Jeremiah 32:26-44
Then a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, “I am the Lord. I am the God of all people. Is anything too hard for me?” So the Lord says, “I am about to hand this city over to the armies of Babylon. I will give it to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He will capture it. The armies of Babylon are now attacking this city. They will come in and set it on fire. They will burn it down. They will burn down the houses where the people made me very angry. They burned incense on their roofs to the god named Baal. And they poured out drink offerings to other gods.
“The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my eyes. They have done it since the nation was young. In fact, they have done nothing but make me very angry. They have worshiped statues of gods their own hands have made,” announces the Lord. “This city has always stirred up my great anger. It has done it since the day it was built. Now I must remove it from my sight. The people of Israel and Judah have made me very angry. They have done many evil things. They, their kings and officials have sinned. So have their priests and prophets. And the people of Judah and Jerusalem have also sinned. They turned their backs to me. They would not face me. I taught them again and again. But they would not listen or pay attention when they were corrected. They set up the hateful statues of their gods. They did it in the house where I have put my Name. They made my house ‘unclean.’ The people built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. That is where they sacrifice their children to Molek in the fire. That is something I did not command. It did not even enter my mind. They did something I hate. They made Judah sin.”
Here is what you people of Judah are saying about this city. “By war, hunger and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” But here is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. “You can be sure that I will gather my people again. I will send them away when my burning anger blazes out against them. But I will bring them back to this place. And I will let them live in safety. They will be my people. And I will be their God. I will give them a single purpose in life. Then, they will always have respect for me. Then all will go well for them. And it will also go well for their children after them. I will make a covenant with them that will last forever. I promise that I will never stop doing good to them. I will cause them to respect me. Then they will never turn away from me again. I will take pleasure in doing good things for them. I will certainly plant them in this land. I will do these things with all my heart and soul.”
The Lord says, “I have brought all this horrible trouble on these people. But now I will give them all the good things I have promised them. Once more fields will be bought in this land. It is the land about which you now say, ‘It is a dry and empty desert. It doesn’t have any people or animals in it. It has been handed over to the armies of Babylon.’ Fields will be bought with silver. Deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed. That will be done in the territory of Benjamin. It will be done in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah. It will also be done in the towns of the central hill country. And it will be done in the towns of the western hills and the Negev Desert. I will bless their people with great success again,” announces the Lord.
Jeremiah 33:1-26
The Lord Promises to Heal His People
Jeremiah was still being held as a prisoner. He was kept in the courtyard of the guard. Then another message from the Lord came to him. The Lord said, “I made the earth. I formed it. And I set it in place. The Lord is my name. Call out to me. I will answer you. I will tell you great things you do not know. And unless I do, you wouldn’t be able to find out about them.” The Lord is the God of Israel. He speaks about the houses in Jerusalem. He talks about the royal palaces of Judah. The people had torn down many of them. They had used their stones to strengthen the city walls against attack. That was during their fight with the armies of Babylon. The Lord says, “The houses will be filled with dead bodies. They will be the bodies of the people I will kill. I will kill them when I am very angry with them. I will hide my face from this city. That’s because its people have committed so many sins.
“But now I will bring health and healing to Jerusalem. I will heal my people. I will let them enjoy great peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from the places where they have been taken. I will build up the nation again. It will be just as it was before. I will wash from its people all the sins they have committed against me. And I will forgive all the sins they committed when they turned away from me. Then this city will bring me fame, joy, praise and honor. All the nations on earth will hear about the good things I do for this city. They will see the great success and peace I give it. Then they will be filled with wonder. And they will tremble with fear.”
The Lord says, “You say about this place, ‘It’s a dry and empty desert. It doesn’t have any people or animals in it.’ The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are now deserted. So they do not have any people or animals living in them. But happy sounds will be heard there once more. They will be the sounds of joy and gladness. The voices of brides and grooms will fill the streets. And the voices of those who bring thank offerings to my house will be heard there. They will say,
“ ‘Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all,
because he is good.
His faithful love continues forever.’
That’s because I will bless this land with great success again. It will be as it was before,” says the Lord.
The Lord who rules over all says, “This place is a desert. It does not have any people or animals in it. But there will again be grasslands near all its towns. Shepherds will rest their flocks there. Flocks will again pass under the hands of shepherds as they count their sheep,” says the Lord. “That will be done in the towns of the central hill country. It will be done in the western hills and the Negev Desert. It will be done in the territory of Benjamin. And it will be done in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah.
