21:2. Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon maketh war against us: if so be the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful works, that he may depart from us.
21:3. And Jeremias said to them: Thus shall you say to Sedecias:
21:4. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, and with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, that besiege you round about the walls: and I will gather them together in the midst of this city.
21:5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great wrath.
21:6. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, men and beasts shall die of a great pestilence.
21:7. And after this, saith the Lord, I will give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, and the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved to pity, nor spare them, nor shew mercy to them.
21:8. And to this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
21:9. He that shall abide in this city, shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that shall go out and flee over to the Chaldeans, that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall be to him as a spoil.
21:10. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
21:11. And to the house of the king of Juda: Hear ye the word of the Lord,
21:12. O house of David, thus saith the Lord: Judge ye judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence out of the hand of the oppressor: lest my indignation go forth like a fire, and be kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your ways.
21:13. Behold I come to thee that dwellest in a valley upon a rock above a plain, saith the Lord: and you say: Who shall strike us and who shall enter into our houses?
To thee that dwellest, etc... He speaks to Jerusalem, confiding in the strength of her situation upon rocks, surrounded with a deep valley.
21:14. But I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof: and it shall devour all things round about it.
Jeremias Chapter 22
An exhortation both to king and people to return of God. The sentence of God upon Joachaz, Joakim, and Jechonias.
22:1. Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,
Go down, etc... The contents of this chapter are of a more ancient date than those of the foregoing chapter: for the order of time is not always observed in the writings of the prophets.
22:2. And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people, who enter in by these gates.
22:3. Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgment and justice, and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place.
22:4. For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people.
22:5. But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
22:6. For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable.
Galaad the head of Libanus... By Galaad, a rich and fruitful country, is here signified the royal palace of the kings of the house of David: by Libanus, a high mountain abounding in cedar trees, the populous city of Jerusalem.
22:7. And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.
Prepare... Literally, sanctify.
22:8. And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every man to his neighbour: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?
22:9. And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.
22:10. Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Weep not for him that is dead, etc... He means the good king Josias, who by death was taken away, so as not to see the miseries of his country. Ibid. Him that goeth away... Viz., sellum, alias Joachaz, who was carried captive into Egypt.
22:11. For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more:
22:12. But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more.
22:13. Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages.
22:14. Who saith: I will build me a wide house, and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion.
22:15. Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?
22:16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?
22:17. But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works.
22:18. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and, Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my lord, or, Alas, the noble one.
22:19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
22:20. Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
22:21. I spoke to thee in thy prosperity: and thou saidst: I will not hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice.
22:22. The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness.
22:23. Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour?
22:24. As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
22:25. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
22:26. And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:
22:27. And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.
22:28. Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
22:29. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
22:30. Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.
Write this man barren... That is, childless: not that he had no children, but that his children should never sit on the throne of Juda.
Jeremias Chapter 23
God reproves evil governors; and promises to send good pastors; and Christ himself the prince of the pastors. He inveighs against false prophets preaching without being sent.
23:1. Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
23:2. Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
23:3. And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied.
23:4. And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.
23:5. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
23:6. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: The Lord our just one.
23:7. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:
23:8. But, The Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land.
23:9. To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words.
23:10. Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
23:11. For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
23:12. Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
23:13. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal and deceived my people Israel.
23:14. And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hands of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings, they are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.
23:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption is gone forth into all the land.
23:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
23:17. They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come upon you.
23:18. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?
23:19. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked.
23:20. The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand his counsel.
23:21. I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
23:22. If they had stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way, and from their wicked doings.
23:23. Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
23:24. Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
23:25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
23:26. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart?
23:27. Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
23:28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord?
23:29. Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
23:30. Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbour.
23:31. Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.
23:32. Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.
23:33. If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.
23:34. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his house.
Burden of the Lord... This expression is here rejected and disallowed, at least for those times: because it was then used in mockery and contempt by the false prophets, and unbelieving people, who ridiculed the repeated threats of Jeremias under the name of his burdens.
23:35. Thus shall you say every one to his neighbour, and to his brother, What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken?
23:36. And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
23:37. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken?
23:38. But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the Lord: and I have sent to you, saying: Say not, The burden of the Lord:
23:39. Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out of my presence.
