Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah, "He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his corpse will be thrown out to rot during the heat of the day and the frost of the night.

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

Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people since he had not yet been put in prison.

Pharaoh's army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Indeed, even if you defeated the entire Chaldean army that is fighting against you, and they had only wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn this city with fire.'"'"

The officials were angry with Jeremiah and beat him. They put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe because they had made it into a prison.

Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch in the king's house, heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern. The king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,

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."

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,'

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.

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.

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.

All the leaders of the forces who were in the field along with their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Ahikam's son Gedaliah over the men, women, children, and the poor of the land who had not been taken into exile in Babylon.

All the Judeans who were in Moab, those with the people in Ammon, those in Edom, and those in all the other countries also heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah and that he had appointed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, over them.

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.

Nethaniah's son Ishmael and the ten men with him got up and killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, with swords and killed the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

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.

Ishmael threw the bodies of the men he killed on account of Gedaliah into the cistern that King Asa had made for protection against King Baasha of Israel. That is the same one Nethaniah's son Ishmael filled with those he killed.

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.

Kareah's son Jonathan and all the military leaders who were with him heard about all the terrible things that Nethaniah's son Ishmael had done.

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

Kareah's son Jonathan and all the military leaders who were with him took all the rest of the people from Mizpah whom he had rescued from Nethaniah's son Ishmael after he had killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, including the young men, the soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs whom he had rescued from Gibeon.

because of the Chaldeans. They were afraid of the Chaldeans because Nethaniah's son Ishmael had killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

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

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

the young men, the women, the children, the daughters of the king, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, along with Jeremiah the prophet and Neriah's son Baruch.

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."

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 spoke to Neriah's son Baruch, when in the fourth year of the reign of Josiah's son King Jehoiakim of Judah had, at Jeremiah's dictation, written these words in a scroll:

Wasn't Israel an object of mocking for you? Wasn't he treated like a thief, so that whenever you spoke about him you shook your head in contempt?

Indeed every head will be bald and every beard cut short. There will be gashes on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins.

If the grape harvesters came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came at night, they would destroy only until they had enough.

Move away from the middle of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans. Be like male goats at the head of the flock.

Zedekiah had done evil in the LORD's sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.

Because Jerusalem and Judah had angered the Lord, he cast them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon,

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

There was too much bronze to weigh in the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze oxen that were under the sea, and the stands which King Solomon had made for the LORD's Temple.

On each pillar was a capital of bronze, and the height of each capital was five cubits. Latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar was like this, including the pomegranates.

From the city he arrested one of the officers who had been in charge of the troops, seven men from the king's personal advisors who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and 60 men of the people of the land who were found inside the city.

Your prophets look on your behalf; they see false and deceptive visions. They did not expose your sins in order to restore what had been captured. Instead, they crafted oracles for you that are false and misleading.

Water closed over my head, and I said, "I'm a dead man."

The LORD's anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. About him we had said, "Under his protection we will survive among the nations."

The crown has fallen from our head woe to us, because we have sinned!

I was amazed to see a wind storm blow in from the north, consisting of a massive cloud and fire that was flashing back and forth, surrounded by bright light. From deep within the cloud, something was shining that appeared to have a color like bronze that had been placed in fire until it glowed.

except that they each had four faces, four pairs of wings,

The form of their faces was human, but each of the four also had the face of a lion to the right, the face of an ox to the left, and the face of an eagle behind them.

and underneath the canopy, their wings spread out straight over their heads toward each other. They each also had two wings with which they covered themselves, one wing covering its body on one side and one wing covering itself on the other side.

Even while he was speaking to me, the Spirit entered me, set me on my feet, and I listened to the voice that had been speaking to me.

Whether this rebellious group listens to you or not, at least they'll realize that a prophet had appeared in their midst!

This isn't a large group of people whose speech is unintelligible to you or whose language is difficult for you to comprehend. Frankly, if I had sent you to that kind of people, they would certainly have listened to you!

"When a righteous man abandons his righteousness to practice unrighteousness, I'll set a stumbling block before him. He'll die. If you don't warn him, he'll die in his sin and the righteous deeds that he had practiced won't be remembered, but you'll be held responsible for his death.

If you warn the righteous person, so that he doesn't commit sin, then he'll live, since he had been warned. And you will have saved your life."

So I got up, went to the valley, and there was the glory of the LORD, standing there just like I had seen at the Chebar River. So I fell on my face.

The Spirit entered me, rested on me, caused me to stand on my feet, and then he spoke to me. This is what he had to say: "Go barricade yourself in your house.

You are to preserve a few strands of hair and hide them in the folds of your garment.

