Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

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 His fold;He giveth a shout, as they that tread the grapes,Against all the inhabitants of the earth.³¹A noise is come even to the end of the earth;For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations,He doth plead with all flesh;As for the wicked, He hath given them to the sword,Saith the Lord. ³²Thus saith the Lord of hosts:Behold, evil shall go forthFrom nation to nation,And a great storm shall be raised upFrom the uttermost parts of the earth.

      ³³And 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.

      ³⁴Wail, 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.³⁵And the shepherds shall have no way to flee,Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.³⁶Hark! the cry of the shepherds,And the wailing of the leaders of the flock!For the Lord despoileth their pasture.³⁷And the peaceable folds are brought to silenceBecause of the fierce anger of the Lord.³⁸He hath forsaken His covert, as the lion;For their land is become a wasteBecause of the fierceness of the oppressing sword,And because of His fierce anger.

       26In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying: ²'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. ³It 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. ⁴And 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, ⁵to 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; ⁶then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.'

      ⁷So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸Now 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. ⁹Why 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. ¹¹Then spoke the priests and the prophets 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.' ¹²Then spoke Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying: 'The Lord sent me to prophesy 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. ¹⁵Only 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.'

      ²⁰And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah; ²¹and when Jehoiakim the king, with all 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; ²²and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; ²³and 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. ²⁴Nevertheless 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.

       27In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ²'Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bands and bars, and put them upon thy neck; ³and 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; ⁴and 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: ⁵I 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 Me. ⁶And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. ⁷And 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. ⁸And 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. ⁹But 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. ¹¹But 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. ¹³Why 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? ¹⁴And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie unto you. ¹⁵For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, 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.'

      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