Out of my presence... That is, the Lord declares that out of his presence he will cast them, and bring them to captivity for their transgressions.
23:40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.
Jeremias Chapter 24
Under the type of good and bad figs, he foretells the restoration of the Jews that had been carried away captive with Jechonias, and the desolation of those that were left behind.
24:1. The Lord shewed me: and behold two baskets full of figs, set before the temple of the Lord: after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, and his chief men, and the craftsmen, and engravers of Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
24:2. One basket had very good figs, like the figs of the first season: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, because they were bad.
24:3. And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: Figs, the good figs, very good: and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten because they are bad.
24:4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24:5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.
24:6. And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring them again into this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
24:7. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall return to me with their whole heart.
24:8. And as the very bad figs, that cannot be eaten, because they are bad: thus saith the Lord: So will I give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt.
24:9. And I will deliver them up to vexation, and affliction, to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a reproach, and a byword, and a proverb, and to be a curse in all places, to which I have cast them out.
24:10. And I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: till they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them, and their fathers.
Jeremias Chapter 25
The prophet foretells the seventy years captivity; after that the destruction of Babylon, and other nations.
25:1. The word that came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, (the same is the first year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon,)
25:2. Which Jeremias the prophet spoke to all the people of Juda, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
25:3. From the thirteenth year of Josias the son of Ammon king of Juda until this day: this is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising before day, and speaking, and you have not hearkened.
25:4. And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear.
25:5. When he said: Return ye, every one from his evil way, and from your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in the land which the Lord hath given to you, and your fathers for ever and ever.
25:6. And go not after strange gods to serve them, and adore them: nor provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands, and I will not afflict you.
25:7. And you have not heard me, saith the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.
25:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard my words:
25:9. Behold I will send, and take all the kindreds of the north, saith the Lord, and Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all the nations that are round about it: and I will destroy them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
My servant... So this wicked king is here called; because God made him his instrument in punishing the sins of his people.
25:10. And I will take away from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp.
25:11. And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
25:12. And when the seventy years shall be expired, I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans: and I will make it perpetual desolations.
Punish... Literally, visit upon.
25:13. And I will bring upon that land all my words, that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, all that Jeremias hath prophesied against all nations:
25:14. For they have served them, whereas they were many nations, and great kings: and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their hands.
25:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take the cup of wine of this fury at my hand: and thou shalt make all the nations to drink thereof, into which I shall send thee.
25:16. And they shall drink, and be troubled, and be mad because of the sword, which I shall send among them.
25:17. And I took the cup at the hand of the Lord, and I presented it to all the nations to drink of it, to which the Lord sent me:
25:18. To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof: to make them a desolation, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse, as it is at this day.
25:19. Pharao the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people,
25:20. And all in general: all the kings of the land of Ausitis, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus.
25:21. And Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon.
25:22. And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon: and the kings of the land of the islands that are beyond the sea.
25:23. And Dedan, and Thema, and Buz, and all that have their hair cut round.
25:24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, that dwell in the desert.
25:25. And all the kings of Zambri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes:
25:26. And all the kings of the north far and near, every one against his brother: and all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face thereof: and the king of Sesac shall drink after them.
Sesac... That is, Babel, or Babylon; which after bringing all these people under her yoke, should quickly fall and be destroyed herself.
25:27. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and vomit: and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword, which I shall send among you.
25:28. And if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Drinking you shall drink:
25:29. For behold I begin to bring evil on the city wherein my name is called upon: and shall you be as innocent and escape free? you shall not escape free: for I will call for the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.
25:30. And thou shalt prophesy unto them all these words, and thou shalt say to them: I The Lord shall roar from on high, and shall utter his voice from his holy habitation: roaring he shall roar upon the place of his beauty: the shout as it were of them that tread grapes shall be given out against all the inhabitants of the earth.
25:31. The noise is come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord entereth into judgment with the nations: he entereth into judgment with all flesh; the wicked I have delivered up to the sword, saith the Lord.
25:32. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation: and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of the earth.
25:33. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end thereof: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered up, nor buried: they shall lie as dung upon the face of the earth.
25:34. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry: and sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels.
25:35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves.
25:36. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock: because the Lord hath wasted their pastures.
25:37. And the fields of peace have been silent because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
25:38. He hath forsaken his covert as the lion, for the land is laid waste because of the wrath of the dove, and because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
The dove... This is commonly understood of Nabuchodonosor, whose military standard, it is said, was a dove. But the Hebrew word Jonah, which is here rendered a dove, may also signify a waster or oppressor, which name better agrees to that unmerciful prince; or by comparison, as a dove's flight is the swiftest, so would their destruction come upon them.
Jeremias Chapter 26
The prophet is apprehended and accused by the priests: but discharged by the princes.
26:1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, came this word from the Lord, saying:
26:2. Thus saith the Lord: stand in the court of the house of the Lord, and speak to all the cities of Juda, out of which they come, to adore in the house of the Lord, all the words which I have commanded thee to speak unto them: leave not out one word.
26:3. If so be they will hearken and be converted every one from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil that I think to do unto them for the wickedness of their doings.
26:4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If you will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have given you:
26:5. To give ear to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you rising up early: and sending, and you have not hearkened:
26:6. I will make this house like Silo: and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
26:7. And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
26:8. And when Jeremias had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people laid hold on him, saying: Let him be put to death.
26:9. Why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: This house shall be like Silo; and this city shall be made desolate, without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together against Jeremias in the house of the Lord.
26:10. And the princes of Juda heard these words: and they went up from the king's house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord.
26:11. And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes, and to all the people, saying: The judgment of death is for this man: because he hath prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.
26:12. Then Jeremias spoke to all the princes, and to all the people, saying: The Lord sent me to prophesy concerning this house, and concerning this city all the words that you have heard.
26:13. Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath spoken against you.
26:14. But as for me, behold I am in your hands: do with me what is good and right in your eyes:
26:15. But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing.
26:16. Then the princes, and all the people said to the priests, and to the prophets: There is no judgment of death for this man: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.
26:17. And some of the ancients of the land rose up: and they spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:
26:18. Micheas of Morasthi was a prophet in the days of Ezechias king of Juda, and he spoke to all the people of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Sion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be a heap of stones: and the mountain of the house the high places of woods.
26:19. Did Ezechias king of Juda, and all Juda, condemn him to death? did they not fear the Lord, and beseech the face of the Lord: and the Lord repented of the evil that he had spoken against them? therefore we are doing a great evil against our souls.
26:20. There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urias the son of Semei of Cariathiarim: and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremias.
26:21. And Joakim, and all his men in power, and his princes heard these words: and the king sought to put him to death. And Urias heard it, and was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.
26:22. And king Joakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achobor, and men with him into Egypt.
26:23. And they brought Urias out of Egypt: and brought him to king Joakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
26:24. So the hand of Ahicam the son of Saphan was with Jeremias, that he should not be delivered into the hands of the people, to put him to death.
Jeremias Chapter 27
The prophet sends chains to divers kings, signifying that they must bend their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. The vessels of the temple shall not be brought back till all the rest are carried away.
27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, this word came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
Joakim... This revelation was made to the prophet in the beginning of the reign of Joakim: but the bands were not sent to the princes here named before the reign of Sedecias, ver. 3.
27:2. Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bands, and chains: and thou shalt put them on thy neck.
27:3. And thou shalt send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon: by the hand of the messengers that are come to Jerusalem to Sedecias the king of Juda.
27:4. And thou shalt command them to speak to their masters: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your masters:
27:5. I made the earth, and the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power, and by my stretched out arm: and I have given it to whom it seemed good in my eyes.
27:6. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon my servant: moreover also the beasts of the field I have given him to serve him.
27:7. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son: till the time come for his land and himself: and many nations and great kings shall serve him.
His son... Viz., Evilmerodach; and his son's son, Nabonydus, or Nabonadius, the Baltassar of Daniel, chap. 5., and the last of the Chaldean kings.
27:8. But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and whosoever will not bend his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon: I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, saith the Lord: till I consume them by his hand.
27:9. Therefore hearken not to your prophets, and diviners, and dreamers, and soothsayers, and sorcerers, that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Babylon.