In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I had just sat down in my house, with the elders of Judah seated in front of me. All of a sudden, the hand of the Lord GOD touched me

The form of a hand reached out and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, brought me toward Jerusalem, and in visions that came from God took me through the doors of the inner gate that faced north, where an image that provoked God's jealous anger had been erected.

All of a sudden, the glory of the God of Israel was there! It looked like what I had seen back in the valley.

Then the glory that is Israel's God arose from the cherubim on which he had been seated and settled on the threshold of the Temple. He called out to the man dressed in linen who wore the writing case at his side.

Whenever they moved, they proceeded without turning around as they moved, but they followed in the direction where their head was facing, without looking around as they moved.

Each had four faces. The first one was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

The cherubim arose. These were the same beings that I had seen at the Chebar River.

These were the living beings that I had seen under the God of Israel on the bank of the Chebar River. I knew that they were cherubim.

Each one had four faces. Each one had four wings, and the form of human hands could be seen under their wings.

As to the likeness of their faces, they were like what I had seen on the bank of the Chebar River. They each moved straight ahead.

Then in a vision from the Spirit of God, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea. At that point, the vision that I had been observing ended.

Later, I spoke to the exiles concerning everything the LORD had spoken that I had witnessed.

Later, some men from the elders of Israel came to visit me. After they had sat down in my presence,

I made you increase like sprouting grain in the field. As a result, you multiplied greatly. Eventually, you reached the age when young women start wearing jewelry. Your breasts were formed, your hair had grown, but you were still bare and naked."'"

I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a crown encrusted with jewels on your head.

You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.

"You also took your fine jewelry including my gold and my silver that I had given you. Then you made for yourself male images and had sex with them!

"Therefore, look out! I've reached out to oppose you. I withdrew your rations and delivered you to those Philistine women who hate you. Even they were embarrassed at your wicked ways!

Look! Because it's a transplanted vine, won't it wither when the east wind hits it? It will surely wither in the terraces where it had started to sprout."'"

He despised the oath he had made and broke the covenant. Look! Because he willingly submitted, yet he has done all these things, he won't escape.

None of the transgressions that he had committed will be held against him. Because of the righteous deeds that he had done, he'll live.

But when the righteous person abandons his righteous deeds and commits evil, detestable practices, as wicked people do, he won't live, will he? None of the righteous acts that he had done will be remembered. He'll die in his treacherous unfaithfulness and sins that he had committed."

Because he reconsidered his transgression and turned away from everything that he had been doing, he'll certainly live and not die.

The nations heard about him. He had become caught in their trap. They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

When she learned that her plans had been frustrated and that her hopes were dashed, she took another of her cubs and turned him into a fierce lion.

"Your mother was like a vine entwining a pomegranate, planted by water, full of fruit, and full of branches because it had been watered generously.

Strong were its boughs, suitable for use in the scepter of a ruler. It reached to the clouds, noticeable because of its height and its abundant branches.

Fire had burned through its branches, consuming its shoots and fruits. No strong branches remain in it, and there is no scepter to rule!' "This is a lamentation, and it is to be used in mourning."

That day I promised to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land that I had explored for them a land flowing with milk and honey. It's the most beautiful of all lands.

I did this so my reputation wouldn't be tarnished among the nations in whose presence I had brought them out.

"Moreover, I solemnly swore to them in the wilderness that I wouldn't bring them to the land that I had given them a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands

I brought them to the land that I had promised to give them. But whenever they saw any high hill and or any leafy tree, they slaughtered their sacrifices there and presented their offerings that provoked my anger. There they presented their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offering.

"Meanwhile, Babylon's king is standing at the fork of the road, where he can head in either of two directions, and that's where he is practicing divination. Shaking his arrows, he's asking questions of his teraphim while he examines livers.

"Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality.

"She became even more sexually immoral when she saw the images of the Chaldean men who had been carved in red on their walls.

Girded with waistbands around their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looked like chariot officers, similar to the Babylonians from Chaldea, where they had been born.

She displayed her immorality publicly and stripped herself naked, so I turned away in disgust from her, just as I had turned away in disgust from her sister.

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm about to turn you over to the control of those you hate, to the control of those from whom you turned away in disgust.

"After she had worn herself out by her adulterous behavior, I asked her, "Will they continue with their sexual immorality and with their prostitution?'

They've gone to her, like men do, to have sex with a prostitute. They had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those licentious women.

Pile up the wood! Make the fire burn hot. Boil the meat! Mix the seasonings. Burn those bones to a crisp!

You are to weep in silence, but you are not to participate in mourning rituals. You are to keep your turban on your head and your sandals on your feet. You are not to cover your mouth or eat what your comforters bring to you."

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died that evening. The next morning, I did as I had been commanded.

Beth-togarmah traded horses, war horses, and mules in exchange for what you had to sell.