Jeremiah 36-45

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

VII. Jeremiah and the Fall of Jerusalem

Chapter 36

Baruch, the Scribe of Jeremiah. ¹ In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you about Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, until today. ³ Perhaps, if the house of Judah hears all the evil I have in mind to do to them, so that all of them turn from their evil way, then I can forgive their wickedness and their sin.^{(A) 4} So Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah, and he wrote down on a scroll what Jeremiah said, all the words which the Lord had spoken to him. ⁵ Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch: “I cannot enter the house of the Lord; I am barred^[a] from it. ⁶ So you yourself must go. On a fast day in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house, read the words of the Lord from the scroll you wrote at my dictation; read them also to all the people of Judah who come up from their cities. ⁷ Perhaps they will present their supplication before the Lord and will all turn back from their evil way; for great is the anger and wrath with which the Lord has threatened this people.”^(B)

⁸ Baruch, son of Neriah, did everything Jeremiah the prophet commanded; from the scroll he read the Lord’s words in the Lord’s house. ⁹ In the ninth month, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people of Jerusalem and all those who came from Judah’s cities to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. ¹⁰ So Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the room of Gemariah,^[b] son of the scribe Shaphan, in the upper court of the Lord’s house, at the entrance of the New Temple Gate, in the hearing of all the people.

¹¹ Now Micaiah, son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord read from the scroll. ¹² So he went down to the house of the king, into the scribe’s chamber,^[c] where the princes were meeting in session: Elishama, the scribe; Delaiah, son of Shemaiah; Elnathan, son of Achbor; Gemariah, son of Shaphan; Zedekiah, son of Hananiah; and the other princes. ¹³ Micaiah reported to them all that he had heard Baruch read from his scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴ The princes immediately sent Jehudi, son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch with the order: “The scroll you read in the hearing of the people—bring it with you and come.” Scroll in hand, Baruch, son of Neriah, went to them. ¹⁵ “Sit down,” they said to him, “and read it in our hearing.” Baruch read it in their hearing, ¹⁶ and when they had heard all its words, they turned to each other in alarm and said to Baruch, “We have to tell the king all these things.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch: “Tell us, please, how did you come to write down all these words? Was it at his dictation?” ¹⁸ “Yes, he would dictate all these words to me,” Baruch answered them, “while I wrote them down with ink in the scroll.” ¹⁹ The princes said to Baruch, “Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah; do not let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ They went in to the king, into the courtyard; they had deposited the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. When they told the king everything that had happened, ²¹ the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the scribe, and read it to the king and to all the princes who were attending the king. ²² Now the king was sitting in his winter house, since it was the ninth month, and a fire was burning in the brazier before him. ²³ Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, he would cut off the piece with a scribe’s knife^[d] and throw it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire in the brazier. ²⁴ As they were listening to all these words the king and all his officials did not become alarmed, nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵ And though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ He commanded Jerahmeel, a royal prince, and Seraiah, son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them away.

²⁷ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the king burned the scroll and the words Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch: ²⁸ Take another scroll, and write on it all the words in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, burned. ²⁹ And against Jehoiakim, king of Judah, say this: Thus says the Lord: You are the one who burned that scroll, saying, “Why did you write on it: Babylon’s king shall surely come and ravage this land, emptying it of every living thing”? ³⁰ The Lord now says of Jehoiakim, king of Judah:^(C) No descendant of his shall sit on David’s throne; his corpse shall be thrown out, exposed to heat by day, frost by night.^{[e] 31} I will punish him and his descendants and his officials for their wickedness; upon them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the people of Judah I will bring all the evil threats to which they did not listen.

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to his scribe, Baruch, son of Neriah, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words contained in the scroll which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, adding many words like them.

