Jeremias 33
1 IN THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF KING JOAKIM SON OF JOSIAS THERE CAME THIS WORD FROM THE LORD.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the place of the armed watchmen, saying,
2 Thus said the Lord; Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and you shall declare to all the Jews, and to all that come to worship in the house of the Lord, all the words which I commanded you to speak to them; abate not one word.
These are the words of the Lord, who is doing it, the Lord who is forming it, to make it certain; the Lord is his name;
3 Peradventure they will hear, and turn every one from his evil way: then I will cease from the evils which I purpose to do to them, because of their evil practices.
Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge.
4 And you shall say, Thus said the Lord; If you will not listen to me, to walk in my statutes which I set before you,
For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said about the houses of this town and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been broken down to make earthworks and ...;
5 to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you early in the morning; yes, I sent them, but you listened not to me;
... and to make them full of the dead bodies of men whom I have put to death in my wrath and in my passion, and because of whose evil-doing I have kept my face covered from this town.
6 then will I make this house as Selo, and I will make [this] city a curse to all the nations of all the earth.
See, I will make it healthy and well again, I will even make them well; I will let them see peace and good faith in full measure.
7 And the priests, and the false prophets, and all the people heard Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
And I will let the fate of Judah and of Israel be changed, building them up as at first.
8 And it came to pass, when Jeremias had ceased speaking all that the Lord had ordered him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the false prophets and all the people took him, saying,
And I will make them clean from all their sin, with which they have been sinning against me; I will have forgiveness for all their sins, with which they have been sinning against me, and with which they have done evil against me.
9 You shall surely die, because you have prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be as Selo, and this city shall be made quite destitute of inhabitants. And all the people assembled against Jeremias in the house of the Lord.
And this town will be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who, hearing of all the good which I am doing for them, will be shaking with fear because of all the good and the peace which I am doing for it.
10 And the princes of Juda heard this word, and they went up out of the house of the king to the house of the Lord, and sat in the entrance of the new gate.
This is what the Lord has said: There will again be sounding in this place, of which you say, It is a waste, without man and without beast; even in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem which are waste and unpeopled, without man and without beast,
11 Then the priests and the false prophets said to the princes and to all the people, The judgement of death [is due] to this man; because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.
Happy sounds, the voice of joy, the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who say, Give praise to the Lord of armies, for the Lord is good, for his mercy is unchanging for ever: the voices of those who go with praise into the house of the Lord. For I will let the land come back to its first condition, says the Lord.
12 Then Jeremias spoke to the princes, and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city, all the words which you have heard.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: Again there will be in this place, which is a waste, without man and without beast, and in all its towns, a resting-place where the keepers of sheep will make their flocks take rest.
13 And now amend your ways and your works, and listen to the voice of the Lord; and the Lord shall cease from the evils which he has pronounced against you.
In the towns of the hill-country, in the towns of the lowland, and in the towns of the South and in the land of Benjamin and in the country round Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, the flocks will again go under the hand of him who is numbering them, says the Lord.
14 And behold, I am in your hands; do to me as is expedient, and as it is best for you.
See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will give effect to the good word which I have said about the people of Israel and the people of Judah.
15 But know for a certainty, that if you kill me, you bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon them that dwell in it; for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak in your ears all these words.
In those days and at that time, I will let a Branch of righteousness come up for David; and he will be a judge in righteousness in the land.
16 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the false prophets; Judgement of death is not [due] to this man; for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.
In those days, Judah will have salvation and Jerusalem will be safe: and this is the name which will be given to her: The Lord is our righteousness.
17 And there rose up men of the elders of the land, and said to all the assembly of the people,
For the Lord has said, David will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel;
18 Michaeas the Morathite lived in the days of Ezekias king of Juda, and said to all the people of Juda, Thus says the Lord; Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become a desolation, and the mountain of the house shall be a thicket of trees.
And the priests and the Levites will never be without a man to come before me, offering burned offerings and perfumes and meal offerings and offerings of beasts at all times.
19 Did Ezekias and all Juda in any way kill him? Was it not that they feared the Lord, and they made supplication before the Lord, and the Lord ceased from the evils which he [had] pronounced against them? whereas we have wrought great evil against our own souls.
And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
20 And there was [another] man prophesying in the name of the Lord, Urias the son of Samaeas of Cariathiarim; and he prophesied concerning this land according to all the words of Jeremias.
The Lord has said: If it is possible for my agreement of the day and the night to be broken, so that day and night no longer come at their fixed times,
21 And king Joakim and all the princes heard all his words, and sought to kill him; and Urias heard [it] and went into Egypt.
Then my agreement with my servant David may be broken, so that he no longer has a son to take his place on the seat of the kingdom; and my agreement with the Levites, the priests, my servants.
22 And the king sent men into Egypt;
As it is not possible for the army of heaven to be numbered, or the sand of the sea measured, so will I make the seed of my servant David, and the Levites my servants.
23 and they brought him thence, and brought him into the king; and he struck him with the sword, and cast him into the sepulchre of the children of his people.
And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 Nevertheless the hand of Achicam son of Saphan was with Jeremias, to prevent his being delivered into the hands of the people, or being killed.
Have you taken note of what these people have said, The two families, which the Lord took for himself, he has given up? This they say, looking down on my people as being, in their eyes, no longer a nation.
The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me,
Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.