27:10. For they prophesy lies to you: to remove you far from your country, and cast you out, and to make you perish.
27:11. But the nation that shall bend down their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and shall serve him: I will let them remain in their own land, saith the Lord: and they shall till it, and dwell in it.
27:12. And I spoke to Sedecias the king of Juda according to all these words, saying: Bend down your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, and his people, and you shall live.
27:13. Why will you die, thou and thy people by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
27:14. Hearken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they tell you a lie.
27:15. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord: and they prophesy in my name falsely: to drive you out, and that you may perish, both you, and the prophets that prophesy to you.
27:16. I spoke also to the priests, and to this people, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that prophesy to you, saying: Behold the vessels of the Lord shall now in a short time be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
27:17. Therefore hearken not to them, but serve the king of Babylon, that you may live. Why should this city be given up to desolation?
27:18. But if they be prophets, and the word of the Lord be in them: let them interpose themselves before the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Juda, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.
27:19. For thus saith the Lord of hosts to the pillars, and to the sea, and to the bases, and to the rest of the vessels that remain in this city:
27:20. Which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the great men of Juda and Jerusalem.
27:21. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Juda and Jerusalem:
27:22. They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day of their visitation, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to be brought, and to be restored in this place.
Jeremias Chapter 28
The false prophecy of Hananias: he dies that same year, as Jeremias foretold.
28:1. And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house of the Lord before the priests, and all the people, saying:
28:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
28:3. As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the vessels of the house of the Lord to be brought back into this place, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon.
28:4. And I will bring back to this place Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and all the captives of Juda, that are gone to Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
28:5. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord:
28:6. And Jeremias the prophet said: Amen, the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words, which thou hast prophesied: that the vessels may be brought again into the house of the Lord, and all the captives may return out of Babylon to this place.
28:7. Nevertheless hear this word that I speak in thy ears, and in the ears of all the people:
28:8. The prophets that have been before me, and before thee from the beginning, and have prophesied concerning many countries, and concerning great kingdoms, of war, and of affliction, and of famine.
28:9. The prophet that prophesied peace: when his word shall come to pass, the prophet shall be known, whom the hath sent in truth.
28:10. And Hananias the prophet took the chain from the neck of Jeremias the prophet, and broke it.
28:11. And Hananias spoke in the presence of all the people, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon after two full years from off the neck of all the nations.
28:12. And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, after that Hananias the prophet had broken the chain from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, saying:
28:13. Go, and tell Hananias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron.
28:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, to serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and they shall serve him: moreover also I have given him the beasts of the earth.
28:15. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet: Hear now, Hananias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this people to trust in a lie.
28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast spoken against the Lord.
28:17. And Hananias the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.
Jeremias Chapter 29
Jeremias writeth to the captives in Babylon, exhorting them to be easy there, and not to hearken to false prophets. That they shall be delivered after seventy years. But those that remain in Jerusalem shall perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence. And that Achab, Sedecias, and Semeias, false prophets, shall die miserably.
29:1. Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
29:2. After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the engravers were departed out of Jerusalem:
29:3. By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, saying:
29:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
29:5. Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat the fruit of them.
29:6. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.
29:7. And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace.
29:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you: and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:
29:9. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
29:10. For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place.
29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience.
29:12. And you shall call upon me, and you shall go and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you.
29:13. You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.
29:14. And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive.
29:15. Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon:
29:16. For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.
29:17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.
29:18. And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and with the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out:
29:19. Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord: which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.
29:20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.
29:21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your eyes.
29:22. And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias, and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire:
29:23. Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord.
29:24. And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:
29:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests, saying:
29:26. The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest, that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man that raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison.
29:27. And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who prophesieth to you?
29:28. For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat the fruits of them.
29:29. So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremias the prophet.
29:30. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
29:31. Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord to Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie:
29:32. Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against the Lord.
Jeremias Chapter 30
God will deliver his people from their captivity: Christ shall be their king: and his church shall be glorious for ever.
30:1. This is the word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
30:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee, in a book.
30:3. For behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Juda, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
30:4. And these are the words that the Lord hath spoken to Israel and to Juda:
30:5. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of terror: there is fear and no peace.
