Jeremiah 39 — 4 originals side by side

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.

All the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him.

Then the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.

Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the rest of the people who remained.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Jeremiah, saying,

“Take him and take care of him. Do him no harm; but do to him even as he tells you.”

So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban, Rabsaris, and Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon

sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should bring him home. So he lived among the people.

Now Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

“Go, and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring my words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you in that day.

But I will deliver you in that day,” says Yahweh; “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

For I will surely save you. You won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says Yahweh.’”

the Lord of great counsel and mighty in deeds, the great God, the Almighty and Lord of great name: your eyes are upon the ways of the sons of men, to give to each according to his way,

who did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt until this day, and in Israel and among the earthborn, and you made for yourself a name as this day.

And you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a mighty hand and with a lofty arm and with great visions,

and you gave them this land which you swore to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And they entered and took it, and they did not listen to your voice, and in your ordinances they did not walk; all that you commanded them they did not do; and you made all these evils befall them.

Behold, a throng has come to this city to seize it, and the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it, before the sword and the famine. As you spoke, so it has come to pass.

And you say to me: Acquire for yourself a field with silver. And I wrote a document and sealed it and called witnesses to testify—and the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:

I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; shall anything be hidden from me?

Therefore thus said the Lord, the God of Israel: This city shall surely be given over into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

And the Chaldeans shall come warring against this city, and they shall burn this city with fire and shall burn down the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, so as to provoke me to bitterness.

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah alone were doing what is evil before my eyes from their youth.

For this city has been upon my wrath and upon my anger from the day they built it and until this day, so that I should remove it from before my face,

because of all the wickednesses of the sons of Israel and Judah which they did to embitter me—they and their kings and their rulers and their priests and their prophets, men of Judah and those inhabiting Jerusalem.

And they turned their back to me and not their face; and I taught them early in the morning, and I taught, but they did not listen so as to receive instruction.

And they set their defilements in the house upon which my name was called, in their uncleannesses.

And they built the altars to Baal that are in the valley of the son of Ennom, to offer up their sons and their daughters to Moloch the king, which I did not enjoin upon them, nor did it come up upon my heart to do this abomination, so as to make Judah sin.

And now thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the city of which you speak: It shall be given over into the hands of the king of Babylon by sword and by famine and by banishment.

Behold, I am gathering them from all the land where I scattered them there in my anger and my wrath and in great exasperation, and I will bring them back to this place and will settle them in confidence.

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

And I will give them another way and another heart, to fear me all the days, for good to them and to their children after them.

And I will make with them an everlasting covenant, which I will surely not turn back from behind them; and I will put my fear into their heart, so that they do not depart from me.

And I will visit them so as to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness and with all heart and with all soul.

For thus said the Lord: Just as I brought upon this people all these great evils, so I will bring upon them all the good things which I spoke concerning them.

And fields shall yet be acquired in the land of which you say: It is impassable, without man and beast, and they have been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

And they shall acquire fields with silver, and you shall write a document and seal it and call witnesses to testify, in the land of Benjamin and around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the hill and in the cities of Sephela and in the cities of Nageb; for I will bring back their exiles.