Jeremiah 38
1 Forsothe Safacie, sone of Nathan, and Jedelie, sone of Fassur, and Jothal, sone of Selemye, and Fassour, sone of Melchie, herden the wordis whiche Jeremye spak to al the puple,
At that time, says the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.
2 `and seide, The Lord seith these thingis, Who euer dwellith in this citee, schal die bi swerd, and hungur, and pestilence; but he that flieth to Caldeis, shal lyue, and his soule schal be hool and lyuynge.
Thus says the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go you and destroy not Israel.
3 The Lord seith these thingis, This citee to be bitakun schal be bitakun in to the hond of the oost of the kyng of Babiloyne, and he schal take it.
The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn you in compassion.
4 And the princes seiden to the kyng, We preien, that this man be slayn; for of bifore castyng he discoumfortith the hondis of men werriours, that dwelliden in this citee, and the hondis of al the puple, and spekith to hem bi alle these wordis. For whi this man sekith not pees to this puple, but yuel.
For I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall yet take your timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.
5 And kyng Sedechie seide, Lo! he is in youre hondis, for it is not leueful that the kyng denye ony thing to you.
For you have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant you, and praise.
6 Therfor thei token Jeremye, and castiden hym doun in to the lake of Elchie, sone of Amalech, which was in the porche of the prisoun; and thei senten doun Jeremye bi cordis in to the lake, wherynne was no watir, but fen; therfor Jeremye yede doun in to the filthe.
For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, [saying], Arise you, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.
7 Forsothe Abdemalech Ethiopien, a chast man and oneste, herde, that was in the kyngis hous, that thei hadden sent Jeremye in to the lake; sotheli the king sat in the yate of Beniamyn.
For thus says the Lord to Jacob; Rejoice you, and exult over the head of the nations: make proclamation, and praise you: say, The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.
8 And Abdemalech yede out of the kyngis hous, and spak to the kyng,
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.
9 and seide, My lord the kyng, these men diden yuele alle thingis, what euer thingis thei diden ayens Jeremye, the profete, sendynge hym in to the lake, that he die there for hungur; for whi looues ben no more in the citee.
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 firstborn.
10 Therfor the kyng comaundide to Abdemelech Ethiopien, and seide, Take with thee thretti men fro hennus, and reise thou Jeremye, the profete, fro the lake, bifor that he die.
Hear the words of the Lord, you 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.
11 Therfor whanne Abdemelech hadde take men with hym, he entride in to the hous of the kyng, that was vndur the celer; and he took fro thennus elde clothis, and elde ragges, that weren rotun; and he sente tho doun to Jeremye, in to the lake, bi cordis.
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
12 And Abdemelech Ethiopien seide to Jeremye, Putte thou elde clothis, and these to-rent and rotun thingis vndur the cubit of thin hondis, and on the cordis. Therfor Jeremye dide so.
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.
13 And thei drowen out Jeremye with cordis, and ledden hym out of the lake. Forsothe Jeremye dwellide in the porche of the prisoun.
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.
14 And kyng Sedechie sente, and took hym Jeremye, the profete, at the thridde dore that was in the hous of the Lord. And the kyng seide to Jeremye, Y axe of thee a word; hide thou not ony thing fro me.
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 says the Lord.
15 Forsothe Jeremye seide to Sedechie, If Y telle to thee, whether thou schalt not sle me? And if Y yyue councel to thee, thou schalt not here me.
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.
16 Therfor Sedechie the king swoor to Jeremye priueli, and seide, The Lord lyueth, that maad to vs this soule, Y schal not sle thee, and Y schal not bitake thee in to the hondis of these men, that seken thi lijf.
Thus says the Lord; Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from your tears: for their is a reward for your works; and they shall return from the land of [your] enemies.
17 And Jeremye seide to Sedechie, The Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, If thou goest forth, and goest out to the princes of the kyng of Babiloyne, thi soule schal lyue, and this citee schal not be brent with fier, and thou schalt be saaf, thou and thin hous.
[There shall be] an dwelling [home] for your children.
18 Forsothe if thou goest not out to the princes of the kyng of Babiloyne, this citee schal be bitakun in to the hondis of Caldeis; and thei schulen brenne it with fier, and thou schalt not ascape fro the hond of hem.
I have heard the sound of Ephraim lamenting, [and saying], You have chastened me, and I was chastened; I as a calf was not [willingly] taught: turn you me, and I shall turn; for you [are] the Lord my God.
19 And kyng Sedechie seide to Jeremye, Y am angwischid for the Jewis that fledden ouer to Caldeis, lest perauenture Y be bitakun in to the hondis of hem, and thei scorne me.
For after my captivity I repented; and after I knew, I groaned for the day of shame, and showed you that I bore reproach from my youth.
20 Forsothe Jeremye answeride, and seide to hym, Thei schulen not bitake thee; Y biseche, here thou the vois of the Lord, which Y schal speke to thee, and it schal be wel to thee, and thi soule schal lyue.
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, says the Lord.
21 That if thou wolt not go out, this is the word which the Lord schewide to me, Lo!
Prepare yourself, O Sion; execute vengeance; look to your ways: return, O virgin of Israel, by the way by which you went, return mourning to your cities.
22 alle the wymmen, that weren left in the hous of the kyng of Juda, schulen be led out to the princes of the kyng of Babiloyne; and tho wymmen schulen seie, Thi pesible men disseyueden thee, and hadden the maistrye ayens thee; thei drenchiden thee in filthe, and thi feet in slidirnesse, and yeden awei fro thee.
How long, O disgraced daughter, will you turn away? for the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.
23 And alle thi wyues and thi sones schulen be led out to Caldeis, and thou schalt not ascape the hondis of hem; but thou schalt be bitakun in to the hondis of the kyng of Babiloyne, and he schal brenne this citee bi fier.
For thus says 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!
24 Therfore Sedechie seide to Jeremye, No man wite these wordis, and thou schalt not die.
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.
25 Sotheli if the princes heren, that Y spak with thee, and comen to thee, and seien to thee, Schewe thou to vs what thou spakest with the kyng, hide thou not fro vs, and we schulen not sle thee; and what the kyng spak with thee,
For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
26 thou schalt seie to hem, Knelyngli Y puttide forth my preiris bifore the kyng, that he schulde not comaunde me to be led ayen in to the hous of Jonathan, and Y schulde die there.
Therefore I awake, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 Therfor alle the princes camen to Jeremye, and axiden hym; and he spak to hem bi alle the wordis whiche the kyng hadde comaundid to hym, and thei ceessiden fro hym; for whi no thing was herd.
Therefore, behold, the days come, says 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.
28 Therfor Jeremye dwellide in the porche of the prisoun, til to the dai wherynne Jerusalem was takun; and it was don, that Jerusalem schulde be takun.
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, says the Lord.
In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.
But every one shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him that eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
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, says the Lord.
For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says 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.
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.
Thus says 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:
if these ordinances cease from before me, says the Lord, then shall the family of Israel cease to be a nation before me forever.
Though the sky should be raised to a [greater] height, says the Lord, and though the ground of the earth should be sunk [lower] beneath, yet I will not cast off the family of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.
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.
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.
