Jeremiah 41; Jeremiah 42; Jeremiah 43; Jeremiah 44; Jeremiah 45

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Jeremiah 41

1 In the seventh month, Ishmael, Nethaniah's son and Elishama's grandson, who was from a royal family and who was one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah, Ahikam's son, at Mizpah. While they were eating a meal together,
2 Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, and the ten men got up and struck down Gedaliah, Ahikam's son and Shaphan's grandson, with the sword. They murdered him because he had been appointed over the region by the king of Babylon.
3 Ishmael also murdered all the Judeans who had rallied around Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were posted there.
4 The day after Gedaliah was killed, before anyone knew of it,
5 eighty men with shaved beards, torn clothes, and gashed bodies arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They were bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the LORD's temple.
6 Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, "Come to Gedaliah, Ahikam's son!"
7 When they arrived in the middle of the town, Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, and the men with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies into a cistern.
8 But there were ten men among them who begged Ishmael, "Don't kill us; we have wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in a field." So he stopped and didn't kill them along with the rest. (
9 Now the cistern that Ishmael used to discard the bodies of the men he had killed because of their association with Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made to defend against Israel's King Baasha. Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, filled it with the dead.)
10 Ishmael captured the rest of the people who were at Mizpah, including the daughters of the king and all those assigned to Gedaliah, Ahikam's son, at Mizpah by Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard. Then Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, set out to cross over to the Ammonites with the hostages.
11 Johanan, Kareah's son, and all the army officers at his side heard of the terrible acts committed by Ishmael, Nethaniah's son.
12 So they mustered all their forces and went to fight him. They found Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, at the great pool in Gibeon.
13 When all those taken by Ishmael at Mizpah saw Johanan, Kareah's son, and all his army officers with him, they were delighted.
14 They rallied around Johanan, Kareah's son, and returned home with him.
15 But Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, and eight of his men eluded Johanan and went to the Ammonites.
16 Then Johanan, Kareah's son, and all the army officers with him took the small group they had rescued in Gibeon, including the soldiers, women, children, and commanding officers that Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, had captured at Mizpah after killing Gedaliah, Ahikam's son.
17 They set out for Egypt, stopping on the way at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem,
18 because they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they found out that Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, had killed Gedaliah, Ahikam's son, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the region.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible

Jeremiah 42

1 Then all the army officers, including Johanan, Kareah's son, and Jezaniah, Hoshaiah's son, and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, approached
2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, "We have something to ask you: Please pray to the LORD your God for us, this small group, for as you can see we were once many but now are very few.
3 May the LORD your God show us where we should go and what we should do."
4 The prophet Jeremiah replied, "Yes, I'll pray to the LORD your God as you have asked. And I'll tell you whatever the LORD says; I won't hide anything from you."
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do everything that the LORD your God tells us through you.
6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey all that the LORD our God says. We will obey the LORD our God, to whom we're sending you, so it may go well for us."
7 Ten days later Jeremiah received the LORD's word.
8 So he called Johanan, Kareah's son, and all the army officers with him and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest,
9 and he said to them: You have sent me to present your plea to the LORD, and this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:
10 If you live in this land, I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not dig you up because I grieve over the disaster I have brought upon you.
11 You don't have to be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. You don't have to be afraid of him anymore, declares the LORD, for I will be with you to save you and rescue you from his hand.
12 I will be merciful to you, and he will be merciful and return you to your land.
13 But if you say, "We won't live in this land," you will disobey the LORD your God.
14 And if you insist, "No, we're going to live in Egypt, where there's no war, battle alarms, or hunger, and there we will stay,"
15 then listen to the LORD's word, you remaining Judeans. The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you are determined to go to Egypt and you then go and live there,
16 then the war you fear will seize you in the land of Egypt; and the famine you dread will hunt you down in Egypt, and there you will die.
17 Every one of you who is determined to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword, famine, and disease. No one will escape the disaster that I will bring upon them there.
18 The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Just as my fierce anger was poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so it will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing, scorn, shock, and disgrace. And you will never see this place again.
19 You who survive from Judah, the LORD has told you: Don't go to Egypt. Know without a doubt that I have warned you this day.
20 You are putting your lives at risk by sending me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray for us to the LORD our God; tell us everything the LORD our God says, and we'll do it."
21 Today I have told you, but you still haven't obeyed all that the LORD your God has sent me to tell you.
22 So know without a doubt that you will die by war, famine, and disease in the place you yearn to go and live.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible

Jeremiah 43

1 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God—he didn't omit anything the LORD sent him to convey—
2 Azariah, Hoshaiah's son, and Johanan, Kareah's son, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You're lying to us! The LORD our God didn't send you to tell us not to go to Egypt to live.
3 It's Baruch, Neriah's son, who put you up to it so that we end up in the hands of the Babylonians, who will either kill us or deport us to Babylon."
4 So Johanan, Kareah's son, and all the army officers and the rest of the people disobeyed the LORD's command to stay in the land of Judah.
5 Johanan, Kareah's son, and all the army officers took the remaining Judeans who had returned to the land of Judah after being scattered among the nations—
6 men, women, children, the king's daughters, everyone Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard had left with Gedaliah, Ahikam's son and Shaphan's grandson, including Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch, Neriah's son.
7 They went to the land of Egypt, as far as Tahpanhes, for they wouldn't obey the LORD.
8 The LORD's word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:
9 Take some large stones and set them in the clay pavement in front of Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes while the people of Judah are watching.
10 After that, say to the people: The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I'm sending for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who will set his throne over these stones and will spread his canopy over them.
11 He will come and ravage the land of Egypt: those marked for disaster, to disaster, and those marked for exile, to exile. and those marked for war, to war.
12 He will set on fire the temples of the Egyptian gods. He will burn them down and carry off their gods. He will wrap the land of Egypt around himself, just as a shepherd wraps his garment around himself, and he will move on unharmed.
13 He will shatter the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun in Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible

Jeremiah 44

1 Jeremiah received the LORD's word for the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, those living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis and in the land of Pathros.
2 The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You have seen the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. They are now a wasteland with no one left
3 because of their evil ways. They have angered me by making offerings and worshipping other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew.
4 Yet time and again I sent you all my servants the prophets, saying, "Don't do these detestable things that I hate."
5 But they wouldn't listen or pay attention or turn from their evil ways. They continued making offerings to other gods.
6 So my fierce anger poured out and blazed against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. And they were reduced to an utter wasteland, as they are today.
7 Now the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Why are you committing this huge mistake that will cost you your lives? Every man, woman, child, and infant will be eliminated from the midst of Judah, and no one will be left.
8 Why do you anger me by what you do: by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live? You will be eliminated and become an object of cursing and disgrace among all the nations of the earth.
9 Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors and the sins of the kings of Judah and their wives? Have you forgotten the sins that you and your wives committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 To this day you haven't shown any sorrow for what you have done. And you haven't revered me or followed my Instruction and my laws that I set before you and your ancestors.
11 Therefore, the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I'm determined to bring disaster on you, to eliminate all of Judah.
12 I will take the few remaining Judeans who were determined to go to the land of Egypt to live. They will all perish there. They will fall by the sword and perish due to famine. The least to the greatest will die by the sword and by famine. They will become an object of cursing, scorn, contempt, and disgrace.
13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem with war, famine, and disease.
14 From the few remaining in Judah, no fugitive or survivor who came to live here in the land of Egypt will be able to return to the land of Judah. Even though they want to return and live there, they won't be able to return, except for some fugitives.
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, along with the great crowd of women who were present, as well as the people living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, all answered Jeremiah:
16 "We're not going to listen to a word you have said to us in the LORD's name!
17 No, we're going to do exactly what we want: We're going to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, have done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty to eat and we were thriving; we didn't have any troubles.
18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring drink offerings to her, we have been destroyed by the sword and by famine."
19 And the women added,"Do you think that we burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour drink offerings to her without our husbands' support when we make cakes in her image and pour drink offerings to her?"
20 Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women alike, in fact everyone who had spoken this way:
21 "Do you really think the LORD was unaware of what you were up to in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? Don't you think the LORD knew that you and your ancestors were making offerings to other gods—along with your kings and officials, and the people of the land?
22 It got so bad that the LORD could no longer bear your evil and shameless acts; it was at that point that your land was reduced to an utter wasteland and a curse, as it is today.
23 The current dire situation occurred because you made offerings to other gods and sinned against the LORD—because you wouldn't obey the LORD or follow the LORD's instruction, laws, or warnings."
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women: Listen to the LORD's word, all you Judeans in the land of Egypt.
25 The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You and your wives have done exactly what you said you would do. You said, "We will definitely fulfill our promise to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." Go ahead and keep your promises!
26 But listen to the LORD's word, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt. I swear by my great name, says the LORD, that no one from Judah living in Egypt will utter my name again, even in the solemn pledge: "As surely as the LORD God lives."
27 I'm watching over them for harm and not for good. Everyone from Judah who is living in the land of Egypt will die by the sword and by famine, until all are gone.
28 Those who actually survive war and return from Egypt to the land of Judah will be very few. Then the few remaining Judeans living in Egypt will know for certain whose word is true—mine or theirs!
29 And this will be a sign for you, declares the LORD: I will punish you here so that you know my threats against you will surely be fulfilled.
30 The LORD proclaims: I will hand Pharaoh Hophra, Egypt's king, over to his enemies who seek to kill him, just as I delivered Judah's King Zedekiah over to his enemy King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who sought to kill him.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible

Jeremiah 45

1 In the fourth year of Judah's King Jehoiakim, Josiah's son, Baruch was writing in a scroll the words that Jeremiah was dictating to him. Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch, Neriah's son:
2 This is what the LORD the God of Israel proclaims about you, Baruch:
3 You have said, "I can't take it anymore! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I'm worn out from groaning and can find no rest."
4 This is what you should say to him: "The LORD proclaims: I'm breaking down everything I have built up. I'm digging up that which I have planted—the entire land.
5 You seek great things for yourself, but don't bother. I'm bringing disaster on all humanity, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible