that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. "One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD unto me: 'What seest thou, Jeremiah?' And I said: 'Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.' 'And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: "Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. And I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart. "And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith the LORD: So will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt; 'I will even make them a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 10And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.' 25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, these three and twenty years, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, speaking betimes and often; but ye have not hearkened. And the LORD hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, sending them betimes and often-but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear-saying: 'Return ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers, for ever and ever; and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.' 'Yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke Me with the work of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts: Because ye have not heard My words, 'behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and I will send unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will cause to cease from and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, among them the voice of mirth and and Moab, and the children of Amthe voice of gladness, the voice of the mon; 22and all the kings of Tyre, and bridegroom and the voice of the bride, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings the sound of the millstones, and the of the isle which is beyond the sea; light of the lamp. "And this whole 23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all land shall be a desolation, and a that have the corners of their hair waste; and these nations shall serve polled; and all the kings of Arabia, the king of Babylon seventy years. and all the kings of the mingled peo12And it shall come to pass, when ple that dwell in the wilderness; 25and seventy years are accomplished, that all the kings of Zimri, and all the I will punish the king of Babylon, and kings of Elam, and all the kings of the that nation, saith the LORD, for Medes; 26and all the kings of the their iniquity, and the land of the north, far and near, one with another; Chaldeans; and I will make it per- and all the kingdoms of the world, petual desolations. 13And I will bring which are upon the face of the earth.upon that land all My words which And the king of "Sheshach shall drink I have pronounced against it, even after them. 27 And thou shalt say unto all that is written in this book, which them: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be the nations. For many nations and drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise great kings shall make bondmen of no more, because of the sword which them also; and I will recompense them I will send among you. 28 And it according to their deeds, and accord-shall be, if they refuse to take the cup ing to the work of their own hands. at thy hand to drink, then shalt thou 15For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto me: Take this cup of the wine of fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be like madmen, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: 18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them an appalment, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20and all the mingled people; and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, say unto them: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Ye shall surely drink. 29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city whereupon My name is called, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. 30Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them: The LORD doth roar from on high, And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He doth mightily roar because of He giveth a shout, as they that Against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31A noise is come even to the end of the earth; • According to ancient tradition, a cypher for Babel. For the LORD hath a controversy 26 In the beginning of the reign with the nations, He doth plead with all flesh; *Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, evil shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great storm shall be raised up From the uttermost parts of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground. Wail, ye shepherds, and cry; And wallow yourselves in the dust, ye leaders of the flock; For the days of your slaughter are fully come, And I will break you in pieces, And ye shall fall like a precious vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to escape. "Hark! the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the leaders of the flock! For the LORD despoileth their pasture. 37 And the peaceable folds are brought to silence Because of the fierce anger of the LORD. "He hath forsaken His covert, as the lion; For their land is become a waste Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, And because of His fierce anger. of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying: "Thus saith the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word. It may be they will hearken, and turn_every man from his evil way; that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the LORD: If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I send unto you, even sending them betimes and often, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.' "So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying: "Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying: This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant?' And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 10When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house. "Then spoke the priests and the prophets 20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriathjearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah; and unto the princes and to all the people, saying: "This man is worthy of death; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.' Then spoke Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying: "The LORD sent me to proph-when Jehoiakim the king, with all esy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. 13Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you. 14But as for me, behold, I am in your hand; do with me as is good and right in your eyes. Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof; for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.' 16Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets: "This man is not worthy of death; for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.' 17Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying: 18' Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem shall become heaps, And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and entreat the favour of the LORD, and the LORD repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our own souls.' his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; "and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the children of the people. "Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. 27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: "Thus saith the LORD to me: Make thee bands and bars, and put them upon thy neck; and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers that come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and give them a charge unto their masters, saying: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters: 'I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the face of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm; and I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto and they prophesy falsely in My name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.' Me. And now have I given all these for they prophesy a lie unto you. "For lands into the hand of Nebuchadnez-I have not sent them, saith the LORD, zar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come; and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I visit, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 'But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, that speak unto you, saying: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; 10for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out and ye should perish. "But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.' 12And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying: 'Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon, 16Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: "Thus saith the LORD: Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying: Behold, the vessels of the LORD's house shall now shortly be brought back from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. "Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live; wherefore should this city become desolate? 18But 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 vessels 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. 19For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, 20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; "yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I remember them, saith the LORD, and bring them up, and restore them to this place.' 28 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, |