Chapter 37

Jeremiah in the Dungeon. ¹ Zedekiah, son of Josiah, became king, succeeding Coniah, son of Jehoiakim; Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appointed him king over the land of Judah.^{(D) 2} Neither he, nor his officials, nor the people of the land would listen to the words which the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. ³ Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet with this request: “Please appeal to the Lord, our God, for us.”^{(E) 4} At this time Jeremiah still came and went freely among the people; he had not yet been put into prison.^{[f] 5} Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army^[g] had set out from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard this report, they withdrew from the city.^(F)

⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus you must say to the king of Judah who sent you to consult me: Listen! Pharaoh’s army, which has set out to help you, will return to Egypt, its own land.^{(G) 8} The Chaldeans shall return and attack this city; they shall capture it and destroy it by fire.^(H)

⁹ Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying: “The Chaldeans are surely leaving us forever.” They are not! ¹⁰ Even if you could defeat the whole Chaldean army that is now attacking you, and only the wounded remained, each in his tent, these would rise up and destroy the city with fire.^(I)

¹¹ Now when the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of the army of Pharaoh,^{(J) 12} Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin, to receive his share of property among the people. ¹³ But at the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, by the name of Irijah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” ¹⁴ “That is a lie!” Jeremiah answered, “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” Without listening to him, Irijah kept Jeremiah in custody and brought him to the princes.

¹⁵ The princes were enraged at Jeremiah and had Jeremiah beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they were using it as a jail.^{(K) 16} And so Jeremiah went into a room in the dungeon, where he remained many days.

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah had him brought to his palace, and he asked him secretly, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “There is!” Jeremiah answered: “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”^{(L) 18} Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah: “How have I wronged you or your officials or this people, that you should put me in prison?^{(M) 19} Where are your own prophets who prophesied for you, saying: ‘The King of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? ²⁰ Please hear me, my lord king! Grant my petition: do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I shall die there.”

²¹ So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be confined in the court of the guard and given a ration of bread every day from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.^(N)

Chapter 38

Jeremiah in the Muddy Cistern. ¹ Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malchiah, heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:^{[h] 2} Thus says the Lord: Those who remain in this city shall die by means of the sword, starvation, and disease; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live. Their lives shall be spared them as spoils of war that they may live.^{(O) 3} Thus says the Lord: This city shall certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon; he shall capture it.

⁴ Then the princes said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death. He is weakening the resolve^[i] of the soldiers left in this city and of all the people, by saying such things to them; he is not seeking the welfare of our people, but their ruin.”^{(P) 5} King Zedekiah answered: “He is in your hands,” for the king could do nothing with them. ⁶ And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, in the court of the guard, letting him down by rope. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.^(Q)

⁷ Now Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, a court official in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸ and Ebed-melech went there from the house of the king and said to him, ⁹ “My lord king, these men have done wrong in all their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet, throwing him into the cistern. He will starve to death on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city.”^{(R) 10} Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you, and get Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went first to the linen closet in the house of the king. He took some old, tattered rags and lowered them by rope to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Then he said to Jeremiah, “Put these old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up by rope out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

¹⁴ King Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah the prophet to meet him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. “I have a question to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”^{(S) 15} Jeremiah answered Zedekiah: “If I tell you anything, will you not have me put to death? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!”^{(T) 16} But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: “As the Lord lives who gave us our lives, I will not kill you, nor will I hand you over to those men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Jeremiah then said to Zedekiah: “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will only surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed by fire, and you and your household shall live.^{(U) 18} But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, this city shall fall into the hand of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it by fire, and you shall not escape their hand.”^(V)

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judahites who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I could be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me.”^{(W) 20} “You will not be handed over to them,” Jeremiah answered. “I beg you! Please listen to the voice of the Lord regarding what I tell you so that it may go well with you and your life be spared.^{(X) 21} But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown: ²² I see all the women who remain in the house of Judah’s king being brought out to the princes of Babylon’s king, and they are crying:

²³ All your wives and children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape their hands; you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city shall be destroyed by fire.”^(Z)

