Jeremiah 34; Jeremiah 35; Jeremiah 36

1 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, and all of his armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against all of the towns that were around it. All of the kingdoms and nations Nebuchadnezzar ruled over were helping him. At that time a message came to me from the Lord. He said,

2 "I am the Lord, the God of Israel. Go to Zedekiah, the king of Judah. Tell him, 'The LORD says, "I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylonia. He will burn it down.

3 You will not escape from his powerful hand. You will certainly be captured. You will be handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylonia with your own eyes. He will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.

4 " ' "But listen to my promise, Zedekiah. Listen, king of Judah. I say that you will not be killed with a sword.

5 You will die in a peaceful way. People made fires to honor the kings who died before you. In the same way, they will make a fire in your honor. They will sob over you. They will say, 'My poor master!' I myself make this promise," announces the Lord.' "

6 Then I, the prophet Jeremiah, told all of that to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem.

7 At that time Nebuchadnezzar's armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against Lachish and Azekah. Those two cities were still holding out. They were the only cities left in Judah that had high walls around them.

8 A message came to me from the Lord. King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all of the people in Jerusalem. He had told them to set their Hebrew slaves free.

9 All of them had to do it. That applied to male and female slaves alike. No one was allowed to hold another Jew as a slave.

10 So all of the officials and people entered into that covenant. They agreed to set their male and female slaves free. They agreed not to hold them as slaves anymore. Instead, they set them free.

11 But later they changed their minds. They took back the people they had set free. They made them slaves again.

12 Then a message came to me from the Lord.

13 The LORD is the God of Israel. He says, "I made a covenant with your people long ago. I brought them out of Egypt. That is the land where they were slaves. I said,

14 'Every seventh year you must set your people free. You must set free all of the Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. Let them serve you for six years. Then you must let them go free.'(Deuteronomy 15:12) But your people did not listen to me. They did not pay any attention to me.

15 "Recently you turned away from your sins. You did what is right in my eyes. Each of you set your Hebrew slaves free. You even made a covenant in front of me. You did it in the house where I have put my Name.

16 But now you have turned around. You have treated my name as if it were not holy. Each of you has taken back your male and female slaves. You had set them free to go where they wished. But now you have forced them to become your slaves again."

17 So the LORD says, "You have not obeyed me. You have not set your Hebrew slaves free. So now I will set you free," announces the Lord. "I will set you free to be destroyed by war, plague and hunger. I will make all of the kingdoms on earth displeased with you.

18 "The men who have broken my covenant will be punished. They have not lived up to the terms of the covenant they made in front of me. When you made that covenant, you cut a calf in two. Then you walked between its pieces. Now I will cut you to pieces.

19 That includes all of you who walked between the pieces of the calf. It includes the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests. It also includes some of the people of the land.

20 "So I will hand all of those people over to their enemies who are trying to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the wild animals.

21 "I will hand King Zedekiah and his officials over to their enemies. I will hand them over to those who want to kill them. I will give them over to the armies of the king of Babylonia. They have now pulled back from you.

22 But I am going to give an order," announces the Lord. "I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it. They will take it and burn it down. And I will completely destroy the towns of Judah. No one will be able to live there."

1 A message came to me from the Lord. It came during the time Jehoiakim was king over Judah. He was the son of Josiah. The message said,

2 "Go to the members of the family line of Recab. Invite them to come to one of the side rooms in my house. Then give them wine to drink."

3 So I went to get Jaazaniah. He was the son of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the son of Habazziniah. I also went to get Jaazaniah's brothers and all of his sons. That included all of the members of the family line of Recab.

4 I brought them into the LORD's house. I took them into the room of the sons of Hanan. He was the son of Igdaliah. He was also a man of God. His room was next to the room of the officials. Their room was above the room of Maaseiah. He was the son of Shallum. He also was one of those who guarded the temple doors.

5 Then I got bowls full of wine and some cups. I set them down in front of the men from the family line of Recab. I said to them, "Drink some wine."

6 But they replied, "We don't drink wine. That's because Jonadab gave us a command. He was the son of Recab. He was also one of our own people from long ago. He commanded, 'You and your children after you must never drink wine.

7 Also you must never build houses. You must never plant crops or vineyards. You must never have any of those things. Instead, you must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are wandering around.'

8 "We have done everything Jonadab, the son of Recab, commanded us to do. So we and our wives and our children have never drunk wine.

9 We have never built houses to live in. We've never had vineyards, fields or crops.

10 We've always lived in tents. We've completely obeyed everything Jonadab commanded our people of long ago.

11 "But Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, marched into this land. Then we said, 'Come. We must go to Jerusalem. There we can escape the armies of Babylonia and Aram.' So we have remained in Jerusalem."

12 Then a message came to me from the Lord. It said,

13 "The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, 'Go. Speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Tell them, "Won't you ever learn a lesson? Won't you ever obey my words?" announces the Lord.

14 " ' "Jonadab, the son of Recab, ordered his children not to drink wine. And they have kept his command. To this very day they do not drink wine. They obey the command Jonadab gave their people long ago. But I have spoken to you again and again. In spite of that, you have not obeyed me.

15 " ' "Again and again I sent all of my servants the prophets to you. They said, 'Each of you must turn from your evil ways. You must change the way you act. Do not worship other gods. Do not serve them. Then you will live in the land. I gave it to you and your people long ago.' But you have not paid any attention. You have not listened to me.

