18The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,H1697H3414H3068H559 2“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”H6965H3381H3335H1004H8085H1697 3So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.H3381H3335H1004H2009H6213H4399H70 4But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.H3627H6213H2563H7843H3027H3335H6213H7725H312H3627H5869H3474H3335H6213 5Then the Lord gave me this message:H1697H3068H559 6“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.H1004H3478H3201H6213H3335H5002H3068H2563H3335H3027H3027H1004H3478 7If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,H7281H1696H1471H4467H5428H5422H6 8but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.H1471H1696H7725H7451H5162H7451H2803H6213 9And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,H7281H1696H1471H4467H1129H5193 10but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.H6213H7451H5869H8085H6963H5162H2896H559H3190 11“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”H559H376H3063H3427H3389H559H559H3068H3335H7451H2803H4284H7725H376H7451H1870H1870H4611H3190 12But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”H559H2976H3212H310H4284H376H6213H8307H7451H3820 13So this is what the Lord says: “Has anyone ever heard of such a thing, even among the pagan nations? My virgin daughter Israel has done something terrible!H559H3068H7592H1471H8085H1330H3478H6213H3966H8186 14Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?H5800H7950H3844H6697H7704H7119H5140H4325H2114H5428 15But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.H5971H7911H6999H7723H3782H1870H5769H7635H7635H3212H5410H1870H5549 16Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement.H7760H776H8047H5769H8292H8292H5674H8074H5110H7218 17I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.”H6327H6921H7307H6440H341H7200H6203H6440H3117H343 18Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.”H559H3212H2803H4284H3414H8451H6H3548H6098H2450H1697H5030H3212H5221H3956H7181H1697 19Lord, hear me and help me! Listen to what my enemies are saying.H7181H3068H8085H6963H3401 20Should they repay evil for good? They have dug a pit to kill me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your anger.H7451H7999H2896H3738H7745H5315H2142H5975H6440H1696H2896H7725H2534 21So let their children starve! Let them die by the sword! Let their wives become childless widows. Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be killed in battle!H5414H1121H7458H5064H3027H2719H802H7909H490H582H2026H4194H970H5221H2719H4421 22Let screaming be heard from their homes as warriors come suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit for me and have hidden traps along my path.H2201H8085H1004H935H1416H6597H3738H7745H7882H3920H2934H6341H7272 23Lord, you know all about their murderous plots against me. Don’t forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die before you. Deal with them in your anger.H3068H3045H6098H4194H3722H5771H4229H2403H6440H3782H6440H6213H6256H639
19This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a clay jar. Then ask some of the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you.H559H3068H1980H7069H3335H2789H1228H2205H5971H2205H3548 2Go out through the Gate of Broken Pots to the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and give them this message.H3318H1516H1121H2011H6607H2777H8179H7121H1697H1696 3Say to them, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will bring a terrible disaster on this place, and the ears of those who hear about it will ring!H559H8085H1697H3068H4428H3063H3427H3389H559H3068H6635H430H3478H935H7451H4725H8085H241H6750 4“‘For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wickedness. The people burn incense to foreign gods—idols never before acknowledged by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children.H5800H5234H4725H6999H312H430H1H3045H4428H3063H4390H4725H1818H5355 5They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!H1129H1116H1168H8313H1121H784H5930H1168H6680H1696H5927H3820 6So beware, for the time is coming, says the Lord, when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.H3117H935H5002H3068H4725H7121H8612H1516H1121H2011H1516H2028 7“‘For I will upset the careful plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.H1238H6098H3063H3389H4725H5307H2719H6440H341H3027H1245H5315H5038H5414H3978H5775H8064H929H776 8I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there.H7760H5892H8047H8322H5674H8074H8319H4347 9I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone. Then those trapped inside will eat their own sons and daughters and friends. They will be driven to utter despair.’H398H1320H1121H1320H1323H398H376H1320H7453H4692H4689H341H1245H5315H6693 10“As these men watch you, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought.H7665H1228H5869H582H1980 11Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the bodies here in Topheth, the garbage dump, until there is no more room for them.H559H559H3068H6635H3602H7665H5971H5892H7665H3335H3627H3201H7495H6912H8612H4725H6912 12This is what I will do to this place and its people, says the Lord. I will cause this city to become defiled like Topheth.H6213H4725H5002H3068H3427H5414H5892H8612 13Yes, all the houses in Jerusalem, including the palace of Judah’s kings, will become like Topheth—all the houses where you burned incense on the rooftops to your star gods, and where liquid offerings were poured out to your idols.’”H1004H3389H1004H4428H3063H2931H4725H8612H1004H1406H6999H6635H8064H5258H5262H312H430 14Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, the garbage dump where he had delivered this message, and he stopped in front of the Temple of the Lord. He said to the people there,H935H3414H8612H3068H7971H5012H5975H2691H3068H1004H559H5971 15“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will bring disaster upon this city and its surrounding towns as I promised, because you have stubbornly refused to listen to me.’”H559H3068H6635H430H3478H935H5892H5892H7451H1696H7185H6203H8085H1697
20Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple of the Lord, heard what Jeremiah was prophesying.H6583H1121H564H3548H6496H5057H1004H3068H8085H3414H5012H1697 2So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord’s Temple.H6583H5221H3414H5030H5414H4115H5945H8179H1144H1004H3068 3The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, “Pashhur, the Lord has changed your name. From now on you are to be called ‘The Man Who Lives in Terror.’H4283H6583H3318H3414H4115H559H3414H3068H7121H8034H6583H4036 4For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword.H559H3068H5414H4032H157H5307H2719H341H5869H7200H5414H3063H3027H4428H894H1540H894H5221H2719 5And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city—the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings—will be carried off to Babylon.H5414H2633H5892H3018H3366H214H4428H3063H5414H3027H341H962H3947H935H894 6As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied that everything would be all right.’”H6583H3427H1004H3212H7628H935H894H4191H6912H157H5012H8267 7O Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me.H3068H6601H6601H2388H3201H7814H3117H3932 8When I speak, the words burst out. “Violence and destruction!” I shout. So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke.H1767H1696H2199H7121H2555H7701H1697H3068H2781H7047H3117 9But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!H559H2142H1696H8034H3820H1197H784H6113H6106H3811H3557H3201 10I have heard the many rumors about me. They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.” They threaten, “If you say anything, we will report it.” Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. “He will trap himself,” they say, “and then we will get our revenge on him.”H8085H1681H7227H4032H5439H5046H5046H582H7965H8104H6763H6761H6601H3201H3947H5360 11But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten.H3068H1368H6184H7291H3782H3201H3966H954H7919H5769H3639H7911 12O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, you test those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.H3068H6635H974H6662H7200H3629H3820H7200H5360H1540H7379 13Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For though I was poor and needy, he rescued me from my oppressors.H7891H3068H1984H3068H5337H5315H34H3027H7489 14Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth.H779H3117H3205H3117H517H3205H1288 15I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!”H779H376H1319H1H559H2145H1121H3205H8055H8055 16Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,H376H5892H3068H2015H5162H8085H2201H1242H8643H6256H6672 17because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave!H4191H7358H517H6913H7358H5769H2030 18Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.H3318H7358H7200H5999H3015H3117H3615H1322
21The Lord spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to speak with him. They begged Jeremiah,H1697H3414H3068H4428H6667H7971H6583H1121H4441H6846H1121H4641H3548H559 2“Please speak to the Lord for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies.”H1875H3068H1157H5019H4428H894H3898H3068H6213H6381H5927 3Jeremiah replied, “Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him,H559H3414H559H6667 4‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside your walls attacking you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city.H559H3068H430H3478H5437H3627H4421H3027H3898H4428H894H3778H6696H2351H2346H622H8432H5892 5I myself will fight against you with a strong hand and a powerful arm, for I am very angry. You have made me furious!H3898H5186H3027H2389H2220H639H2534H1419H7110 6I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die.H5221H3427H5892H120H929H4191H1419H1698 7And after all that, says the Lord, I will hand over King Zedekiah, his staff, and everyone else in the city who survives the disease, war, and famine. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their other enemies. He will slaughter them and show them no mercy, pity, or compassion.’H310H5002H3068H5414H6667H4428H3063H5650H5971H7604H5892H1698H2719H7458H3027H5019H4428H894H3027H341H3027H1245H5315H5221H6310H2719H2347H2550H7355 8“Tell all the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death!H5971H559H559H3068H5414H6440H1870H2416H1870H4194 9Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life!H3427H5892H4191H2719H7458H1698H3318H5307H3778H6696H2421H2421H5315H7998 10For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’H7760H6440H5892H7451H2896H5002H3068H5414H3027H4428H894H8313H784 11“Say to the royal family of Judah, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord!H1004H4428H3063H8085H1697H3068 12This is what the Lord says to the dynasty of David: “‘Give justice each morning to the people you judge! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Otherwise, my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.H1004H1732H559H3068H1777H4941H1242H5337H1497H3027H6231H2534H3318H784H1197H3518H6440H7455H4611 13I will personally fight against the people in Jerusalem, that mighty fortress—the people who boast, “No one can touch us here. No one can break in here.”H3427H6010H6697H4334H5002H3068H559H5181H935H4585 14And I myself will punish you for your sinfulness, says the Lord. I will light a fire in your forests that will burn up everything around you.’”H6485H6529H4611H5002H3068H3341H784H3293H398H5439
