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JER EM IAH 21
page 685
Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you
and all your friends to whom you prophesied
that everything would be all right.’”
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Jeremiah’s Complaint
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.”
No Deliverance from Babylon
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: 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: 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.’
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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.
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.
Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
For though I was poor and needy,
he rescued me from my oppressors.
Yet I curse the day I was born!
May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
I curse the messenger who told my father,
“Good news—you have a son!”
Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
that the Lord overthrew without mercy.
Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,
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!
21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of
Nebuchadnezzar; also in 21:7. 21:4 Or Chaldeans;
also in 21:9.
Why was I ever born?
My entire life has been filled
with trouble, sorrow, and shame.
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Judgment on Judah’s Kings
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:
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“‘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.
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.”