Jeremiah 34; Jeremiah 35; Jeremiah 36; Hebrews 2

1 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth, that were under the power of his hand, and all the people fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof, saying:

2 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Sedecias king of Juda, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand: but thou shalt surely be taken, and thou shalt be delivered into his hand: and thy eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with thy mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sedecias king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword.

5 But thou shalt die in peace, and according to the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn thee: and they shall mourn for thee, saying: Alas, Lord: for I have spoken the word, saith the Lord.

6 And Jeremias the prophet spoke all these words to Sedecias the king of Juda in Jerusalem.

7 And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Juda that were left, against Lachis, and against Azecha: for these remained of the cities of Juda, fenced cities.

8 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that king Sedecias had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem making a proclamation:

9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free: and that they should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren.

10 And all the princes, and all the people who entered into the covenant, heard that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant go free, and should no more have dominion over them: and they obeyed, and let them go free.

11 But afterwards they turned: and brought back again their servants and their handmaids, whom they had let go free, and brought them into subjection as menservants and maidservants.

12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

13 Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying:

14 At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother being a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years: and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fathers did not hearken to me, nor did they incline their ear.

15 And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a covenant in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated.

16 And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids.

17 Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts thereof:

19 The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the parts of the calf:

20 And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

21 And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which are gone from you.

22 Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation, without an inhabitant.

1 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying:

2 Go to the house of the Rechabites: and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers of the treasures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink.

3 And I took Jezonias the son of Jeremias the son of Habsanias, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.

4 And I brought them into the house of the Lord, to the treasure house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of God, which was by the treasure house of the princes, above the treasure of Maasias the son of Sellum, who was keeper of the entry.

5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine.

6 And they answered:We will not drink wine: because Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your children, for ever:

7 Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow reed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are strangers.

8 Therefore we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all things that he commanded us: so as to drink no wine all our days: neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters:

9 Nor to build houses to dwell in, nor to have vineyard, or field, or seed:

10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have been obedient according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

11 But when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up to our land, we said: Come, let us go into Jerusalem from the face of the army of the Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of Syria: and we have remained in Jerusalem.

12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

13 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not receive instruction, to obey my words, saith the Lord?

14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, by which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, have prevailed: and they have drunk none to this day, because they have obeyed the commandment of their father: but I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you have not obeyed me.

15 And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending and saying: Return ye every man from his wicked way, and make your ways good: and follow not strange gods, nor worship them, and you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fathers: and you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me.

16 So the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have constantly kept the commandment of their father, which he commanded them: but this people hath not obeyed me.

17 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will bring upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, and they have not heard: I have called to them, and they have not answered me.

18 And Jeremias said to the house of the Rechabites: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done all that he commanded you:

19 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: There shall not be wanting a man of the race of Jonadab the son of Rechab, standing before me for ever.

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, that this word came to Jeremias by the Lord, saying:

2 Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the words that I have spoken to thee against Israel and Juda, and against all the nations from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of Josias even to this day.

3 If so be, when the house of Juda shall hear all the evils that I purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his wicked way: and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin.

4 So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Nerias: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to him, upon the roll of a book.

5 And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot go into the house of the Lord.

6 Go thou in therefore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the hearing of all Juda that come out of their cities:

7 If so be they may present their supplication before the Lord, and may return every one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and indignation which the Lord hath pronounced against this people.

8 And Baruch the son of Nerias did according to all that Jeremias the prophet ,had commanded him, reading out of the volume the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord.

9 And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that were come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.

10 And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremias in the house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.

11 And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord,

12 He went down into the king’s house to the secretary’s chamber: and behold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dalaias the son of Semeias, and Elnathan the son of Achobor, and Gamarias the son of Saphan, and Sedecias the son of Hananias, and all the princes.

13 And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read out of the volume in the hearing of the people.

14 Therefore all the princes sent Judi the son of Nathanias, the son of Selemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, saying: Take in thy hand the volume in which thou hast read in the hearing of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Nerias took the volume in his hand, and came to them.

15 And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our hearing. And Baruch read in their hearing.

16 And when they had heard all the words, they looked upon one another with astonishment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the king all these words.

17 And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all these words from his mouth.

18 And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pronounced all these words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink.

19 And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.

20 And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up the volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words in the hearing of the king.

21 And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.

22 Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and there was a hearth before him full of burning coals.

23 And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that was upon the hearth, till all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth.

24 And the king and all his servants that heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.

25 But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king, not to burn the book: and he heard them not.

26 And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch the scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.

27 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after that the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremias, saying:

28 Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda both burnt.

29 And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

30 Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.

31 And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they have not heard.

32 And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with fire: and there were added besides many more words than had been before.

1 Therefore ought we more diligently to observe the things which we have heard lest perhaps we should let them slip.

2 For if the word spoken by angels became steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward:

3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which, having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.

4 God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders and divers miracles and distributions of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.

5 For God hath not subjected unto angels the world to come, whereof we speak.

6 But one in a certain place hath testified, saying: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

7 Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels: thou hast crowned him with glory and honour and hast set him over the works of thy hands.

8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet. For in that he hath subjected all things to him he left nothing not subject to him. But now we see not as yet all things subject to him.

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour: that, through the grace of God he might taste death for all.

10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, who had brought many children into glory, to perfect the author of their salvation, by his passion.

11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying:

12 I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee.

13 And again: I will put my trust in him. And again: Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me.

14 Therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same: that, through death, he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil:

15 And might deliver them, who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude.

16 For nowhere doth he take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold.

17 Wherefore, it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, that he might be a propitiation for the sins of the people.

18 For in that wherein he himself hath suffered and been tempted he is able to succour them also that are tempted.