Jeremias 21

1 THE WORD THAT CAME FROM THE LORD TO JEREMIAS, WHEN KING SEDEKIAS SENT TO HIM PASCHOR THE SON OF MELCHIAS, AND SOPHONIAS SON OF BASAEAS, THE PRIEST, SAYING,

The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashur, the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying:

2 Enquire of the Lord for us; for the king of Babylon has risen up against us; if the Lord will do according to all his wonderful works, and [the king] shall depart from us.

Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us; for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, maketh war against us; whether Jehovah will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

3 And Jeremias said to them, Thus shall you say to Sedekias king of Juda,

And Jeremiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:

4 Thus says the Lord; Behold, I [will] turn back the weapons of war wherewith you fight against the Chaldeans that have besieged you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.

Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which ye fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldaeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them in the midst of this city.

5 And I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, with wrath and great anger.

And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, with anger and fury and great wrath.

6 And I will strike all the dwellers in this city, [both] men and cattle, with grievous pestilence: and they shall die.

And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; by a great pestilence shall they die.

7 And after this, thus says the Lord; I will give Sedekias king of Juda, and his servants, and the people that is left in this city from the pestilence, and from the famine, and from the sword, into the hands of their enemies, that seek their lives: and they shall cut them in pieces with the edge of the sword: I will not spare them, and I will not have compassion upon them.

And after this, saith Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those in the city who shall be left alive by the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life; and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor show mercy.

8 And you shall say to this people, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I have set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

And to this people thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

9 He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by famine: but he that goes forth to advance to the Chaldeans that have besieged you, shall live, and his life shall be to him for a spoil, and he shall live.

He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence; but he that goeth out and surrendereth himself to the Chaldaeans that besiege you, he shall live, and bear away his life as a prey.

10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good: it shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall consume it with fire.

For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith Jehovah. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

11 O house of the king of Juda, hear you the word of the Lord.

And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear ye the word of Jehovah,

12 O house of David, thus says the Lord; Judge judgment in the morning, and act rightly, and rescue the spoiled one from the hand of him that wrongs him, lest mine anger be kindled like fire, and it burn, and there be none to quench [it].

O house of David! Thus saith Jehovah: Administer justice in season, and deliver him that is spoiled from the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings!

13 Behold, I am against you that dwell in the valley of Sor; in the plain country, [even against] them that say, Who shall alarm us? or who shall enter into our habitation?

Behold, I am against thee, thou inhabitant of the valley, the rock of the plain, who sayest, “Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter our habitations?”

14 And I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

But I will punish you with the fruit of your doings. I will kindle a fire in her forest, which shall consume all around her.