Study Desk

"The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are established. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have listened to their father's command. But I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; yet you have not listened to Me.

Perhaps their supplication will come before Yahweh, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has spoken against this people."

Now it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem called for a fast before Yahweh.

And I will also punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the evil that I have spoken about to them—but they did not listen."'"

"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: "Behold, the military force of Pharaoh which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt.

Thus says Yahweh, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely go away from us," for they will not go.

For even if you had struck down the entire military force of the Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men remaining among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.'"

For Jeremiah had come into the pit, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.

Then the officials said to the king, "Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is making the hands of the men of war who remain in this city as well as the hands of all the people limp, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking peace for this people but rather calamity."

So King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

"My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city."

But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret saying, "As Yahweh lives, who made this life for us, surely I will not put you to death, nor will I give you over to the hand of these men who are seeking your life."

And as for the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had gone over to him and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took them away into exile in Babylon.

"Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city for calamity and not for prosperity; and they will take place before you on that day.

For I will certainly provide you escape, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as spoil because you have trusted in Me," declares Yahweh.'"

Now as for me, behold, I am going to stay at Mizpah to stand for you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, gather in wine and summer fruit and oil and put them in your storage vessels and stay in your cities that you have seized."

And also all the Jews, who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the other lands, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

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

But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, "Do not put us to death; for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field." So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their companions.

Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down because of Gedaliah, it was the one that King Asa had made on account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.