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die. ²⁵ If the princes should hear I spoke with you and if they should come and ask you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ or, ‘What did the king say to you?’ ²⁶ then give them this answer: ‘I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house lest I die there.’” ²⁷ When all the princes came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he answered them with the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been overheard of the conversation. ²⁸ Thus Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day Jerusalem was taken.^(AA)

Chapter 39

The Capture of Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was taken, ¹ in the ninth year of Zedekiah,^(AB) king of Judah, in the tenth month,^[j] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army marched against Jerusalem and placed it under siege. ² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month,^[k] the city wall was breached. ³ All the princes of the king of Babylon came and took their seats at the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer of Simmagir, a chief officer; Nebushazban, a high dignitary; and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.^{[l] 4} When Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all his warriors saw this, they fled, leaving the city at night by way of the king’s garden,^[m] through a gate between the two walls. He went in the direction of the Arabah,^{(AC) 5} but the Chaldean army pursued them; they caught up with Zedekiah in the wilderness near Jericho and took him prisoner. They brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah,^[n] in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced sentence upon him.^{(AD) 6} The king of Babylon executed the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his very eyes; the king of Babylon also executed all the nobles of Judah.^{(AE) 7} He then blinded Zedekiah and bound him in chains to bring him to Babylon.^(AF)

⁸ The Chaldeans set fire to the king’s house and the houses of the people and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.^{(AG) 9} Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, deported to Babylon the rest of the people left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the workers.^{(AH) 10} But Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor who had nothing and at the same time gave them vineyards and farms.^(AI)

Jeremiah Released to Gedaliah’s Custody. ¹¹ Concerning Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave these orders through Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard: ¹² “Take him and look after him; do not let anything happen to him. Whatever he may ask, you must do for him.”^{(AJ) 13} Thereupon Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, and Nebushazban, a high dignitary, and Nergal-sharezer, a chief officer, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon, ¹⁴ had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard and entrusted to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to bring him home. And so he remained among the people.^(AK)

A Word of Comfort for Ebed-melech. ¹⁵ While Jeremiah was still imprisoned in the court of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: ¹⁶ Go, tell this to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: See, I am now carrying out my words against this city, for evil and not for good; this will happen in your presence on that day.^{(AL) 17} But on that day I will deliver you—oracle of the Lord; you shall not be handed over to the men you dread. ¹⁸ I will make certain that you escape and do not fall by the sword. Your life will be your spoils of war because you trusted in me—oracle of the Lord.^(AM)

Chapter 40

Jeremiah Still in Judah. ¹ The word^[o] which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had released him in Ramah, where he found him a prisoner in chains among the captives of Jerusalem and Judah being exiled to Babylon.^{(AN) 2} The captain of the bodyguard took charge of Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord, your God, decreed ruin for this place. ³ Now he has made it happen, accomplishing what he decreed; because you sinned against the Lord and did not listen to his voice, this decree has been realized against you. ⁴ Now, I release you today from the chains upon your hands; if you want to come with me to Babylon, then come: I will look out for you. But if you do not want to come to Babylon, very well. See, the whole land lies before you; go wherever you think good and proper.^{(AO) 5} Or go to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has set over the cities of Judah. Stay with him among the people. Or go wherever you want!” The captain of the bodyguard gave him food and gifts and let him go.^{(AP) 6} So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, in Mizpah,^[p] and dwelt with him among the people left in the land.^(AQ)

⁷ When the military leaders still in the field with their soldiers heard that the king of Babylon had set Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, over the land and had put him in charge of men, women, and children, from the poor of the land who had not been deported to Babylon, ⁸ they and their soldiers came to Gedaliah in Mizpah: Ishmael, son of Nethaniah; Johanan, son of Kareah; Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai of Netophah; and Jezaniah of Beth-maacah. ⁹ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, so that everything may go well with you.^{(AR) 10} As for me, I will remain in Mizpah, as your representative before the Chaldeans when they come to us. You, for your part, harvest the wine, the fruit, and the oil, store them in jars, and remain in the cities you occupied.” ¹¹ Then all the Judahites in Moab, in Ammon, in Edom, and those in all other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had set over them Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. ¹² They all returned to the land of Judah from the places to which they had scattered. They went to Gedaliah at Mizpah and had a rich harvest of wine and fruit.

