Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will place into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.

'Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and thou hast spoken with them, and brought them into the house of Jehovah, unto one of the chambers, and caused them to drink wine.'

Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;

Go, and thou hast said to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Do ye not receive instruction? -- to hearken unto My words -- an affirmation of Jehovah.

“The command which Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons not to drink wine has been observed [as a custom for more than two hundred years]. To this day they do not drink wine, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have repeatedly spoken to you, yet you have not listened to Me.

Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me;

For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, I will send on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the evil which I said I would do to them: because I sent my words to them, but they did not give ear; crying out to them, but they gave no answer.

But to the Rechabites Jeremiah said, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Because you have done the orders of Jonadab your father, and have kept his rules, and done everything as he gave you orders to do it;

For this reason the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, will never be without a man to take his place before me.

'Take to thee a roll of a book, and thou hast written on it all the words that I have spoken unto thee concerning Israel, and concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day;

Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.

It may be that their supplication [for mercy] will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”

Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.

"{Take again} for yourself another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burned.

And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

For this reason the Lord has said of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, He will have no son to take his place on the seat of David: his dead body will be put out to undergo the heat of the day and the cold of the night.

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘This is what you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will return to Egypt, to their own land.

The Lord has said, Have no false hopes, saying to yourselves, The Chaldaeans will go away from us: for they will not go away.

Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What has been my sin against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

The Lord has said, This town will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.

And the king commandeth Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, 'Take with thee from this thirty men, and thou hast brought up Jeremiah the prophet from the pit, before he dieth.'

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."

And Jeremiah saith unto Zedekiah, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, God of Israel: If thou dost certainly go forth unto the heads of the king of Babylon, then hath thy soul lived, and this city is not burned with fire, yea, thou hast lived, thou and thy house.

But if you keep refusing to go out and surrender to them, this is the word [and the vision] which the Lord has shown me:

But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee:

then thou hast said unto them, I am causing my supplication to fall before the king, not to cause me to return to the house of Jonathan, to die there.'

'Go, and thou hast spoken to Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am bringing in My words unto this city for evil, and not for good, and they have been before thee in that day.

For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.

The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and told him, "The LORD your God has predicted this disaster on this place.

Now the Lord has brought it about and has done just as He promised. Because you [people of Judah] have sinned against the Lord and did not listen to and honor His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you.

While he still had not turned back, [Nebuzaradan] added, "Return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed [in an official position] over the towns of Judah, and stay with him in the midst of the people. Or to [wherever it is] right in your eyes to go, [then] go [there]." Then [the] captain of [the] guard gave him an allowance of provisions and a present, and let him go.

and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

Then Johanan son of Kareah suggested to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah, “Let me go kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know it. Why should he kill you and scatter all of Judah that has gathered to you so that the remnant of Judah would perish?”

If you still go on living in the land, then I will go on building you up and not pulling you down, planting you and not uprooting you: for my purpose of doing evil to you has been changed.

Then give ear now to the word of the Lord, O you last of Judah: the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, If your minds are fixed on going into Egypt and stopping there;

For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth on you, when you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.

The Lord has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not go into Egypt!” Know with certainty that I [Jeremiah] have warned you and testified to you this day

For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in everything He has sent me to tell you.

Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the proud and insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are not telling the truth! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go into Egypt to live there.’

Take in thy hand great stones, and thou hast hidden them, in the clay, in the brick-kiln, that is at the opening of the house of Pharaoh in Tahpanhes, before the eyes of the men of Judah,

and thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: 'Lo, I am sending, and I have taken Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have set his throne above these stones that I have hid, and he hath stretched out his pavilion over them,

The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: You have seen all the evil which I have sent on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah; and now, this day they are waste and unpeopled;

So now, the Lord, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, Why are you doing this great evil against yourselves, causing every man and woman, little child and baby at the breast among you in Judah to be cut off till not one is still living;

So this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, my face will be turned against you for evil, for the cutting off of all Judah;

So that none of the remnant of Judah who has gone into the land of Egypt to live there shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to live there. For none shall return except those who escape.

As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

But we will certainly do every word which has gone out of our mouths, burning perfumes to the queen of heaven and draining out drink offerings to her as we did, we and our fathers and our kings and our rulers, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then we had food enough and did well and saw no evil.

The Lord could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your acts and the repulsive acts which you have committed; because of them your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

Because you have burned sacrifices [to idols] and because you have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law and in His statutes and in His testimonies, therefore this tragedy has fallen on you, as it has this day.”

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, particularly to all the women. "Listen to what the Lord has to say all you people of Judah who are in Egypt.

This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: You women have said with your mouths, and with your hands you have done what you said, We will certainly give effect to the oaths we have made, to have perfumes burned to the queen of heaven and drink offerings drained out to her: then give effect to your oaths and do them.

But listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, 'I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, "As surely as the Lord God lives."

And those who get away safe from the sword will come back from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, a very small number; and all the rest of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt and are living there, will see whose word has effect, mine or theirs.

The Lord has said, See, I will give up Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of those who are fighting against him and desiring to take his life, as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, his hater, who had designs against his life.

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said of you, O Baruch:

'Thou hast said, Woe to me, now, for Jehovah hath added sorrow to my pain, I have been wearied with my sighing, and rest I have not found.

This is what you are to say to him: The Lord has said, Truly, the building which I put up will be broken down, and that which was planted by me will be uprooted, and this through all the land;

Why have I seen this?
They are terrified,
they are retreating,
their warriors are crushed,
they flee headlong,
they never look back,
terror is on every side!
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Egypt rises like the Nile,
Even like the rivers whose waters surge about;
And He has said, “I will rise and cover that land;
I will surely destroy the city and its inhabitants.”

For that day belongs to the Lord God of hosts,
A day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.
And the sword will devour and be satiated
And drink its fill of their blood;
For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice [like that of a great sin offering]
In the north country by the river Euphrates.

Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt, In vain thou hast multiplied medicines, Healing there is none for thee.

The nations have heard of your disgrace and shame,
And your cry [of distress] has filled the earth.
For warrior has stumbled against warrior,
And both of them have fallen together.

Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.

Why have your strong ones been swept away?
Each has not stood,
for the Lord has thrust him down.

“They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is destroyed and is merely a loud noise;
He has let the appointed time [of opportunity] pass by!’

As I live—
this is the King’s declaration;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
He will come like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea.

Egypt is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north.

Even her mercenaries in her midst [are] like calves of fattening, for they also have turned away, they have fled together. They stand not, for the day of their calamity has come, the time of their punishment.

They will cut down her forest—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
though it is dense,
for they are more numerous than locusts;
they cannot be counted.

“The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,
Given over to the power of the people of the north.”

The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send punishment on Amon of No and on Pharaoh and on those who put their faith in him;

I will hand them over to those who want to take their lives—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after this, it will be inhabited again as in ancient times.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
for I will be with you.
I will bring destruction on all the nations
where I have banished you,
but I will not bring destruction on you.
I will discipline you with justice,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

This is what the Lord has said: See, waters are coming up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, overflowing the land and everything in it, the town and those who are living in it; and men will give a cry, and all the people of the land will be crying out in pain.

For the time has come to destroy all the Philistines. The time has come to destroy all the help that remains for Tyre and Sidon. For I, the Lord, will destroy the Philistines, that remnant that came from the island of Crete.

Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is destroyed. O remnant of their valley, {how long} will you cut yourself with a blade?

“How can His sword be quiet
When the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the [whole Philistine] seashore
There He has assigned it.”

Of Moab. The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Sorrow on Nebo, for it has been made waste; Kiriathaim has been put to shame and is taken: the strong place is put to shame and broken down.

The praise of Moab has come to an end; as for Heshbon, evil has been designed against her; come, let us put an end to her as a nation. But your mouth will be shut, O Madmen; the sword will go after you.

Moab is broken; her cry has gone out to Zoar.

For by the slope of Luhith they will go up, weeping all the way; for on the way down to Horonaim the cry of destruction has come to their ears.

For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.

“And the destroyer will come upon every city;
No city will escape.
The [Jordan] valley also will be ruined
And the plain will be devastated,
As the Lord has said.

“Moab has been at ease from his youth;
He has also been undisturbed, and settled like wine on his dregs,
And he has not been emptied from one vessel to another,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore his flavor remains in him,
And his scent has not changed.

Therefore look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will send those to him, who will pour him out.
They will empty his containers
and smash his jars.

“Moab has been made desolate and his cities have gone up [in smoke and flame];
And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,”
Says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

“The disaster of Moab will soon come,
And his calamity has swiftly hastened.

Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame. Mourn and say, 'Alas, its powerful influence has been broken! Its glory and power have been done away!'

Come down from glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your fortifications.

“O inhabitant of Aroer,
Stand by the road and keep watch!
Ask [of] him who flees and [ask of] her who escapes,
Saying, ‘What has happened?’

Moab has been put to shame, she is broken: make loud sounds of grief, crying out for help; give the news in Arnon, that Moab has been made waste.

“Judgment has come on [the land of] the plain—upon Holon, Jahzah, and against Mephaath,

Moab’s horn is chopped off; his arm is shattered.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant and magnified himself against the Lord [by denying Reuben’s occupation of the land the Lord had assigned him]. Moab also will wallow in his vomit, and he too shall become a laughingstock.

For was not Israel a derision to thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou hast spoken of him, thou hast leaped for joy.

I know his outburst.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is empty.
His boast is empty.

“O vines of Sibmah, I will weep for you
More than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards].
Your tendrils [of influence] stretched across the sea,
Reaching [even] to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen
On your summer fruits and your [season’s] crop of grapes.

“Therefore My heart moans and sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans and sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore [the remnant of] the abundant riches they gained has perished.

On all the house-tops of Moab and in its streets there is weeping everywhere; for Moab has been broken like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord.

“How it is broken down! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab will become a laughingstock and a [horrifying] terror to all who are around him.”