Jeremias 38

1 At that time, saith the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.

And Shephatyah the son of Matthan, and Gedalyahu the son of Pashchur, and Juchal the son of Shelemyahu, and Pashchur the son of Malkiyah, heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking unto all the people, saying,

2 Thus saith the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go ye and destroy not Israel.

Thus hath said the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; and he shall have his life as a booty, and shall live.

3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee in compassion.

Thus hath said the Lord, This city shall surely be given up into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it.

4 For I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet take thy timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.

Thereupon said the princes unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death; for the cause that he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that are yet left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but their hurt.

5 For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.

Then said king Zedekiah, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not able to do any thing against you.

6 For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, [saying], Arise ye, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.

Then did they take Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit of Malkiyahu the son of the king, that was in the court of the prison: and they let Jeremiah down with cords; but in the pit there was no water, but mire; so that Jeremiah sunk into the mire.

7 For thus saith the Lord to Jacob; Rejoice ye, and exult over the head of the nations: make proclamation, and praise ye: say, The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.

Now when 'Ebed-melech the Cushi, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had placed Jeremiah into the pit; while the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin:

8 Behold, I bring them from the north, and will gather them from the end of the earth to the feast of the passover: and [the people] shall beget a great multitude, and they shall return hither.

'Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,

9 They went forth with weeping, and I will bring them back with consolation, causing them to lodge by the channels of waters in a straight way, and they shall not err in it: for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.

My lord, O king, these men have done wrong in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit; and he would have had to die [as it is] in the place where he was for hunger; for there is no more bread in the city.

10 Hear the words of the Lord, ye nations, and proclaim [them] to the islands afar off; say, He that scattered Israel will also gather him, and keep him as one that feeds his flock.

The king then commanded 'Ebed-melech the Cushi, saying, Take with thee from here thirty men, and bring up Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit, before he die.

11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.

So 'Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence cast-off clothes and old rags, and let them down into the pit to Jeremiah by cords.

12 And they shall come, and shall rejoice in the mount of Sion, and shall come to the good things of the Lord, [even] to a land of corn, and wine, and fruits, and cattle, and sheep: and their soul shall be as a fruitful tree; and they shall hunger no more.

And Ebed-melech the Cushi said unto Jeremiah, Put, I pray, these cast-off clothes and old rags under thy arm-pits beneath the cords. And Jeremiah did so.

13 Then shall the virgins rejoice in the assembly of youth, and the old men shall rejoice; and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will make them merry.

So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and brought him up out of the pit: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

14 I will expand and cheer with wine the soul of the priests the sons of Levi, and my people shall be satisfied with my good things: thus saith the Lord.

Then sent king Zedekiah, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that was in the house of the Lord; and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee something: conceal nothing from me.

15 A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing; Rachel would not cease weeping for her children, because they are not.

Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, If I should tell it unto thee, behold, thou wilt surely put me to death; and if I should give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

16 Thus saith the Lord; Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thine eyes from thy tears: for their is a reward for thy works; and they shall return from the land of [thine] enemies.

So king Zedekiah swore unto Jeremiah secretly, saying, As the Lord liveth, who hath made for us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor will I give thee up into the hand of these men that seek thy life.

17 [There shall be] an abiding [home] for thy children.

Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus hath said the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, If thou wilt indeed go forth unto the princes of the king of Babylon, then shall thy soul live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire; and thou shalt live, thou with thy household;

18 I have heard the sound of Ephraim lamenting, [and saying], Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened; I as a calf was not [willingly] taught: turn thou me, and I shall turn; for thou [art] the Lord my God.

But if thou wilt not go forth to the princes of the king of Babylon, then shall this city be given up into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou thyself shalt not escape out of their hand.

19 For after my captivity I repented; and after I knew, I groaned for the day of shame, and shewed thee that I bore reproach from my youth.

Then said king Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, I am in dread of the Jews that have run away to the Chaldeans, lest these deliver me into their hand, and they might ill-use me.

20 Ephraim is a beloved son, a pleasing child to me: for because my words are in him, I will surely remember him: therefore I made haste [to help] him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.

But Jeremiah said, They will not give [thee] up. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, in that which I speak unto thee; so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.

21 Prepare thyself, O Sion; execute vengeance; look to thy ways: return, O virgin of Israel, by the way by which thou wentest, return mourning to thy cities.

But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shown me:

22 How long, O disgraced daughter, wilt thou turn away? for the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.

And behold, all the women that are left in the house of the king of Judah shall be led forth to the princes of the king of Babylon; and these women shall say, “They have enticed, and have overpersuaded thee—thy men that should have sought thy welfare; thy feet are [now] sunk in the mire, and they have withdrawn themselves backward.”

23 For thus saith the Lord; They shall yet speak this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn his captivity; blessed be the Lord on his righteous holy mountain!

And all thy wives and thy children shall they bring out to the Chaldeans; and thou thyself shalt not escape out of their hand; for by the hand of the king of Babylon shalt thou be caught; and this city wilt thou cause to be burnt with fire.

24 And there shall be dwellers in the cities of Juda, and in all his land, together with the husbandman, and [the shepherd] shall go forth with the flock.

Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, that thou mayest not die.

25 For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.

And if the princes should hear that I have spoken with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, tell us, we pray thee, what thou hast spoken unto the king, conceal it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king hath spoken unto thee:

26 Therefore I awake, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me.

Then shalt thou say unto them, I presented my humble supplication before the king, that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan, to die there.

27 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of man, and the seed of beast.

And all the princes came unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them in accordance with all these words that the king had commanded. And they turned away silent from him; for the matter had not been made public.

28 And it shall come to pass, that as I watched over them, to pull down, and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.

And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And it came to pass when Jerusalem was captured,

29 In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.

30 But every one shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him that eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:

32 not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord.

33 For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.

34 And they shall not at all teach every one his [fellow] citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.

35 Thus saith the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the moon and the stars for a light by night, and [makes] a roaring in the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; the Lord Almighty is his name:

36 if these ordinances cease from before me, saith the Lord, then shall the family of Israel cease to be a nation before me forever.

37 Though the sky should be raised to a [greater] height, saith the Lord, and though the ground of the earth should be sunk [lower] beneath, yet I will not cast off the family of Israel, saith the Lord, for all that they have done.

38 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.

39 And the measurement of it shall proceed in front of them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it shall be compassed with a circular wall of choice stones.

40 And all the Asaremoth even to Nachal Kedron, as far as the corner of the horse-gate eastward, shall be holiness to the Lord; and it shall not fail any more, and shall not be destroyed for ever.