Assassination of Gedaliah. ¹³ Now Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the military leaders in the field came to Gedaliah in Mizpah ¹⁴ and said to him, “Surely you are aware that Baalis, the Ammonite king,^[q] has sent Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, to assassinate you?”^(AS) But Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, would not believe them. ¹⁵ Then Johanan, son of Kareah, said secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah: “Please let me go and kill Ishmael, son of Nethaniah; no one will know it. What if he assassinates you? All the Judahites who have now rallied behind you would scatter and the remnant of Judah would perish.” ¹⁶ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, answered Johanan, son of Kareah, “You must not do that. What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie!”

Chapter 41

¹ In the seventh month, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent, one of the king’s nobles, came with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah.^(AT) While they were together at table in Mizpah, ² Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten with him, stood up and struck down Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with swords. They killed him, since the king of Babylon had set him over the land; ³ Ishmael also killed all the Judahites of military age who were with Gedaliah and the Chaldean soldiers stationed there.

⁴ The day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone learned about it, ⁵ eighty men, in ragged clothes, with beards shaved off and gashes on their bodies, came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense for the house of the Lord. ⁶ Weeping as he went, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, set out from Mizpah to meet them. “Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam,” he said as he met them. ⁷ Once they were inside the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern. ⁸ Ten of them said to Ishmael: “Do not kill us! We have stores of wheat and barley, oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he spared them and did not kill them as he had killed their companions. ⁹ The cistern into which Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed was the large one King Asa made to defend himself against Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled this cistern with the slain.^(AU)

¹⁰ Ishmael led away the rest of the people left in Mizpah, including the princesses,^[r] whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had consigned to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. With these captives, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

Flight to Egypt. ¹¹ But when Johanan, son of Kareah, and the other army leaders with him heard about the crimes Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had committed, ¹² they took all their men and set out to attack Ishmael, son of Nethaniah. They overtook him at the great pool in Gibeon.^{[s] 13} At the sight of Johanan, son of Kareah, and the other army leaders, the people with Ishmael rejoiced; ¹⁴ all of those whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah went back to Johanan, son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, escaped from Johanan with eight men and fled to the Ammonites. ¹⁶ Then Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the military leaders took charge of all the rest of the people whom Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had taken away from Mizpah after he killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam—the soldiers, the women with children, and court officials, whom he brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷ They set out and stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go into Egypt. ¹⁸ They were afraid of the Chaldeans, because Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had slain Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had set over the land.

Chapter 42

¹ Then all the military leaders, including Johanan, son of Kareah, Azariah, son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, ² approached Jeremiah the prophet and said, “Please grant our petition; pray for us to the Lord, your God, for all this remnant. As you see, only a few of us remain, but once we were many. ³ May the Lord, your God, show us the way we should take and what we should do.” ⁴ “Very well!” Jeremiah the prophet answered them: “I will pray to the Lord, your God, as you desire; whatever the Lord answers, I will tell you; I will withhold nothing from you.”^{(AV) 5} And they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not follow all the instructions the Lord, your God, sends us through you.^{(AW) 6} Whether we like it or not, we will obey the command of the Lord, our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us for obeying the command of the Lord, our God.”^(AX)

