The LORD also spoke to him when Jehoiakim son of Josiah ruled over Judah, and he continued to speak to him until the fifth month of the eleventh year that Zedekiah son of Josiah ruled over Judah. That was when the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.

从犹大王约西亚的儿子约雅敬在位的时候，直到犹大王约西亚的儿子西底家在位的末年，就是十一年五月间耶路撒冷人被掳的时候，耶和华的话也常临到耶利米。

从约西亚的儿子犹大王约雅敬在位的时候，直到约西亚的儿子犹大王西底家在位的末年，就是第十一年五月间耶路撒冷被掳时，耶和华的话也常临到耶利米。

从约西亚的儿子犹大王约雅敬在位的时候，直到约西亚的儿子犹大王西底家在位的末年，就是第十一年五月间耶路撒冷被掳时，耶和华的话也常临到耶利米。

从犹大王约西亚的儿子约雅敬开始执政，一直到约西亚的另一个儿子西底迦做犹大王的第十一年五月，就是耶路撒冷的居民被掳之日，耶和华的话常常传给耶利米。

从犹大王约西亚的儿子约雅敬年间，直到犹大王约西亚的儿子西底家末年，就是第十一年五月，耶路撒冷人被掳的时候，耶和华的话也常临到耶利米。

從猶大王約西亞的兒子約雅敬在位的時候，直到猶大王約西亞的兒子西底家在位的末年，就是十一年五月間耶路撒冷人被擄的時候，耶和華的話也常臨到耶利米。

從約西亞的兒子猶大王約雅敬在位的時候，直到約西亞的兒子猶大王西底家在位的末年，就是第十一年五月間耶路撒冷被擄時，耶和華的話也常臨到耶利米。

從約西亞的兒子猶大王約雅敬在位的時候，直到約西亞的兒子猶大王西底家在位的末年，就是第十一年五月間耶路撒冷被擄時，耶和華的話也常臨到耶利米。

從猶大王約西亞的兒子約雅敬開始執政，一直到約西亞的另一個兒子西底迦做猶大王的第十一年五月，就是耶路撒冷的居民被擄之日，耶和華的話常常傳給耶利米。

從猶大王約西亞的兒子約雅敬年間，直到猶大王約西亞的兒子西底家末年，就是第十一年五月，耶路撒冷人被擄的時候，耶和華的話也常臨到耶利米。

當猶大王約西亞的兒子約雅敬的日子，直到猶大王約西亞的兒子西底家十一年年底，直到五月間耶路撒冷人流亡的時候，永恆主的話都常常傳與耶利米。

又諭之於猶大王約西亞子約雅敬時、迄約西亞子西底家十一年之末、是年五月、耶路撒冷被虜、○

猶大王約西亞子約雅敬在位時亦得默示、得默示直至約西亞子西底家在位十一年之終、是年五月、耶路撒冷民被擄、

and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

After Josiah, his son Jehoiakim was king over Judah. The Lord’ s message also came to Jeremiah during the whole time Jehoiakim ruled. The Lord continued to speak to Jeremiah while Zedekiah was king over Judah. He did this until the fifth month of the 11th year of Zedekiah’s rule. That’s when the people of Jerusalem were forced to leave their country. Zedekiah was the son of Josiah. Here is what Jeremiah said.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

The Lord’s messages continued throughout the reign of King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah, another of Josiah’s sons. In August of that eleventh year the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.

It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

It lasted until the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year. On that day they broke through the city walls.

Pharaoh Necho made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in Josiah’s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon.Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items in the LORD’s temple to Babylon and put them in his palace there.The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.

The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as Jehoiakim had done.What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the LORD’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign.The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.The enemy broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden.( The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him.They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he passed sentence on him.Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.He burned down the LORD’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.But he left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the LORD’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called the“ The Sea.” They took the bronze to Babylon.They also took the pots, shovels, trimming shears, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers and basins.The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the LORD’s temple– including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called“ The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under“ The Sea,” and the movable stands– was too heavy to be weighed.Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers.From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five of the king’s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city.Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah.All of the officers of the Judahite army and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. He said,“ You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.”But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, King Evil-Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than the other kings who were with him in Babylon.Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.He was given daily provisions by the king for the rest of his life until the day he died.

