20.

1 Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple of the Lord, heard what Jeremiah was prophesying.

2 So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord's Temple.

3 The 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.'

4 For this is what the Lord says£º '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.

5 And 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.

6 As 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.'"

7 O 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.

8 When I speak, the words burst out. "Violence and destruction!" I shout. So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke.

9 But 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!

10 I 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."

11 But 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.

12 O 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.

13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For though I was poor and needy, he rescued me from my oppressors.

14 Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth.

15 I curse the messenger who told my father, "Good news - you have a son!"

16 Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,

17 because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother's womb, that her body had been my grave!

18 Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

 

 

21.

1 The 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,

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."

3 Jeremiah replied, "Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him,

4 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says£º 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.

5 I myself will fight against you with a strong hand and a powerful arm, for I am very angry. You have made me furious!

6 I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die.

7 And 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.'

8 "Tell all the people, 'This is what the Lord says£º Take your choice of life or death!

9 Everyone 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!

10 For 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.'

11 "Say to the royal family of Judah, 'Listen to this message from the Lord!

12 This is what the Lord says to the dynasty of David£º "'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.

13 I 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."

14 And 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.'"

 

 

22.

1 This is what the Lord said to me£º "Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,

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.

3 This is what the Lord says£º 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!

4 If 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.

5 But 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.'"

6 Now this is what the Lord says concerning Judah's royal palace£º "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.

7 I 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.

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?'

9 And the answer will be, 'Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.'"

10 Do 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.

11 For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive£º "He will never return.

12 He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country."

13 And 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.

14 He 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.'

15 But 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.

16 He 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.

17 "But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly."

18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah£º "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!'

19 He will be buried like a dead donkey - dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!

20 Weep 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.

21 I 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!

22 And 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.

23 It 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.

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.

25 I 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.

26 I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.

27 You will never again return to the land you yearn for.

28 "Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar? Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?

29 O earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the Lord!

30 This is what the Lord says£º '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.'