Then the officials told the king, "Let this man be put to death because he's undermining the efforts of the soldiers who remain in this city and that of all the people by speaking words like these to them. Indeed, this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm."

King Zedekiah said, "Look, he's in your hands, and the king can do nothing to you."

So they threw Jeremiah into a cistern that belonged to the king's son Malchijah and was located in the courtyard of the guard. When they let Jeremiah down with ropes, because there was no water in the cistern only mud Jeremiah sank into the mud.

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

"Your majesty, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into the cistern. He will die where he is because of the famine since there is no more bread in the city."

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.

King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to him at the third entrance to the LORD's Temple. The king told Jeremiah, "I'm going to ask you something, and don't hide anything from me."

Jeremiah told Zedekiah, "When I tell you, you will surely put me to death, won't you? And when I give you advice, you don't listen to me."

Then King Zedekiah, in secret, swore an oath to Jeremiah: "As surely as the LORD lives, who gave us this life to live, I won't have you put to death, nor will I hand you over to these men who are seeking to kill you."

So Jeremiah told Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "If you will immediately surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, and this city won't be burned with fire. Both you and your family will live.

But if you don't surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given to the Chaldeans, and they'll burn it with fire. You won't escape from their hands.'"

Then King Zedekiah told Jeremiah, "I'm afraid of the Judeans who have gone over to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans may turn me over to them, and they may treat me harshly."

Jeremiah said, "They won't turn you over. Obey the LORD in what I'm telling you, and it will go well for you and you will live.

But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has shown me:

Look, all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and will say, "These friends of yours have mislead you and overcome you. Your feet have sunk down into the mire, but they have turned away.'

"They'll bring all your women and children out to the Chaldeans, and you won't escape from their hand. Indeed, you will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire."

Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, "Don't let anyone know about these words and you won't die.

If the officials hear that I've spoken with you, and they come to you and say, "Tell us what you told the king, and what the king told you; don't hide it from us, and we won't put you to death,'

then you are to say to them, "I was presenting my request to the king that I not be taken back to the house of Jonathan to die there.'"

When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he replied to them exactly as the king had ordered him. So they stopped speaking with him because the conversation had not been overheard.

Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

This is how Jerusalem was captured: In the tenth month of the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, the wall of the city was breached.

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.

The Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho. When they seized him they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed judgment on him.

Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with bronze fetters to take him to Babylon.

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the Babylonian guard, took into exile in Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to Nebuchadnezzar, and the rest of the people who remained.

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who did not have anything, and he gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

"Take him, look after him, and don't do anything to harm him. Rather, do for him whatever he tells you."

They sent for Jeremiah and took him from the courtyard of the guard. They handed him over to Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home. So he remained among the people.

This message from the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was confined in the courtyard of the guard:

"Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I'm going to fulfill my promise against this city for disaster rather than for good, and on that day it will happen before your eyes.

But I'll deliver you on that day," declares the LORD. "You won't be given into the hands of the men you fear.

For I'll surely deliver you, and you won't fall by the sword. Your life will be spared because you trusted me," declares the LORD.'"

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had released him from Ramah, when he was bound in chains, along with all the exiles from Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken into exile in Babylon.

And now the LORD has brought it about and has done just as he said. Because you people sinned against the LORD and didn't obey him, this has happened to you.

Now, look, I've freed you today from the chains that were on your hands. If you want to come with me to Babylon, come, and I'll look after you. But if you don't want to come with me to Babylon, don't. Look, the whole land lies before you, so go wherever it seems good and right for you to go."

When he still did not respond, Nebuzaradan said, "Return to Ahikam's son Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and remain with him among the people or go wherever it seems right for you to go." Then the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a gift and sent him off.

Jeremiah came to Ahikam's son Gedaliah at Mizpah, and he remained with him among the people who were left in the land.

Those who came to Gedaliah at Mizpah included Nethaniah's son Ishmael, Jonathan, Kareah's son Jonathan, Tanhumeth's son Seraiah, Ephai's sons from Netophah; and Jezaniah, the son of a man from Maacah. They came along with their men.

Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men: "Don't be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Remain in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and things will go well for you.

As for me, I'll remain at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil. Put it in your containers and live in your cities that you have taken over."

So all the Judeans returned from all the countries where they had been scattered. They came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

Kareah's son Jonathan and all leaders of the forces who were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.

They told him, "Are you aware that Baalis, the king of the people of Ammon, has sent Nethaniah's son Ishmael to take your life?" But Ahikam's son Gedaliah did not believe them.

Then Kareah's son Jonathan spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah: "Let me go kill Nethaniah's son Ishmael, and no one will know. Why should he take your life? Otherwise all the Judeans who have gathered around you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish."

Ahikam's son Gedaliah replied to Kareah's son Jonathan, "Don't do this! You're lying about Ishmael!"

