Jeremías 38
1 Sefatías, hijo de Matán, Gedalías, hijo de Pasur, Jucal, hijo de Selemías, y Pasur, hijo de Malquías, oyeron las Palabras que Jeremías hablaba a todo el pueblo:
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 Yavé dice: El que se quede en esta ciudad morirá a espada, de hambre o de pestilencia. Pero el que se pase a los caldeos vivirá, tendrá su vida como botín y seguirá vivo.
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 Yavé dice: Ciertamente esta ciudad será entregada en mano del ejército del rey de Babilonia, y 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 magistrados dijeron al rey: Te rogamos que este hombre sea ejecutado, porque debilita las manos de los guerreros que quedan en esta ciudad, y las de todo el pueblo al hablarles así. Este hombre no busca el bienestar de este pueblo, sino su mal.
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 Y el rey Sedequías respondió: Miren, él está en sus manos. El rey nada puede hacer contra ustedes.
For you have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant you, and praise.
6 Entonces tomaron a Jeremías y lo echaron en la cisterna de Malquías, hijo de Hamelec, la cual estaba en el patio de la guardia. Bajaron a Jeremías con sogas. En la cisterna 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 Pero el etíope llamado Ebed-melec, servidor en el palacio real, supo que habían metido a Jeremías en la cisterna. Y cuando el rey estaba 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 Ebed-melec salió del palacio real y habló al rey:
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 Oh rey, ʼadón mío, estos varones actuaron mal en todo lo que hicieron con el profeta Jeremías, al cual echaron en la cisterna, donde morirá de hambre, porque 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 al etíope Ebed-melec: Toma 30 hombres contigo, y saquen al profeta Jeremías de la cisterna antes 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 Ebed-melec tomó en su poder a los hombres, entró en el palacio real debajo de la tesorería. De allí tomó trapos viejos y ropas raídas y andrajosas, y junto con unas sogas, los bajó a Jeremías en la cisterna.
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
12 El etíope Ebed-melec dijo a Jeremías: Ponte ahora esos trapos viejos, ropas raídas y andrajosas bajo los sobacos, debajo de las sogas. Y Jeremías lo hizo así.
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 De este modo sacaron a Jeremías con sogas y lo subieron de la cisterna. Y Jeremías permaneció 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 Después el rey Sedequías llamó al profeta Jeremías ante su presencia, en la tercera entrada de la Casa de Yavé. Y el rey dijo a Jeremías: Te haré una pregunta. No me encubras alguna cosa.
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 Y Jeremías contestó a Sedequías: Si te lo digo, ciertamente ¿no me matarás? Y si te aconsejo, 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 Pero el rey Sedequías juró en secreto a Jeremías: Vive Yavé, Quien nos da la vida, que ciertamente no te mataré, ni te entregaré en mano 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: Yavé ʼElohim de las huestes, ʼElohim de Israel, dice: Si tú en verdad sales a los oficiales del rey de Babilonia, vivirás, y esta ciudad no será quemada. Vivirás, tú y tu casa.
[There shall be] an dwelling [home] for your children.
18 Pero si no te entregas a los oficiales del rey de Babilonia, esta ciudad será entregada en la mano de los caldeos. La incendiarán, 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 temor de los judíos que desertaron a los caldeos. Yo podría ser entregado a ellos, y ellos me maltratarían.
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 le respondió: No te entregarán. Oye ahora la voz de Yavé en lo que te digo, y te irá bien y vivirás.
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 rehúsas entregarte, ésta es la Palabra que Yavé me mostró:
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 Ciertamente todas las mujeres que quedan en el palacio del rey de Judá serán sacadas a los oficiales del rey de Babilonia. Ellas mismas dirán: Tus amigos te engañaron y prevalecieron contra ti. Hundieron tus pies en el lodo y se volvieron atrás.
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 Sacarán, pues, a todas tus mujeres y a tus hijos para los caldeos. Tú no escaparás de sus manos, sino serás apresado por la mano del rey de Babilonia, y esta ciudad será destruida 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 estas Palabras, y tú 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 Si los magistrados oyen que yo hablé contigo, y acuden a ti y te dicen: Decláranos ahora lo que le dijiste al rey, sin ocultarnos nada, no te mataremos, y también qué te respondió el rey,
For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
26 tú les dirás: Supliqué al rey que no me devolviera a la casa de Jonatán para morir allá.
Therefore I awake, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 En efecto, luego todos los magistrados fueron a Jeremías, y le preguntaron, y él les respondió todo lo que el rey le mandó. Ellos dejaron de hablarle, de modo que el asunto no fue escuchado.
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 Jeremías permaneció en el patio de la guardia hasta el día cuando Jerusalén fue capturada.
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.
