Study Desk

"Take again for yourself another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burned.

Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, "There will not be for him one who sits on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat in the day and to the frost in the night.

And I will punish him, and his offspring, and his servants for their guilt, and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster with which I have threatened them, but they would not listen."'"

And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Please pray for us to Yahweh our God."

Thus says Yahweh: ‘You must not deceive yourselves, saying, "Surely the Chaldeans will go from us," for they will not go.

For even if you struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only men pierced through remained among them, each one in his tent, they would rise up and they would burn this city with fire.'"

And the officials were angry at Jeremiah and they struck him. And they put him in prison, in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for they had converted it to the prison.

"Thus says Yahweh, ‘The one who stays in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But the one who goes out to the Chaldeans will live. And his life will be for him as booty, and he will live.'

Then the officials said to the king, "Please, this man must be killed, because he is making slack the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them words like these, for this man is not seeking for welfare to this people, but only for harm."

And Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand, for the king is not able to do a thing against you."

"My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, in that they have thrown him into the pit, and he will die there because of starvation, for there is no longer any bread in the city."

So Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, "As Yahweh lives, who has made for us this life, I will not kill you and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life."

And all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he informed them like all these words that the king commanded. So they fell silent, for the conversation was not heard.

"Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Look, I am about to bring my words to pass against this city for evil and not for good. And they will be before you on that day.

For surely I will save you, and you will not fall by the sword. But your life will be for you as booty because you have trusted in me," declares Yahweh.'"

As for me, look, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your towns that you have seized."

But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You must not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael."

But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, "You must not kill us, for we have hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen.

because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.

and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "May our plea please fall before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes are seeing us.