22This is what the Lord said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,H559H3068H3381H1004H4428H3063H1696H1697 2‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too.H559H8085H1697H3068H4428H3063H3427H3678H1732H5650H5971H935H8179 3This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!H559H3068H6213H4941H6666H5337H1497H3027H6216H3238H2554H1616H3490H490H8210H5355H1818H4725 4If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects.H6213H1697H6213H935H8179H1004H4428H3427H3678H1732H7392H7393H5483H5650H5971 5But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the Lord, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’”H8085H1697H7650H5002H3068H1004H2723 6Now this is what the Lord says concerning Judah’s royal palace: “I love you as much as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon. But I will turn you into a desert, with no one living within your walls.H559H3068H4428H1004H3063H1568H7218H3844H7896H4057H5892H3427H3427 7I will call for wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.H6942H7843H376H3627H3772H4005H730H5307H784 8“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the Lord destroy such a great city?’H7227H1471H5674H5892H559H376H7453H3068H6213H1419H5892 9And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.’”H559H5800H1285H3068H430H7812H312H430H5647 10Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss. Instead, weep for the captive king being led away! For he will never return to see his native land again.H1058H4191H5110H1058H1058H1980H7725H7200H4138H776 11For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return.H559H3068H413H7967H1121H2977H4428H3063H4427H2977H1H3318H4725H7725 12He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”H4191H4725H1540H7200H776 13And the Lord says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim, who builds his palace with forced labor. He builds injustice into its walls, for he makes his neighbors work for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.H1945H1129H1004H3808H6664H5944H4941H7453H5647H2600H5414H6467 14He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows. I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar and paint it a lovely red.’H559H1129H4060H1004H7304H5944H7167H2474H5603H730H4886H8350 15But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him.H4427H8474H730H1H398H8354H6213H4941H6666H2896 16He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the Lord.H1777H1779H6041H34H2896H1847H5002H3068 17“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”H5869H3820H1215H8210H5355H1818H6233H4835H6213 18Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah: “The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’H559H3068H3079H1121H2977H4428H3063H5594H1945H251H1945H269H5594H1945H113H1945H1935 19He will be buried like a dead donkey—dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!H6912H6900H2543H5498H7993H1973H8179H3389 20Weep for your allies in Lebanon. Shout for them in Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of the river. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you.H5927H3844H6817H5414H6963H1316H6817H5676H157H7665 21I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood—you simply will not obey me!H1696H7962H559H8085H1870H5271H8085H6963 22And now the wind will blow away your allies. All your friends will be taken away as captives. Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.H7307H7462H7462H157H3212H7628H954H3637H7451 23It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish—anguish like that of a woman in labor.H3427H3844H7077H730H2603H2256H935H2427H3205 24“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.H2416H5002H3068H3659H1121H3079H4428H3063H2368H3225H3027H5423 25I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army.H5414H3027H1245H5315H3027H6440H3016H3027H5019H4428H894H3027H3778 26I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.H2904H517H3205H312H776H3205H4191 27You will never again return to the land you yearn for.H776H5375H5315H7725H7725 28“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar? Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?H376H3659H959H5310H6089H3627H2656H7993H2233H2904H776H3045 29O earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the Lord!H776H776H776H8085H1697H3068 30This is what the Lord says: ‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’H559H3068H3789H376H6185H1397H6743H3117H376H2233H6743H3427H3678H1732H4910H3063
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H4283
