Jeremías 38
1 Sefatías, hijo de Matán, Gedalías, hijo de Pasjur, Jucal, hijo de Selemías, y Pasjur, hijo de Malquías, oyeron las palabras que Jeremías dirigió a todo el pueblo, diciendo:
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 “Yahvé dice: ‘El que se quede en esta ciudad morirá por la espada, por el hambre y por la peste, pero el que salga hacia los caldeos vivirá. Escapará con vida y vivirá’.
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 Yahvé dice: ‘Esta ciudad será seguramente entregada en manos del ejército del rey de Babilonia, y él la tomará’”.
The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn you in compassion.
4 Entonces los príncipes dijeron al rey: “Por favor, haz que este hombre muera, porque debilita las manos de los hombres de guerra que permanecen en esta ciudad, y las manos de todo el pueblo, al decirles tales palabras; porque este hombre no busca el bienestar de este pueblo, sino el daño.”
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 El rey Sedequías dijo: “He aquí que está en tu mano, pues el rey no puede hacer nada para oponerse a ti”.
For you have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant you, and praise.
6 Entonces tomaron a Jeremías y lo arrojaron al calabozo de Malquías, hijo del rey, que estaba en el patio de la guardia. Bajaron a Jeremías con cuerdas. En el calabozo no había agua, sino lodo; y Jeremías se hundió en el lodo.
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 Cuando Ebedmelec el etíope, que estaba en la casa del rey, se enteró de que habían metido a Jeremías en la mazmorra (el rey estaba entonces sentado en la puerta de Benjamín),
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 Ebedmelec salió de la casa del rey y habló al rey, diciendo:
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 “Mi señor el rey, estos hombres han hecho mal en todo lo que han hecho al profeta Jeremías, al que han metido en la mazmorra. Es probable que muera en el lugar donde está, a causa del hambre, pues ya no hay pan en la ciudad.”
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 Entonces el rey ordenó a Ebedmelec el etíope, diciendo: “Toma de aquí treinta hombres contigo y saca al profeta Jeremías del calabozo, antes de que muera.”
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 Entonces Ebedmelec tomó a los hombres con él y entró en la casa del rey, debajo de la tesorería, y tomó de allí trapos y vestidos gastados, y los hizo bajar con cuerdas al calabozo para Jeremías.
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
12 Ebedmelec el etíope le dijo a Jeremías: “Ahora pon estos trapos y prendas gastadas bajo tus axilas, debajo de las cuerdas”. Jeremías así lo hizo.
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 Así que levantaron a Jeremías con las cuerdas y lo sacaron del calabozo, y Jeremías se quedó en el patio de la guardia.
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 Entonces el rey Sedequías envió y llevó al profeta Jeremías a la tercera entrada que está en la casa de Yahvé. Entonces el rey le dijo a Jeremías: “Te voy a pedir algo. No me ocultes nada”.
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 Entonces Jeremías dijo a Sedequías: “Si te lo declaro, ¿no me matarás seguramente? Si te doy un consejo, no me escucharás”.
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 Entonces el rey Sedequías juró en secreto a Jeremías, diciendo: “Vive Yahvé, que hizo nuestras almas, que no te mataré, ni te entregaré en manos de estos hombres que buscan tu vida.”
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 Entonces Jeremías dijo a Sedequías: “Yahvé, el Dios de los Ejércitos, el Dios de Israel, dice: ‘Si sales a los príncipes del rey de Babilonia, entonces tu alma vivirá, y esta ciudad no será quemada por el fuego. Vivirás, junto con tu casa.
[There shall be] an dwelling [home] for your children.
18 Pero si no sales con los príncipes del rey de Babilonia, esta ciudad será entregada en manos de los caldeos, y ellos la quemarán con fuego, y tú no escaparás de sus manos’”.
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 El rey Sedequías dijo a Jeremías: “Tengo miedo de los judíos que han desertado a los caldeos, no sea que me entreguen en sus manos y se burlen de mí.”
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 Pero Jeremías dijo: “No te librarán. Obedece, te ruego, la voz de Yahvé en lo que te digo; así te irá bien y tu alma vivirá.
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 Pero si te niegas a salir, ésta es la palabra que Yahvé me ha mostrado:
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 ‘He aquí que todas las mujeres que quedan en la casa del rey de Judá serán sacadas ante los príncipes del rey de Babilonia, y esas mujeres dirán, “Tus amigos conocidos se han vuelto contra ti, y han prevalecido sobre ti. Tus pies están hundidos en el fango, se han alejado de ti”.
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 Llevarán a los caldeos a todas tus mujeres y a tus hijos. No escaparás de sus manos, sino que serás tomado por la mano del rey de Babilonia. Harán que esta ciudad sea quemada con fuego’”.
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 Entonces Sedequías dijo a Jeremías: “Que nadie sepa de estas palabras, y no morirás.
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 Pero si los príncipes se enteran de que he hablado contigo, y vienen a ti y te dicen: ‘Decláranos ahora lo que has dicho al rey; no nos lo ocultes, y no te haremos morir; dinos también lo que te ha dicho el rey’;
For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
26 entonces les dirás: ‘He presentado mi súplica ante el rey, para que no me haga volver a la casa de Jonatán, para morir allí’.”
Therefore I awake, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 Entonces todos los príncipes vinieron a Jeremías y le preguntaron, y él les respondió según todas estas palabras que el rey había ordenado. Entonces dejaron de hablar con él, porque el asunto no se percibía.
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 Así que Jeremías se quedó en el patio de la guardia hasta el día en que Jerusalén fue tomada.
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.