The following events occurred in that same year, early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. To be more precise, it was the fifth month of the fourth year of his reign. The prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to Jeremiah in the LORD’s temple in the presence of the priests and all the people.“ The LORD God of Israel who rules over all says,‘ I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon.I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakim’s son King Jeconiah of Judah and all the exiles who were taken to Babylon.’ Indeed, the LORD affirms,‘ I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.’”Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the LORD’s temple.The prophet Jeremiah said,“ Amen! May the LORD do all this! May the LORD make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the LORD’s temple and the people who were carried into exile.But listen to what I say to you and to all these people.From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably prophesied war, disaster, and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.So if a prophet prophesied peace and prosperity, it was only known that the LORD truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.Then he spoke up in the presence of all the people.“ The LORD says,‘ In the same way I will break the yoke of servitude of all the nations to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon before two years are over.’” After he heard this, the prophet Jeremiah departed and went on his way.But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the LORD spoke to Jeremiah.“ Go and tell Hananiah that the LORD says,‘ You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one!For the LORD God of Israel who rules over all says,“ I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.”’”Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah,“ Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie!So the LORD says,‘ I will most assuredly remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the LORD.’”In the seventh month of that very same year the prophet Hananiah died.

“ The LORD who rules over all says,‘ The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim as king. He was elevated to the throne of the land of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the LORD said through the prophet Jeremiah.King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say,“ Please pray to the LORD our God on our behalf.”( Now Jeremiah had not yet been put in prison. So he was still free to come and go among the people as he pleased.At that time the Babylonian forces had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt.)The LORD gave the prophet Jeremiah a message for them. He told him to tell them,“ The LORD God of Israel says,‘ Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him. Tell him,“ The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt.Then the Babylonian forces will return. They will attack the city and will capture it and burn it down.Moreover, I, the LORD, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away.For even if you were to defeat all the Babylonian forces fighting against you so badly that only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down.”’”The following events also occurred while the Babylonian forces had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem because the army of Pharaoh was coming.Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there.But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said,“ You are deserting to the Babylonians!”Jeremiah answered,“ That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.The officials were very angry at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners.So Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. He was kept there for a long time.Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him,“ Is there any message from the LORD?” Jeremiah answered,“ Yes, there is.” Then he announced,“ You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah,“ What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?But now please listen, your royal Majesty, and grant my plea for mercy. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.”Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD spoke to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah.( That was the same as the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.)So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.“ For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah until now, the LORD has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again what he said. But you would not listen.

“ Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows:‘ When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me– for me, indeed?

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah at the beginning of the reign of Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah.The LORD said,“ Go stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple. Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the LORD’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing.Tell them that the LORD says,‘ You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws.You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. But you have not paid any attention to them.If you do not obey me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say these things in the LORD’s temple.Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the LORD had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted,“ You deserve to die!How dare you claim the LORD’s authority to prophesy such things! How dare you claim his authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabited ruin!” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.However, some of the officials of Judah heard about what was happening and they rushed up to the LORD’s temple from the royal palace. They set up court at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’s temple.Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said,“ This man should be condemned to die because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so with your own ears.”Then Jeremiah made his defense before all the officials and all the people.“ The LORD sent me to prophesy everything you have heard me say against this temple and against this city.But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. Obey the LORD your God. If you do, the LORD will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would.As to my case, I am in your power. Do to me what you deem fair and proper.But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the LORD has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!”Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said,“ This man should not be condemned to die. For he has spoken to us under the authority of the LORD our God.”Then some of the elders of Judah stepped forward and spoke to all the people gathered there. They said,“ Micah from Moresheth prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah,‘ The LORD who rules over all says,“ Zion will become a plowed field. Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the LORD and seek the LORD’s favor? Did not the LORD forgo destroying them as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.”Now there was another man who prophesied as the LORD’s representative against this city and this land just as Jeremiah did. His name was Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim.When the king and all his bodyguards and officials heard what he was prophesying, the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear.However, King Jehoiakim sent some men to Egypt, including Elnathan son of Achbor,and they brought Uriah back from there. They took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him executed and had his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.However, Ahikam son of Shaphan used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people.

During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.The LORD sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.Just as the LORD had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed.Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the LORD was unwilling to forgive them.The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD as his ancestors had done.

The sons of Josiah: Johanan was the firstborn; Jehoiakim was born second; Zedekiah third; and Shallum fourth.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, the LORD’s spokesman.He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return to the LORD God of Israel.All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. They defiled the LORD’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.The LORD God of their ancestors continually warned them through his messengers, for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place.But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, and ridiculed his prophets. Finally the LORD got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment.He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him.He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials.They burned down the LORD’s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items.He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power.This took place to fulfill the LORD’s message delivered through Jeremiah. The land experienced its sabbatical years; it remained desolate for seventy years, as prophesied.

