 1 The Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest saying, 2 Please inquire of the Lord for us. For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is warring against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that he may go up from us. 3 Then Jeremiah said to them, You shall say this to Zedekiah, 4 Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls. And I will gather them together in the middle of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 6 I will strike the people of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great plague. 7 Afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver King Zedekiah of Judah and his servants and the people and those who are left in this city from the plague, from the sword and from the famine, into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword and will not spare them nor have pity nor have mercy. 8 To this people say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Those who remain in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by plague. But those who go out and fall to the Chaldeans who are all around you, they will live and their life will be their prize. 10 I have turned+ against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire. 11 Concerning the house of the king of Judah say, Hear the Word of the Lord. 12 O house of David, thus says the Lord: Do judgment in the morning, and deliver those who are robbed from the oppressor lest my fury go out like fire and burn so that no one can put it out, because of the evil of your doings. 13 Behold, I am against you, you inhabitants of the valley and rock of the plain, says the Lord. You say, Who will come down against us? Who can enter into our hiding places? 14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in the forest and it will devour everything around it.
|