Jeremiah 36

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 against Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, in the days of Josiah, until today.
3 Perhaps, when the house of Judah hears all the evil I have in mind to do to them, they will turn back each from his evil way, so that I may forgive their wickedness and their sin.
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah, who wrote down on a scroll, as Jeremiah dictated, all the words which the LORD had spoken to him.
5 Then Jeremiah charged Baruch: I cannot go to the house of the LORD; I am prevented from doing so.
6 Do you go on the fast day and read publicly in the LORD'S house the LORD'S words from the scroll you wrote at my dictation; read them also to all the men of Judah who come up from their cities.
7 Perhaps they will lay their supplication before the LORD and will all turn back from their evil way; for great is the fury of anger with which the LORD has threatened this people.
8 Baruch, son of Neriah, did everything the prophet Jeremiah commanded; from the book-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, a fast to placate the LORD was proclaimed for all the people of Jerusalem and all who came from Judah's cities to Jerusalem.
10 It was in the room of Gemariah, son of the scribe Shaphan, in the upper court of the LORD'S house, at the entrance of the New Temple-Gate, that Baruch publicly read the words of Jeremiah from his book.
11 Now Micaiah, son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD read from the book.
12 So he went down to the king's palace, into the scribe's chamber, where the princes were just then 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 To them Micaiah reported all that he had heard Baruch read publicly from his book.
14 Thereupon the princes sent Jehudi, son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch with the order: Come, and bring with you the scroll you read publicly to the people. Scroll in hand, Baruch, son of Neriah, went to them.
15 Sit down, they said to him, and read it to us. Baruch read it to them,
16 and when they heard all its words, they were frightened and said to one another, We must certainly tell the king all these things.
17 Then they asked Baruch: Tell us, please, how you came to write down all these words.
18 Jeremiah dictated all these words to me, Baruch answered them, and I wrote them down with ink in the book.
19 At this the princes said to Baruch, Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah; let no one know where you are.
20 Leaving the scroll in safekeeping in the room of Elishama the scribe, they entered the room where the king was. When they told him everything that had happened,
21 he sent Jehudi to fetch 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 in attendance on the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in his winter house, since it was the ninth month, and fire was burning in a brazier before him.
23 Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would cut off the piece with a scribe's knife and cast it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire roll was consumed in the fire.
24 Hearing all these words did not frighten the king and his ministers or cause them to rend their garments.
25 And though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them,
26 but commanded Jerahmeel, a royal prince, and Seraiah, son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch, the secretary, and the prophet Jeremiah. But the LORD kept them concealed.
27 This word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king burned the scroll with the text Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch:
28 Take another scroll, and write on it everything that the first scroll contained, which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, burned up.
29 And against Jehoiakim, king of Judah, say this: Thus says the LORD: You burned that scroll, saying, Why did you write on it: Babylon's king shall surely come and lay waste this land and empty it of man and beast?
30 The LORD now says of Jehoiakim, king of Judah: No descendant of his shall succeed to David's throne; his corpse shall be cast out, exposed to the heat of day, to the cold of night.
31 I will punish him and his descendants and his ministers for their wickedness; against them and the citizens of Jerusalem and the men of Judah I will fulfill all the threats of evil which went unheeded.
32 Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to his secretary, Baruch, son of Neriah; he wrote on it at Jeremiah's dictation all the words contained in the book which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and many others of the same kind in addition.

Jeremiah 37

1 Coniah, son of Jehoiakim, was succeeded by King Zedekiah, son of Josiah; he was made king over the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
2 Neither he, nor his ministers, nor the people of the land would listen to the words of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah the prophet.
3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah with this request: Pray to the LORD, our God, for us.
4 At this time Jeremiah had not yet been put into prison; he still came and went freely among the people.
5 Also, Pharaoh's army had set out from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard this report they marched away from the city.
6 This word of the LORD then came to the prophet Jeremiah:
7 Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Give this answer to the king of Judah who sent you to me to consult me: Pharaoh's army which has set out to help you will return to its own land, Egypt.
8 The Chaldeans shall return to the fight against this city; they shall capture it and destroy it with fire.
9 Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves with the thought that the Chaldeans will leave you for good, because they shall not leave!
10 Even if you were to defeat the whole Chaldean army now attacking you, and only the wounded remained, each in his tent, these would rise up and destroy the city with fire.
11 When the Chaldean army lifted the siege of Jerusalem at the threat of the army of Pharaoh,
12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem for the district of Benjamin, to take part with his family in the division of an inheritance.
13 But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, he met the captain of the guard, a man named Irijah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah; he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying, You are deserting to the Chaldeans!
14 That is a lie! Jeremiah answered, I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. Without listening, Irijah kept Jeremiah in custody and brought him to the princes.
15 The princes were enraged, and had Jeremiah beaten and thrown into prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they were using as a jail.
16 And so Jeremiah entered the vaulted dungeon, where he remained a long time.
17 Once King Zedekiah had him brought to his palace and he asked him secretly whether there was any message from the LORD. Yes! Jeremiah answered: you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.
18 Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah: In what have I wronged you, or your ministers, or this people, that you should put me in prison?
19 And where are your own prophets now,
20 who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land? Hear now, my lord king, and grant my petition: do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I shall die there.
21 King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be confined in the quarters of the guard, and given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers' shop until all the bread in the city was eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the quarters of the guard.

Jeremiah 38

1 Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malchiah, heard Jeremiah speaking these words to all the people:
2 Thus says the LORD: He who remains in this city shall die by sword, or famine, or pestilence; but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be spared him as booty, and he shall live.
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 This man ought to be put to death, the princes said to the king; he demoralizes the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin.
5 King Zedekiah answered: He is in your power; for the king could do nothing with them.
6 And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, which was in the quarters of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7 Now Ebed-melech, a Cushite, a courtier in the king's palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. The king happened just then to be at the Gate of Benjamin,
8 and Ebed-melech went there from the palace and said to him,
9 My lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern. He will die of famine on the spot, for there is no more food in the city.
10 Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Cushite to take three men along with him, and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he should die.
11 Ebed-melech took the men along with him, and went first to the linen closet in the palace, from which he took some old, tattered rags; these he sent down to Jeremiah in the cistern, with ropes.
12 Then he said to Jeremiah, Put the old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes. Jeremiah did so,
13 and they drew him up with the ropes out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the quarters of the guard.
14 Once King Zedekiah summoned the prophet Jeremiah to come to him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. I have a question to ask you, the king said to Jeremiah; hide nothing from me. Jeremiah answered Zedekiah:
15 If I tell you anything, you will have me killed, will you not? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!
16 But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: As the LORD lives who gave us the breath of life, I will not kill you; nor will I hand you over to these men who seek your life.
17 Thereupon Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: Thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the princes of Babylon's king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed with fire, and you and your family shall live.
18 But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon's king, this city shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it with fire, and you shall not escape their hands.
19 King Zedekiah, however, said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the men of Judah who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I may be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me.
20 You will not be handed over, Jeremiah answered. Please obey the voice of the LORD and do as I tell you; then it shall go well with you, and your life will be spared.
21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD shows me:
22 All the women left in the house of Judah's king shall be brought out to the princes of Babylon's king, and they shall taunt you thus: They betrayed you, outdid you, your good friends! Now that your feet are stuck in the mud, they slink away.
23 All your wives and sons shall be led forth 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 with fire.
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die.
25 If the princes hear I spoke to you, if they 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 give them this answer: 'I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan's house to die there.'
27 When all the princes came to Jeremiah, they questioned him, and he answered them in the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been heard of the earlier conversation.
28 Thus Jeremiah stayed in the quarters of the guard till the day Jerusalem was taken.When Jerusalem was taken....