The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu became king, succeeding Koniyahu the son of Y'hoyakim, whom N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel had made king over the land of Y'hudah.
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And Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, became king in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he, his servants nor the people of the land paid attention to the words of ADONAI, which he spoke through the prophet Yirmeyahu.
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But he and his servants and the people of the land did not give ear to the words of the Lord which he said by Jeremiah the prophet.
3 Tzidkiyahu the king sent Y'hukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Tz'fanyahu the son of Ma'aseiyah, the cohen, to the prophet Yirmeyahu with the message, "Please pray to ADONAI our God for us."
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And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Make prayer now to the Lord our God for us.
4 At that time Yirmeyahu was mixing freely with the people, because they had not yet put him in prison.
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(Now Jeremiah was going about among the people, for they had not put him in prison.
5 At the same time Pharaoh's army marched out of Egypt; and when the Kasdim besieging Yerushalayim heard about them, they lifted the siege from Yerushalayim.
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And Pharaoh's army had come out from Egypt: and the Chaldaeans, who were attacking Jerusalem, hearing news of them, went away from Jerusalem.)
6 Then this word of ADONAI came to the prophet Yirmeyahu:
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Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 "ADONAI the God of Isra'el says to tell the king of Y'hudah, who sent you to me to consult me: 'Pharaoh's army has marched out to assist you; but they will return to Egypt, to their own country.
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The Lord, the God of Israel, has said: This is what you are to say to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from me: See, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to your help, will go back to Egypt, to their land.
8 The Kasdim will return, attack this city, capture it and burn it to the ground.'
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And the Chaldaeans will come back again and make war against this town and they will take it and put it on fire.
9 Here is what ADONAI says: 'Don't deceive yourselves by thinking that the Kasdim must withdraw from you, because they will not withdraw.
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The Lord has said, Have no false hopes, saying to yourselves, The Chaldaeans will go away from us: for they will not go away.
10 Even if you were to strike the entire army of the Kasdim fighting against you, to the degree that only their wounded were left, they would still rise up every man from his tent and burn this city to the ground.'"
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For even if you had overcome all the army of the Chaldaeans fighting against you, and there were only wounded men among them, still they would get up, every man in his tent, and put this town on fire.
11 Then, at the time when the army of the Kasdim had lifted the siege of Yerushalayim out of fear of Pharaoh's army,
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And it came about that when the Chaldaean army outside Jerusalem had gone away for fear of Pharaoh's army,
12 Yirmeyahu left Yerushalayim to go to the territory of Binyamin to receive his share of an inheritance there. He was passing through the crowds
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Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, with the purpose of taking up his heritage there among the people.
13 and had reached the gate leading toward Binyamin when a guard commander there named Yir'iyah the son of Shelemyah, the son of Hananyah, seized Yirmeyahu the prophet, shouting, "You're deserting to the Kasdim!"
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But when he was at the Benjamin door, a captain of the watch named Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, who was stationed there, put his hand on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are going to give yourself up to the Chaldaeans.
14 Yirmeyahu answered, "That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Kasdim"; but Yir'iyah wouldn't listen to him. So he arrested Yirmeyahu and brought him to the officials.
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Then Jeremiah said, That is not true; I am not going to the Chaldaeans. But he would not give ear to him: so Irijah made him prisoner and took him to the rulers.
15 The officials, furious with Yirmeyahu, had him beaten and jailed in the house of Y'honatan the secretary, which had been made over into a prison.
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And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and gave him blows and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.
16 The cistern had been made into a dungeon, and Yirmeyahu was put in one of its cells; there he remained for a long time.
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So Jeremiah came into the hole of the prison, under the arches, and was there for a long time.
17 Then Tzidkiyahu the king sent and had him brought; and the king asked him secretly, in his palace, "Is there any word from ADONAI?" "There is," Yirmeyahu said. "You will be handed over to the king of Bavel."
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Then King Zedekiah sent and got him out: and the king, questioning him secretly in his house, said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is. Then he said, You will be given up into the hands of the king of Babylon.
18 Yirmeyahu asked King Tzidkiyahu, "In what way have I sinned against you or against your officials or against this people, that has caused you to put me in prison?
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Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What has been my sin against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
19 Where are your prophets now, the ones who prophesied to you that the king of Bavel wouldn't attack you or this land?
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Where now are your prophets who said to you, The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land?
20 So now, please listen, my lord king! I beg you, approve my request - don't make me return to the house of Y'honatan the secretary, or I will die there."
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And now be pleased to give ear, O my lord the king; let my prayer for help come before you, and do not make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, for fear that I may come to my death there.
21 At that, Tzidkiyahu the king gave the order, at which they committed Yirmeyahu to the guards' quarters and gave him daily a loaf of bread from the Bakers' Street, until all the bread in the city had been used up. Thus Yirmeyahu remained in the guards' quarters.
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Then by the order of Zedekiah the king, Jeremiah was put into the place of the armed watchmen, and they gave him every day a cake of bread from the street of the bread-makers, till all the bread in the town was used up. So Jeremiah was kept in the place of the armed watchmen.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.