⁷ Ten days passed before the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he called Johanan, son of Kareah, his army leaders, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and said to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to offer your petition: ¹⁰ If indeed you will remain in this land, I will build you up, and not tear you down; I will plant you, not uproot you; for I repent of the evil I have done you.^{(AY) 11} Do not fear the king of Babylon, as you do now. Do not fear him—oracle of the Lord—for I am with you to save you, to rescue you from his power.^{(AZ) 12} I will take pity on you, so that he will have pity on you and let you return to your land.^{(BA) 13} But if you keep saying, “We will not stay in this land,” thus disobeying the voice of the Lord, your God, ¹⁴ and saying, “No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, nor hear the trumpet alarm, nor hunger for bread. There we will live!”^{(BB) 15} then listen to the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are set on going to Egypt and settling down there once you arrive, ¹⁶ the sword you fear shall overtake you in the land of Egypt; the hunger you dread shall pursue you to Egypt and there you shall die.^{(BC) 17} All those determined to go to Egypt to live shall die by the sword, famine, and disease: not one shall survive or escape the evil that I am bringing upon them.^{(BD) 18} For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my furious wrath was poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my anger be poured out on you when you reach Egypt. You shall become a malediction and a horror, a curse and a reproach, and you shall never see this place again.^(BE)

¹⁹ The Lord has spoken to you, remnant of Judah. Do not go to Egypt! Mark well that I am warning you this day. ²⁰ At the cost of your lives you have been deceitful, for you yourselves sent me to the Lord, your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord, our God; whatever the Lord, our God, shall say, tell us and we will do it.” ²¹ Today I have told you, but you have not listened to the voice of the Lord your God, in anything that he has sent me to tell you.^{(BF) 22} Have no doubt about this: you shall die by the sword, famine, and disease in the place where you want to go and live.^(BG)

Chapter 43

¹ When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words the Lord, their God, sent to them, ² Azariah, son of Hoshaiah, Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the others had the insolence to say to Jeremiah: “You lie; the Lord, our God, did not send you to tell us, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there.’ ³ Baruch, son of Neriah, is inciting you against us, to hand us over to the Chaldeans to be killed or exiled to Babylon.”^(BH)

⁴ So Johanan, son of Kareah, and the rest of the leaders and the people did not listen to the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah.^{(BI) 5} Instead, Johanan, son of Kareah, and the military leaders took along all the remnant of Judah who had been dispersed among the nations and then had returned to dwell in the land of Judah: ⁶ men, women, and children, the princesses and everyone whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had consigned to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah, the prophet, and Baruch, son of Neriah.^{(BJ) 7} They went to Egypt—they did not listen to the voice of the Lord—and came to Tahpanhes.^(BK)

Jeremiah in Egypt. ⁸ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹ Take some large stones in your hand and set them in mortar in the terrace at the entrance to the house of Pharaoh in Tahpanhes, while the Judahites watch. ¹⁰ Then say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will place his throne upon these stones which I, Jeremiah, have set up, and stretch his canopy above them.^{(BL) 11} He shall come and strike the land of Egypt: with death, those marked for death; with exile, those marked for exile; with the sword, those marked for the sword.^{(BM) 12} He shall set fire to the temples of Egypt’s gods, burn the gods and carry them off. He shall pick the land of Egypt clean, as a shepherd picks lice off his cloak, and then depart victorious.^{(BN) 13} He shall smash the obelisks at the Temple of the Sun in the land of Egypt and destroy with fire the temples of the Egyptian gods.

Chapter 44

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Judahites who were living in Egypt, those living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in Upper Egypt: ^2 [t]Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the evil I brought upon Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. Today they lie in ruins uninhabited,^{(BO) 3} because of the evil they did to provoke me, going after other gods, offering incense and serving other gods they did not know, neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors.^{(BP) 4} Though I repeatedly sent you all my servants the prophets, saying: “You must not commit this abominable deed I hate,” ⁵ they did not listen or incline their ears in order to turn from their evil, no longer offering incense to other gods.^{(BQ) 6} Therefore the fury of my anger poured forth and kindled fire in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, to turn them into the ruined wasteland they are today.

