped from Jonathan and went to the Ammonites.

So they went into the land of Egypt, because they did not obey the LORD, and they travelled as far as Tahpanhes.

Rather, we will keep doing everything that we said we would by offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and by pouring out liquid offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, things went well for us, and we didn't experience disaster.

This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet delivered to Neriah's son Seraiah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.

The wall of the city was broken through, and all the soldiers fled, leaving the city at night through the gate between the two walls next to the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.

The Chaldean army went after the king, overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his troops were scattered from him.

The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from the land.