Day 178 of 365

¹It happened the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

²"Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon:

⁴and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon,' says the Lord; 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord,

⁶even the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen: Lord do so; the Lord perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon to this place.

⁷Nevertheless hear you now this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people:

⁸The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

⁹The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall happen, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord has truly sent him."

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it.

¹¹Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations.'" The prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

¹³"Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron.

¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the animals of the field also."'"

¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Hear now, Hananiah: the Lord has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth: this year you shall die, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.'"

¹⁷So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

¹Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

²(after that Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem),

³by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,

⁴"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵'Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.

⁶Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not be diminished.

⁷Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.'

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Do not let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them,' says the Lord.

¹⁰"For thus says the Lord, 'After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

¹¹For I know the plans that I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans for your welfare, and not for calamity, to give you hope and a future.

¹²You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

¹³You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will be found by you,' says the Lord, 'and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,' says the Lord; 'and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.'

¹⁵"Because you have said, 'The Lord has raised us up prophets in Babylon';

¹⁶thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven't gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷thus says the Lord of hosts; 'Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.

¹⁸I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

¹⁹because they have not listened to my words,' says the Lord, 'with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,' says the Lord.

²⁰'Hear therefore the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.'

²¹"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: 'Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes;

²²and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "The Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire";

²³because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness,' says the Lord."

²⁴"Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

²⁵'Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, "Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶'The Lord has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

²⁷Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,

²⁸because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, "The captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit?"'"'

²⁹Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹"Send to all them of the captivity, saying, 'Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;

³²therefore," thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to my people, says the Lord, because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord."'"

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²"Thus speaks the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

³For, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,' says the Lord; 'and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.'"

⁴These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

⁵For thus says the Lord: "We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

⁶Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

⁷Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

⁸It shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord of hosts, "that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bondservant;

⁹but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

¹⁰Therefore do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord; neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

¹¹For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished."

¹²For thus says the Lord, "Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous.

¹³There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines.

¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.

¹⁵Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.

¹⁶Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; and those who despoil you shall be a spoil, and all who prey on you will I give for a prey.

¹⁷For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds," says the Lord; "because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.'"

¹⁸Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited in its own way.

¹⁹Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

²⁰Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them.

²¹Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from their midst; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says the Lord.

²²You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

²³Behold, the storm of the Lord, his wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.

²⁴The fierce anger of the Lord will not return, until he has executed, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.

¹"At that time," says the Lord, "will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people."

²Thus says the Lord, "The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

³The Lord appeared of old to me, saying, 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.

⁴Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.

⁵Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy its fruit.

⁶For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, "Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God."'"

⁷For thus says the Lord, "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, 'Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.'

⁸'Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here.

⁹They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.'"

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd does his flock."

¹¹For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

¹²They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of the Lord, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

¹³"Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

¹⁴I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness," says the Lord.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."

¹⁶Thus says the Lord: "Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded," says the Lord; "and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷There is hope for your latter end," says the Lord; "and your children shall come again to their own border.

¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are the Lord my God.

¹⁹Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

²⁰Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him," says the Lord.

²¹"Set up road signs, make guideposts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.

²²How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man."

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: 'The Lord bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.'

²⁴Judah and all its cities shall dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

²⁵For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished."

²⁶On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

²⁷"Behold, the days come, " says the Lord, "that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.

²⁸It shall happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant," says the Lord.

²⁹"In those days they shall say no more, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

³⁰But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

³¹Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them," says the Lord.

³³"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says the Lord: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:

³⁴and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord'; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest," says the Lord: "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more."

³⁵Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is his name:

³⁶"If these ordinances depart from before me," says the Lord, "then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever."

³⁷Thus says the Lord: "If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done," says the Lord.

³⁸"Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

³⁹The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.

⁴⁰The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever."