Jeremiah 38–40; Psalm 74; Psalm 79

1Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard that Jeremiah had been telling all the people:

2“This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live.

3This is what the LORD says: This city will surely be delivered into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.”

4Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”

5“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.”

6So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

7Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,

8Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and said to the king,

9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city.”

10So the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

11Then Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the king’s palace, to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

12Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, “Put these worn-out rags and clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,

13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” said the king to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”

15“If I tell you,” Jeremiah replied, “you will surely put me to death. And even if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

16But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you, nor will I deliver you into the hands of these men who are seeking your life.”

17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.

18But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”

19But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may deliver me into their hands to abuse me.”

20“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, that it may go well with you and you may live.

21But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the LORD has shown me:

22All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you— those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’

23All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

24Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die.

25If the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’

26then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”

27When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he relayed to them the exact words the king had commanded him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.

28And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

1In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city.

2And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.

3Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

4When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah.

5But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.

6There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.

7Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon.

8The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

9Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away to Babylon the remnant of the people who had remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to him.

10But Nebuzaradan left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who had no property, and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

11Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, saying,

12“Take him, look after him, and do not let any harm come to him; do for him whatever he says.”

13So Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon

14had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.

15And while Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD had come to him:

16“Go and tell Ebed-melech the Cushite that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to fulfill My words against this city for harm and not for good, and on that day they will be fulfilled before your eyes.

17But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you will not be delivered into the hands of the men whom you fear.

18For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD.’”

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

2The captain of the guard found Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God decreed this disaster on this place,

3and now the LORD has fulfilled it; He has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, this thing has happened to you.

4But now, behold, I am freeing you today from the chains that were on your wrists. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look, the whole land is before you. Wherever it seems good and right to you, go there.”

5But before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people, or go anywhere else that seems right.” Then the captain of the guard gave him a ration and a gift and released him.

6So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.

7When all the commanders and men of the armies in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children who were the poorest of the land and had not been exiled to Babylon,

8they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite—they and their men.

9Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.

10As for me, I will stay in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine grapes, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have taken.”

11When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them,

12they all returned from all the places to which they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered an abundance of wine grapes and summer fruit.

13Meanwhile, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

14and said to him, “Are you aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

15Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah. “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah,” he said. “No one will know it. Why should he take your life and scatter all the people of Judah who have gathered to you, so that the remnant of Judah would perish?”

16But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

1Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?

2Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion, where You dwell.

3Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

4Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,

5like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees

6and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

7They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

8They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.

9There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

10How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

11Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!

12Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.

13You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;

14You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.

15You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

16The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.

17You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.

18Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.

19Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.

20Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

21Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.

22Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.

23Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.

1The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

2They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

3They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

5How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

6Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,

7for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

8Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.

9Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.

10Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

11May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.

12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.

13Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.