Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 286
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
36:32–37:17
about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on the throne
of David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied—exposed to
the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him and his fam
ily and his attendants for their sins. I will pour out on them and on all the
people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would
not listen to my warnings.’”
So Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to his secretary, Bar
uch. He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had
burned in the fire. Only this time he added much more!
Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim as the
king of Judah. He was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
But neither King Zedekiah nor his attendants nor the people who were
left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah.
Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zepha
niah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, “Please pray to the Lord
our God for us.” Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned, so he could come
and go among the people as he pleased.
At this time the army of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt appeared at the
southern border of Judah. When the Babylonian army heard about it, they
withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem.
Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: The king of Judah sent you to ask me what is going
to happen. Tell him, ‘Pharaoh’s army is about to return to Egypt, though he
came here to help you. Then the Babylonians will come back and capture
this city and burn it to the ground.’
“This is what the Lord says: Do not fool yourselves into thinking that
the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren’t! Even if you were to de
stroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded sur
vivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the
ground!”
When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s ap
proaching army, Jeremiah started to leave the city on his way to the terri
tory of Benjamin, to claim his share of the property among his relatives
there. But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested
him and said, “You are defecting to the Babylonians!” The sentry making
the arrest was Irijah son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah.
“That’s not true!” Jeremiah protested. “I had no intention of doing
any such thing.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen, and he took Jeremiah before
the officials. They were furious with Jeremiah and had him flogged and