“The days are coming,” announces the Lord. “At that time I will fulfill my good promise to my people. I made it to the people of Israel and Judah.
“Here is what I will do in those days and at that time.
I will make a godly Branch grow from David’s royal line.
He will do what is fair and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved.
Jerusalem will live in safety.
And it will be called
The Lord Who Makes Us Right With Himself.”
The Lord says, “David will always have a son to sit on the throne of Israel. The priests, who are Levites, will always have a man to serve me. He will sacrifice burnt offerings. He will burn grain offerings. And he will offer sacrifices.”
A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, “Could you ever break my covenant with the day? Could you ever break my covenant with the night? Could you ever stop day and night from coming at their appointed times? Only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then could my covenant with the Levites who serve me as priests be broken. Only then would David no longer have someone from his family line to rule on his throne. Here is what I will do for my servant David. And here is what I will do for the Levites who serve me. I will make their children after them as many as the stars in the sky. And I will make them as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. It will be impossible to count them.”
A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, “Haven’t you noticed what these people are saying? They say, ‘The Lord once chose the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But now he has turned his back on them.’ So they hate my people. They do not think of them as a nation anymore. I say, ‘What if I had not made my covenant with day and night? What if I had not established the laws of heaven and earth? Only then would I turn my back on the children of Jacob and my servant David. Only then would I not choose one of David’s sons to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will bless my people with great success again. I will love them with tender love.’ ”
Jeremiah 34:1-22
Zedekiah Is Warned
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and all his armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against all the towns around it. All the kingdoms and nations Nebuchadnezzar ruled over were helping him. At that time a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, “I am the Lord, the God of Israel. Go to Zedekiah, the king of Judah. Tell him, ‘The Lord says, “I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon. He will burn it down. You will not escape from his power. You will certainly be captured. You will be handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes. He will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
“ ‘ “But listen to the Lord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. I say that you will not be killed by a sword. You will die in a peaceful way. People made fires to honor the kings who died before you. In the same way, they will make a fire in your honor. They will mourn for you. They will say, ‘My poor master!’ I myself make this promise,” announces the Lord.’ ”
Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. At that time Nebuchadnezzar’s armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against Lachish and Azekah. These two cities were still holding out. They were the only cities left in Judah that had high walls around them.
The People Set Their Slaves Free
A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem. He had told them to set their Hebrew slaves free. All of them had to do this. That applied to male and female slaves alike. No one was allowed to hold another Hebrew as a slave. So all the officials and people entered into this covenant. They agreed to set their male and female slaves free. They agreed not to hold them as slaves anymore. Instead, they set them free. But later they changed their minds. They took back the people they had set free. They made them slaves again.
Then a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, “I made a covenant with your people of long ago. I brought them out of Egypt. That is the land where they were slaves. I said, ‘Every seventh year you must set your people free. Each of you must set free all the Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. Let them serve you for six years. Then you must let them go free.’ (Deuteronomy 15:12) But your people of long ago did not listen to me. They did not pay any attention to me. Recently you turned away from your sins. You did what is right in my eyes. Each of you set your Hebrew slaves free. You even made a covenant in front of me. You did it in the house where I have put my Name. But now you have turned around. You have treated my name as if it were not holy. Each of you has taken back your male and female slaves. You had set them free to go where they wished. But now you have forced them to become your slaves again.”
So the Lord says, “You have not obeyed me. You have not set your Hebrew slaves free. So now I will set you free,” announces the Lord. “I will set you free to be destroyed by war, plague and hunger. I will make all the kingdoms on earth displeased with you. Those people who have broken my covenant will be punished. They have not lived up to the terms of the covenant they made in front of me. When you made that covenant, you cut a calf in two. Then you walked between its pieces. Now I will cut you to pieces. That includes all of you who walked between the pieces of the calf. It includes the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests. It also includes some of the people of the land. So I will hand over all those people to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.
“I will hand over King Zedekiah and his officials to their enemies. I will hand them over to those who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the armies of the king of Babylon. They have now pulled back from you. But I am going to give an order,” announces the Lord. “I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it. They will capture it and burn it down. And I will completely destroy the towns of Judah. No one will be able to live there.”
