Jeremiah 21

¹ The word that was addressed to Jeremiah by Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchiah to him, with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, to say this,

² ‘Please consult Yahweh for us, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war on us: perhaps Yahweh will work all his wonders on our behalf, so that the enemy will have to withdraw’.

³ Jeremiah said to them, ‘Take this answer to Zedekiah,

⁴ “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: I am going to bring back the weapons of war which you are now carrying, and with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldaeans now besieging your walls; I am going to stack them in the centre of this city.

⁵ And I am going to fight against you myself with outstretched hand and mighty arm, in anger, fury and great wrath.

⁶ I am going to strike the inhabitants of this city, man and beast, with a frightful plague: they will die.

⁷ After which – it is Yahweh who speaks – I am going to deliver Zedekiah king of Judah with his servants and the people of this city who escape the plague, the sword, or the famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hands of their enemies and of those determined to kill them; mercilessly, relentlessly, pitilessly, he will put them to the sword.”

⁸ ‘And you are to say to this people, “Yahweh says this: Look, I now set in front of you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹ Those who stay in this city will die by sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who leaves it and surrenders to the Chaldaeans now besieging it will live; he shall escape with his life.

¹⁰ For I have turned my face against this city for its ruin, not for its prosperity – it is Yahweh who speaks. It is to be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.”‘

¹¹ To the royal House of Judah. Listen to the word of Yahweh,

¹² House of David! Yahweh says this: ‘Each morning give sound judgement, rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor, or else my wrath will leap out like a fire, it will burn and no one will be able to quench it.

¹³ My quarrel is with you, you that have gone to live at Rock-in-the-Plain[*b] – it is Yahweh who speaks – with you that say, “Who would dare attack us and penetrate our fastness?”

¹⁴ (I will punish you as your actions deserve – it is Yahweh who speaks.) I will set fire to its forest; it will devour the whole district.’