Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



This is what Jehovah says: 'When Babylon's seventy years are over I will come to you. I will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place.

It was the first year of his reign. I, Daniel, understood from The Books (Holy Scriptures) the number of the years in the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet. It was seventy years since the destruction of Jerusalem.

This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.' When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes,' declares Jehovah. 'I will turn Babylon into a permanent wasteland.

I will let you find me, declares Jehovah. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have scattered you,' declares Jehovah. 'I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive.'

When King Zedekiah of Judah locked up Jeremiah, Zedekiah asked him: Why are you prophesying? You are saying, 'this is what Jehovah says: I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will talk to Nebuchadnezzar in person and look him in the eye. Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him, declares Jehovah. When you fight the Babylonians, you will not win.'

Now in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with all his army. He took his position and laid siege to it. They built earthworks all round the town. They surrounded the town and laid siege till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month, the store of food in the town was almost gone. There was no food for the people of the land. read more.
An opening was made in the wall of the town. All the men of war went in flight by night through the doorway between the two walls by the king's garden. The Chaldaeans were stationed around the town: and the king went by the way toward the plain of Arabah. But the Chaldaean army went after the king. They overtook him in the lowlands of Jericho. All his army went in flight from him in every direction. They made the king a prisoner and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah to be judged. They put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, chained him with iron bands and took him to Babylon. It was the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.


Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah during Zedekiah's tenth year as king of Judah. This was Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year as king. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was blockading Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah was locked up in the courtyard of the prison. This prison was in the palace of the king of Judah. When King Zedekiah of Judah locked up Jeremiah, Zedekiah asked him: Why are you prophesying? You are saying, 'this is what Jehovah says: I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. read more.
King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will talk to Nebuchadnezzar in person and look him in the eye. Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him, declares Jehovah. When you fight the Babylonians, you will not win.' Jeremiah said: The word of Jehovah came to me. He said: Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you. He says: Buy for yourself my field at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.' Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah and said to me: 'Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin. You have the right of possession and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah. I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son. I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying: Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel says: Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may be preserved a long time. Jehovah of Host, the God of Israel says: Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.' After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah I prayed to Jehovah:


This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: 'Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to get advice from me: Pharaoh's army has come out to help you. But it will go back to Egypt, its own land. Then the Babylonians will return. They will attack the city, capture it, and burn it down. Jehovah says: 'Do not deceive yourselves by thinking that the Babylonians will leave you. They will not leave you. read more.
Even if you would defeat the entire Babylonian army so that they had only a few badly wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn down this city!'

He did what Jehovah his God considered evil. He did not humble himself in front of the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke Jehovah's word.

When King Zedekiah of Judah locked up Jeremiah, Zedekiah asked him: Why are you prophesying? You are saying, 'this is what Jehovah says: I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will talk to Nebuchadnezzar in person and look him in the eye. Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him, declares Jehovah. When you fight the Babylonians, you will not win.'

Like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because they are rotten, says Jehovah, so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them. I will send wars, famines, and plagues until they disappear from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.'

I spoke the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah: Surrender to the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and you will stay alive. Why should you and your people die in wars, famines, and plagues? Jehovah has threatened the nations that do not serve the king of Babylon. Do not listen to the prophets who tell you, 'You will never serve the king of Babylon.' They prophesy lies to you. read more.
I did not send them, declares Jehovah. They prophesy lies in my name. So I will scatter you, and you and the prophets will die.' I also spoke this message to the priests and all the people. This is what Jehovah said to me: Do not listen to the prophets who tell you that the utensils of Jehovah's Temple will be brought back from Babylon soon. They prophesy lies to you. Do not listen to them. Instead, serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be turned into rubble? If they are prophets and Jehovah is speaking to them, they should beg Jehovah of Hosts not to allow the utensils that are left in Jehovah's Temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem to be taken away to Babylon. Jehovah of Host reports concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the House of Jehovah and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem, They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day I visit them, declares Jehovah. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.'

Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah, and the king asked him privately in the palace: Is there any message from Jehovah? Jeremiah answered: Yes! There is a message from Jehovah. You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.

On another occasion King Zedekiah had me brought to him at the third entrance to the temple. He said: I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the whole truth. I answered: If I tell you the truth, you will put me to death, and if I give you advice, you will not pay any attention. So King Zedekiah promised me in secret: I swear by the living God, the God who gave us life, that I will not put you to death or hand you over to the men who want to kill you. read more.
Then I told Zedekiah that Jehovah, the God of Israel said: If you surrender to the king of Babylon's officers, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned down. Both you and your family will be spared. But if you do not surrender, then this city will be handed over to the Babylonians. They will burn it down, and you will not escape from them. The king answered: I am afraid of our own people who have deserted to the Babylonians. I may be handed over to them and tortured. I said: You will not be handed over to them. I beg you to obey Jehovah's message. Then all will go well with you, and your life will be spared. Jehovah has shown me in a vision what will happen if you refuse to surrender. In it I saw all the women left in Judah's royal palace being led out to the king of Babylonia's officers. Listen to what they were saying as they went. The king's best friends misled him, they overruled him. And now that his feet have sunk in the mud, his friends have left him. Then I added: All your women and children will be taken out to the Babylonians. You will not escape from them. You will be taken prisoner by the king of Babylonia. And this city will be burned to the ground. Zedekiah replied: Do not let anyone know about this conversation, and your life will not be in danger. If the officials hear that I have talked with you, they will come and ask you what we said. They will promise not to put you to death if you tell them everything. Just tell them you were begging me not to send you back to prison to die there. Then all the officials came and questioned me. I told them exactly what the king had told me to say. There was nothing else they could do, because no one had overheard the conversation. I was kept in the palace courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured.