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¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this Word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,² So says Jehovah to me, Make bonds and yokes for yourself, and put them on your neck.³ And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah.⁴ And command them to go to their masters, saying, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: So you shall say to your masters,⁵ I have made the earth, the man, and the animals on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm; and I have given it to whom it seemed right in My eyes.⁶ And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I have also given him the beast of the field to serve him.⁷ And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes; also it. And many nations and great kings shall serve him.⁸ And it shall be, the nation and kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation, says Jehovah, with the sword, and with thefamine, and with the plague, until I have destroyed them by his hand.⁹ As for you, do not listen to your prophets, or to those divining to you, or to your dreams, or to your conjurers, or to your sorcerers, those who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon.¹⁰ For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, that I should drive you out, and you should perish.¹¹ But the nation that will bring its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, says Jehovah, I will leave it on its own land, and it may work it and live in it.

¹² I also spoke to Zedekiah, king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks into the king of Babylon's yoke, and serve him and his people, and live.¹³ Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Jehovah has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?¹⁴ So then do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you.¹⁵ For I have not sent them, says Jehovah. Yea, they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.¹⁶ Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, So says Jehovah, Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the house of Jehovah shall now be quickly brought again from Babylon. For they prophesy a lie to you.¹⁷ Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city be a waste?¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the Word of Jehovah is with them, let them now intercede with Jehovah of Hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.¹⁹ For so says Jehovah of Hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels which remain in this city,²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.²¹ For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem:²² They shall be brought to Babylon, and they shall be there until the day I visit them, says Jehovah. Then I will bring them up and give them back to this place.