16 " ' "The children of Jonadab, the son of Recab, have obeyed the command Jonadab gave them long ago. But the people of Judah have not obeyed me." ' "

17 So the LORD God who rules over all speaks. The God of Israel says, "Listen! I am going to bring horrible trouble on Judah. I will also bring it on everyone who lives in Jerusalem. I will bring on them every trouble I said I would. I spoke to them. But they did not listen. I called out to them. But they did not answer."

18 Then I spoke to the members of the family line of Recab. I said, "The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, 'You have obeyed the command Jonadab gave your people long ago. You have followed all of his directions. You have done everything he ordered.'

19 So the LORD who rules over all speaks. The God of Israel says, 'Jonadab, the son of Recab, will always have a man from his family to serve me.' "

1 A message came to me from the Lord. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. The message said,

2 "Get a scroll. Write on it all of the words I have spoken to you. Write down what I have said about Israel, Judah and all of the other nations. Write what I have said to you from the time of King Josiah until now.

3 The people of Judah will hear about all of the trouble I plan to bring on them. Maybe then all of them will turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the evil things they have done."

4 So I sent for Baruch, the son of Neriah. I told him to write down all of the words the LORD had spoken to me. And Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

5 Then I said to him, "I'm not allowed to go to the LORD's temple.

6 So you go there. Go on a day when the people are fasting. Read to them from the scroll. Read the words of the LORD you wrote down as I gave them to you. Read them to all of the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

7 They will hear what the LORD will do to them when his burning anger blazes out against them. Then perhaps they will pray to him. And maybe all of them will turn from their evil ways."

8 Baruch, the son of Neriah, did everything I told him to do. He went to the LORD's temple. There he read the words of the LORD from the scroll.

9 It was in the fifth year that Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, was king of Judah. It was the ninth month of that year. A time of fasting at the LORD's temple had been ordered. All of the people in Jerusalem were told to take part in it. So were those who had come in from the towns of Judah.

10 Baruch read to all of the people who were at the LORD's temple. He read my words from the scroll. He was in the room of the secretary Gemariah. It was located in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple. Gemariah was the son of Shaphan.

11 Micaiah was the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Micaiah heard Baruch reading all of the LORD's words that were written on the scroll.

12 Then he went down to the secretary's room in the royal palace. All of the officials were sitting there. They included the secretary Elishama and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah. Elnathan, the son of Acbor, was also there. So was Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, was there too. And so were all of the other officials.

13 Micaiah told all of them what he had heard. He told them everything Baruch had read to the people from the scroll.

14 All of the officials sent Jehudi to speak to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jehudi was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Cushi. Jehudi said to Baruch, "Come. Bring the scroll you have read to the people." So Baruch went to them. He carried the scroll with him.

15 The officials said to him, "Please sit down. Read the scroll to us." So Baruch read it to them.

16 They heard all of its words. Then they looked at each other in fear. They said to Baruch, "We must report all of these words to the king."

17 They said to Baruch, "Tell us. How did you happen to write all of these things? Did Jeremiah tell you to do it?"

18 "Yes," Baruch replied. "He told me to write down all of these words. So I wrote them in ink on the scroll."

19 Then the officials spoke to Baruch. They said, "You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are."

20 The officials put the scroll in the room of the secretary Elishama. Then they went to the king in the courtyard. They reported everything to him.

21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of the secretary Elishama. He read it to the king. All of the officials were standing beside the king. So they heard it too.

22 It was the ninth month. The king was sitting in his winter apartment. A fire was burning in the fire pot in front of him.

23 Jehudi read three or four columns from the scroll. Then the king cut them off with a secretary's knife. He threw them into the fire pot. He did that until the entire scroll was burned up in the fire.

24 The king and some of his attendants heard all of those words. But they weren't afraid. They didn't tear their clothes.

25 Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll. But he wouldn't listen to them.

26 Instead, the king commanded three men to arrest the secretary Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the LORD had hidden them. The three were Jerahmeel, Seraiah and Shelemiah. Jerahmeel was a member of the royal court. Seraiah was the son of Azriel. And Shelemiah was the son of Abdeel.

27 A message came to me from the Lord. It came after the king burned the scroll that had the words Baruch had written down. I had told him to write them. The message said,

28 "Get another scroll. Write on it all of the words that were on the first one. King Jehoiakim burned that one up.

29 "Also tell King Jehoiakim, 'The LORD says, "You burned that scroll. You said to Baruch, 'Why did you write that the king of Babylonia would certainly come? Why did you write that he would destroy this land? Why did you write that he would cut off people and animals alike from it?' "

30 " 'So now the LORD has something to say about Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. He says, "No one from Jehoiakim's family line will sit on David's throne. Jehoiakim's body will be thrown out. It will lie outside in the heat by day and in the frost at night.

31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants. I will punish them for their sinful ways. I will bring on them all of the trouble I said I would. And I will bring it on the people of Jerusalem and Judah. They have not listened to me." ' "

32 So I got another scroll. I gave it to the secretary Baruch, the son of Neriah. I told him what to write on it. He wrote down all of the words that were on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned up in the fire. And he added many more words the LORD had given to me. They were similar to those that had already been written.