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask,“ Please ask the LORD to come and help us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the LORD will perform one of his miracles as in times past and make him stop attacking us and leave.”Jeremiah answered them,“ Tell Zedekiahthat the LORD, the God of Israel, says,‘ The forces at your disposal are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city.In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength!I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.Then I, the LORD, promise that I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’“ But tell the people of Jerusalem that the LORD says,‘ I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death.Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives.For I, the LORD, say that I am determined not to deliver this city but to bring disaster on it. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon and he will destroy it with fire.’”The LORD told me to say to the royal court of Judah,“ Listen to what the LORD says,O royal family descended from David. The Lord says:‘ See to it that people each day are judged fairly. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you. It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out because of the evil that you have done.Listen, you who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau. I am opposed to you,’ says the LORD.‘ You boast,“ No one can swoop down on us. No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.”But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’ says the LORD.‘ I will set fire to your palace; it will burn up everything around it.’”

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.He did what displeased the LORD just as Jehoiakim had done.What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the LORD’s anger when he drove them out of his sight. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden.( The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him.They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there.The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah.He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.He burned down the LORD’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took into exile some of the poor, the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the craftsmen.But he left behind some of the poor and gave them fields and vineyards.The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the LORD, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the“ The Sea.” They took all the bronze to Babylon.They also took the pots, shovels, trimming shears, basins, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers, basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels.The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the LORD’s temple( including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called“ The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under“ The Sea,” and the movable stands) was too heavy to be weighed.Each of the pillars was about 27 feet high, about 18 feet in circumference, three inches thick, and hollow.The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it.There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers.From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king’s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city.Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.Here is the official record of the number of people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: In the seventh year, 3, 023 Jews;in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, carried into exile 745 Judeans. In all 4, 600 people went into exile.In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than the other kings who were with him in Babylon.Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died.

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion.The LORD God of Israel told Jeremiah to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah to tell him,“ The LORD says,‘ I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.You yourself will not escape his clutches, but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You must confront the king of Babylon face to face and answer to him personally. Then you must go to Babylon.However, listen to what I, the LORD, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the LORD, promise that you will not die in battle or be executed.You will die a peaceful death. They will burn incense at your burial just as they did at the burial of your ancestors, the former kings who preceded you. They will mourn for you, saying,“ Poor, poor master!” Indeed, you have my own word on this. I, the LORD, affirm it!’”The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.He did this while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. He was attacking these cities because they were the only fortified cities of Judah which were still holding out.The LORD spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to grant their slaves their freedom.Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved.All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them.But later they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again.That was when the LORD spoke to Jeremiah,“ The LORD God of Israel has a message for you.‘ I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. It stipulated,“ Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free.” But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me.Recently, however, you yourselves showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own.But then you turned right around and showed that you did not honor me. Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again.So I, the LORD, say:“ You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the LORD, affirm it! I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence.I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf.I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.I will also hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the army of the king of Babylon, even though they have temporarily withdrawn from attacking you.For I, the LORD, affirm that I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.”’”The LORD spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.“ Go to the Rechabite community. Invite them to come into one of the side rooms of the LORD’s temple and offer them some wine to drink.”So I went and got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah the grandson of Habazziniah, his brothers, all his sons, and all the rest of the Rechabite community.I took them to the LORD’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers of the temple, stayed.Then I set cups and pitchers full of wine in front of the members of the Rechabite community and said to them,“ Have some wine.”But they answered,“ We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us,‘ You and your children must never drink wine.Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one. Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’We and our wives and our sons and daughters have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. We have never drunk wine.We have not built any houses to live in. We do not own any vineyards, fields, or crops.We have lived in tents. We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab and done exactly as he commanded us.But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land we said,‘ Let’s get up and go to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That is why we are staying here in Jerusalem.”Then the LORD spoke to Jeremiah.The LORD God of Israel who rules over all told him,“ Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them,‘ I, the LORD, say:“ You must learn a lesson from this about obeying what I say!Jonadab son of Rechab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out. To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not obeyed me!I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said,“ Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right. Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.Yes, the descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried out the orders that their ancestor gave them. But you people have not obeyed me!So I, the LORD, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, say:“ I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer.”’”Then Jeremiah spoke to the Rechabite community,“ The LORD God of Israel who rules over all says,‘ You have obeyed the orders of your ancestor Jonadab. You have followed all his instructions. You have done exactly as he commanded you.’So the LORD God of Israel who rules over all says,‘ Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.’”