In the seventh month, Nethaniah's son Ishmael, the grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Ahikam's son Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with ten men. While they were dining together there at Mizpah,

Now on the day after Gedaliah was killed, when as yet no one knew about it,

eighty men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria came with their beards shaved, their clothes torn, and their bodies slashed. They had grain offerings and incense with them to present at the LORD's Temple.

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."

Ten men who were among them told Ishmael, "Don't kill us, because we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field." So Ishmael stopped and did not kill them or their companions.

Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, including the king's daughters and all the rest of the people in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had appointed Ahikam's son Gedaliah. Nethaniah's son Ishmael took them captive and then set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

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.

They traveled and then stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt

Then all the military leaders, Kareah's son Jonathan, Hoshaiah's son Jezaniah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah.

They told Jeremiah the prophet, "Please listen to what we have to ask of you. Pray to the LORD your God for us and for all these survivors. Indeed, only a few of us remain out of many, as you can see.

Pray that the LORD your God may inform us as to how we should live and what we should do."

Jeremiah the prophet told them, "I've heard, and I'm going to pray to the LORD your God just as you have requested. Whatever the LORD answers, I'll tell you. I won't withhold anything from you."

Then they told Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we don't do everything that the LORD your God tells us through you.

Whether it seems good or bad, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, so it may go well for us. Indeed, we will obey the LORD our God."

At the end of ten days a message from the LORD came to Jeremiah.

So he called Kareah's son Jonathan, all the military leaders who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

He told them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says, to whom you sent me to take your request:

Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon as you have been. Don't fear him,' declares the LORD, "because I am with you to save you and deliver you from his control.

I'll show you compassion, so he will have compassion on you and return you to your land.

But if you disobey the LORD your God by saying, "We won't stay in this land,"

and you also say, "No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we won't see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or hunger for bread, and there we will stay,"

then hear this message from the LORD, remnant of Judah: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "If you are really determined to go into Egypt, and you go there to settle,

the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you dread will pursue you into Egypt, and there you will die.

All the people who are determined to go into Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague. No one will survive the disaster that I'll bring on them."

The LORD has told you, remnant of Judah, "Don't go to Egypt!' So be fully aware that I've warned you, today,

that you have deceived yourselves. Indeed, you yourselves sent me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, and whatever the LORD our God tells us we will do.'

I've told you today, but you haven't obeyed the LORD your God in all that he sent me to tell you.

Now, be fully aware that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague in the place where you want to settle."

When Jeremiah had finished telling all the people all the words that the LORD their God had sent him to tell them that is, all these words

Hoshaiah's son Azariah, Kareah's son Johanan, and all the arrogant men told Jeremiah, "You're lying! The LORD our God didn't send you to say, "Don't go to Egypt to settle there.'

Indeed, Neriah's son Baruch is inciting you against us in order to give us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, or to take us into exile to Babylon."

So Kareah's son Johanan, all the military leaders, and all the people did not obey the instructions given by the LORD to remain in the land of Judah.

Kareah's son Johanan and all the military leaders took the entire remnant of Judah that had returned from all the nations where they had been scattered to settle in the land of Judah

Then this message from the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:

Then say to them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I'll take him and set his throne over these stones that I've buried, and he will spread his canopy over them.

He will come and attack the land of Egypt those meant for death will be put to death, those meant for captivity will be taken captive, and those meant for the sword will be put to the sword.

He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their idols and take them captive. He will wrap himself with the land of Egypt like a shepherd wraps himself with a garment, and then he will leave from there in peace.

This is the message that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,

because of the wickedness that they did, provoking me to anger by continuing to offer sacrifices and worship other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors had known.

Yet I sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again, saying, "Don't do this repulsive thing that I hate."

"But they didn't listen or pay attention by turning from their wickedness and not offering sacrifices to other gods.

"Now, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Why are you doing great harm to yourselves so as to cut off from Judah man and woman, child and infant from you, leaving yourselves without a remnant?

And why have you provoked me to anger by the works of your hands, by offering sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle so that you cut yourselves off and become an object of ridicule and scorn among all the nations of the earth?

To this day they haven't humbled themselves, they haven't shown reverence for the LORD, and they haven't lived according to my Law and my statutes that I set before them and before their ancestors.'

"Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I've determined to bring disaster on you and to cut off all Judah.

I'll take the remnant of Judah that determined to go to the land of Egypt to settle there, and all of them will come to an end in the land of Egypt. They'll fall by the sword, and they'll come to an end by famine. They'll become a curse, an object of horror, ridicule, and scorn.

Of the remnant of Judah that came into the land of Egypt to settle there, no one will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah where they long to return and live. Indeed, they won't return, except for some refugees.'"

Then all the men who knew that their wives were offering sacrifices to other gods and all the women who were standing by a large group, including all the people who were living in the land of Egypt in Pathros answered Jeremiah:

"As for the message that you reported to us in the name of the LORD, we won't listen to you!

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.

From the time we stopped offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out liquid offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been consumed by the sword and famine.