30:6. Ask ye, and see if a man bear children? why then have I seen every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all faces are turned yellow?
30:7. Alas, for that day is great, neither is there the like to it; and it is the time of tribulation to Jacob, but he shall be saved out of it.
30:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands: and strangers shall no more rule over him:
30:9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.
David... That is, Christ of the house of David.
30:10. Therefore fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from a country afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity: and Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and abound with all good things, and there shall be none whom he may fear:
30:11. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will utterly consume all the nations, among which I have scattered thee: but I will not utterly consume thee: but I will chastise thee in judgment, that thou mayst not seem to thyself innocent.
30:12. For thus saith the Lord: Thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is very grievous.
30:13. There is none to judge thy judgment to bind it up: thou hast no healing medicines.
30:14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and will not seek after thee: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with cruel chastisement: by reason of the multitude of thy iniquities, thy sins are hardened.
30:15. Why criest thou for thy affliction? thy sorrow is incurable: for the multitude of thy iniquity, and for thy hardened sins I have done these things to thee.
30:16. Therefore all they that devour thee, shall be devoured: and all thy enemies shall be carried into captivity: and they that waste thee shall be wasted, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
30:17. For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Because they have called thee, O Sion, an outcast: This is she that hath none to seek after her.
30:18. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring back the captivity of the pavilions of Jacob, and will have pity on his houses, and the city shall be built in her high place, and the temple shall be founded according to the order thereof.
30:19. And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them that play: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be made few: and I will glorify them, and they shall not be lessened.
30:20. And their children shall be as from the beginning, and their assembly shall be permanent before me: and I will visit against all that afflict them.
30:21. And their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall come forth from the midst of them: and I will bring him near, and he shall come to me: for who is this that setteth his heart to approach to me, saith the Lord?
30:22. And you shall be my people: and I will be your God.
30:23. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked.
30:24. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till he have executed and performed the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand these things.
Jeremias Chapter 31
The restoration of Israel. Rachel shall cease from morning. The new covenant. The church shall never fail.
31:1. At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
31:2. Thus saith the Lord: The people that were left and escaped from the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall go to his rest.
31:3. The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.
31:4. And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
31:5. Thou shalt yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and they shall not gather the vintage before the time.
31:6. For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim, shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.
31:7. For thus saith the Lord: Rejoice ye in the joy of Jacob, and neigh before the head of the Gentiles: shout ye, and sing, and say: Save, O Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel.
31:8. Behold I will bring them from the north country, and will gather them from the ends of the earth and among them shall be the blind, and the lame, the woman with child, and she that is bringing forth, together, a great company of them returning hither.
31:9. They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in mercy: and I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way, and they shall not stumble in it: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
31:10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the islands that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will gather him: and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock.
31:11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and delivered him out of the hand of one that was mightier than he.
31:12. And they shall come, and shall give praise in mount Sion: and they shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, for the corn, and wine, and oil, and the increase of cattle and herds, and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall be hungry no more.
31:13. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and old men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them joyful after their sorrow.
31:14. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord.
31:15. Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not.
31:16. Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thy eyes tears: for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they shall return out of the land of the enemy.
31:17. And there is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the children shall return to their own borders.
31:18. Hearing I heard Ephraim when he went into captivity: thou hast chastised me, and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Convert me, and I shall be converted, for thou art the Lord my God.
31:19. For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth.
31:20. Surely Ephraim is an honourable son to me, surely he is a tender child: for since I spoke of him, I will still remember him. Therefore are my bowels troubled for him: pitying I will pity him, saith the Lord.
31:21. Set thee up a watchtower, make to thee bitterness: direct thy heart into the right way, wherein thou hast walked: return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.
31:22. How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN.
31:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As yet shall they say this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, the beauty of justice, the holy mountain.
31:24. And Juda and all his cities shall dwell therein together: the husbandman and they that drive the flocks.
31:25. For I have inebriated the weary soul: and I have filled every hungry soul.
31:26. Upon this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and my sleep was sweet to me.
31:27. Behold the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of men, and with the seed of beasts.
31:28. And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.
31:29. In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.
31:30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31:31. Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
31:32. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them, saith the Lord.
31:33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
31:34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
31:35. Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the night: who stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name.