-Jeremiah-

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, "I have made the earth, the people and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed wise unto me.

"And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall…make… him their servant.

"Therefore listen not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon’: for they prophesy a lie unto you. But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the utensils which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.

"For this says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the bronze sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the utensils that remain in this city. They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

"The LORD has appeared of old unto me, saying, ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go out in the dances of them that make merry.

" ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off, and say, "He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock." For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

" ‘This says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted…because they were not. …Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears: for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in your end, says the LORD, that your children shall come again to their own border.

" ‘Look, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. …This shall be the covenant that I will make…. After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD": for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

" ‘Take you a roll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken unto you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke unto you, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.’ "

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, This says the LORD; Look, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return you now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."

And the men of Judah said, "There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart." Then said they, "Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give attention to any of his words."

Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house; and said to all the people, "This says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; ‘Look, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.’ "

Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD. And it came to pass on the next day, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks.

Then said Jeremiah unto him, "The LORD has not called your name Pashur, but Magormissabib. For this says the LORD, ‘Look, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.’"

-Babylon-

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the utensils of the house of God: which Nebuchadnezzar carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god….

And Nebuchadnezzar spoke unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

And the king talked with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore became they counselors before Nebuchadnezzar. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.

-Judah-

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, look, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. And when the year was ended, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly utensils of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

-Ezekiel-

In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

"And the LORD said unto me, ‘Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak unto you. Ezekiel, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. This says the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the middle of the nations and countries that are round about her. And she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for the children of Israel have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

" ‘Therefore this says the Lord GOD; Because you…have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

" ‘Therefore this says the Lord GOD; Look, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations. And I will do in you that which I have not done, and…I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.

" ‘Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds.’ "

REFERENCES

Jeremiah 27:1, 5-7, 14, 18-19, 22; Jeremiah 31: 3-4, 10-11,15-17, 31, 33-34; Jeremiah 36:2-3; Jeremiah 18:1, 11-12, 18; Jeremiah 19:14-15; Jeremiah 20:1-4; Daniel 1:1-4, 6, 17, 19-21; 2 Chronicles 36:8-10; Ezekiel 1:2-3; Ezekiel 2:1; Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 5: 5-7, 11, 8-10.

CHAPTER 53