⁷ Now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why inflict so great an evil upon yourselves, cutting off from Judah man and woman, child and infant, not leaving yourselves even a remnant? ⁸ Why do you provoke me with the works of your hands, offering sacrifice to other gods here in the land of Egypt where you have come to live? Will you cut yourselves off and become a curse, a reproach among all the nations of the earth?^{(BR) 9} Have you forgotten the evil of your ancestors, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their wives, and your own evil and the evil of your wives—all that they did in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?^{(BS) 10} To this day they have not been crushed down, nor have they shown fear. They have not followed my law and my statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.^(BT)

¹¹ Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have set my face against you for evil, to cut off all Judah. ¹² I will take away the remnant of Judah who insisted on going to the land of Egypt to live there; in the land of Egypt they shall meet their end. They shall fall by the sword or be consumed by hunger. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by sword or hunger; they shall become a malediction, a horror, a curse, a reproach.^{(BU) 13} Thus I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem, with sword, hunger, and disease, ¹⁴ so that none of the remnant of Judah who came to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive.^(BV) No one shall return to the land of Judah. Even though they long to return and live there, they shall not return except as refugees.

¹⁵ They answered Jeremiah—all the men who knew that their wives were offering sacrifices to other gods, all the women standing there in the immense crowd, and all the people who lived in Lower and Upper Egypt: ¹⁶ “Regarding the word you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not listening to you.^{(BW) 17} Rather we will go on doing what we proposed; we will offer incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we have done, along with our ancestors, our kings and princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty to eat, we prospered, and we suffered no misfortune.^{(BX) 18} But ever since we stopped offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out libations to her, we lack everything and are being destroyed by sword and hunger.” ¹⁹ And the women said, “When we offered sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and poured out libations to her, did we bake cakes in her image and pour out libations to her without our husbands’ consent?”^(BY)

²⁰ To all the people, men and women, who gave him this answer, Jeremiah said: ²¹ As for the sacrifices you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you, your ancestors, your kings and princes, and the people of the land—did not the Lord remember them? Did it not enter his mind?^{(BZ) 22} The Lord could no longer bear the evil of your deeds, the abominations you were doing; then your land became a waste, a horror, a curse, without even one inhabitant, as it is today.^{(CA) 23} Because you offered sacrifice and sinned against the Lord, not listening to the voice of the Lord, not following his law, his statutes, and his decrees, therefore this evil has overtaken you, as it is today.^(CB)

²⁴ Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women: Hear the word of the Lord, all you Judahites in the land of Egypt: ²⁵ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have carried out with your hands what your mouths have spoken: “We will go on fulfilling the vows we have made to offer sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out libations to her.” Very well! keep your vows, fulfill your vows! ²⁶ And then listen to the word of the Lord, all you Judahites living in Egypt; I swear by my own great name, says the Lord: in the whole land of Egypt, my name shall no longer be pronounced by the lips of any Judahite, saying, “As the Lord God lives.” ²⁷ I am watching over them for evil, not for good. All the Judahites in Egypt shall come to an end by sword or famine until they are completely destroyed.^{(CC) 28} Those who escape the sword to return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah shall be few in number. The whole remnant of Judah who came to Egypt to live shall know whose word stands, mine or theirs.^(CD)

²⁹ And this shall be a sign to you—oracle of the Lord—I will punish you in this place so that you will know that my words stand solidly against you for evil. ³⁰ Thus says the Lord: See! I will hand over Pharaoh Hophra,^[u] king of Egypt, to his enemies, to those seeking his life, just as I handed over Zedekiah, king of Judah, to his enemy Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, to the one seeking his life.^(CE)

Chapter 45

A Message to Baruch.^{[v] 1} The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch, son of Neriah, when he wrote on a scroll words from Jeremiah’s own mouth in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:^{(CF) 2} Thus says the Lord, God of Israel, to you, Baruch. ³ You said, “Woe is me! the Lord has added grief to my pain.^(CG) I have worn myself out with groaning; rest eludes me.” ⁴ You must say this to him. Thus says the Lord: What I have built, I am tearing down; what I have planted, I am uprooting: all this land.^{(CH) 5} And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them! I am bringing evil on all flesh—oracle of the Lord—but I will grant you your life as spoils of war, wherever you may go.^(CI)