Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.&#8221;<n id="2" />

sent and had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guardhouse. They turned him over to Gedaliah,<n id="1" /> the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home with him.<n id="2" /> But Jeremiah stayed among the people.<n id="3" />p>

Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him stood up, pulled out their swords, and killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. Thus Ishmael killed the man that the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

Now the cistern where Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of those he had killed was a large one<n id="1" /> that King Asa had constructed as part of his defenses against King Baasha of Israel.<n id="2" /> Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with dead bodies.<n id="3" />

&#8216;If you will just stay<n id="1" /> in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you.<n id="2" /> I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you.

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear.<n id="1" /> Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Jeremiah finished telling all the people all these things the <sc>Lordsc> their God had sent him to tell them.<n id="1" />

Then tell them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring<n id="3" /> my servant<n id="4" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones which I<n id="5" /> have buried. He will pitch his royal tent<n id="6" /> over them.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> did indeed remember and call to mind what you did! He remembered the sacrifices you and your ancestors, your kings, your leaders, and all the rest of the people of the land offered to other gods<n id="1" /> in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.<n id="2" />

I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise that<n id="1" /> I will hand Pharaoh Hophra<n id="2" /> king of Egypt over to his enemies who are seeking to kill him. I will do that just as surely as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking to kill him.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Tell Baruch,<n id="2" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">For the time has comep> <p class="poetry">to destroy all the Philistines.p> <p class="poetry">The time has come to destroy all the helpp> <p class="poetry">that remains for Tyre<n id="1" /> and Sidon.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, will<n id="3" /> destroy the Philistines,p> <p class="poetry">that remnant that came from the island of Crete.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">When that time comes,p> <p class="poetry">no guilt will be found in Israel.p> <p class="poetry">No sin will be found in Judah.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.p> <p class="poetry">I will unleash my power against you;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.<n id="4" />p>

Jeremiah recorded<n id="1" /> on one scroll all the judgments<n id="2" /> that would come upon Babylon &#8211; all these prophecies<n id="3" /> written about Babylon.

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth<n id="1" /> day of the twelfth month,<n id="2" /> Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned<n id="3" /> King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Do not say, &#8216;I am too young.&#8217; But go<n id="1" /> to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you.

Then the <sc>Lordsc> reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, &#8220;I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> get yourself ready!<n id="2" /> Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Moreover, you will come away from Egyptp> <p class="poetry">with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because the <sc>Lordsc> will not allow your reliance on them to be successfulp> <p class="poetry">and you will not gain any help from them.<n id="2" />p>