Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 271
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J eremiah
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found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore
your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and
will bring you home again to your own land.”
You claim that the Lord has raised up prophets for you in Babylon.
But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s
throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who
were not exiled to Babylon. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them
like bad figs, too rotten to eat. Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine,
and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation
where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror,
contempt, and mockery. For they refuse to listen to me, though I have
spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who
are in exile have not listened either,” says the Lord.
Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, all you captives
there in Babylon. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the
God of Israel, says about your prophets—Ahab son of Kolaiah and
Zedekiah son of Maaseiah—who are telling you lies in my name:
“I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for execution before your
eyes. Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean
exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the Lord make you like
Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’ For
these men have done terrible things among my people. They have
committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my
name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the
Lord, have spoken.”
The Lord sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon:
“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You
wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maas eiah, the
priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem.
You wrote to Zephan iah,
“The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in
charge of the house of the Lord. You are responsible to put into stocks
and neck irons any crazy man who claims to be a prophet. So why
have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends
to be a prophet among you? Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon,
predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said, ‘Build homes,
and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.’”
But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to
Jeremiah and read it to him. Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
