<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, &#8216;What burdensome message<n id="2" /> do you have from the <sc>Lordsc>?&#8217; Tell them, &#8216;You are the burden,<n id="3" /> and I will cast you away.<n id="4" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="5" />

Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some<n id="1" /> of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, &#8220;You deserve to die!<n id="2" />

Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This man should be condemned to die<n id="2" /> because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so<n id="3" /> with your own ears.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This man should not be condemned to die.<n id="2" /> For he has spoken to us under the authority of the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8221;<n id="3" />

So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination,<n id="1" /> by dreams, by consulting the dead,<n id="2" /> or by practicing magic. They keep telling you, &#8216;You do not need to be<n id="3" /> subject to the king of Babylon.&#8217;

I also told them,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If they are really prophets and the <sc>Lordsc> is speaking to them,<n id="2" /> let them pray earnestly to the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="3" /> Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away<n id="4" /> to Babylon.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The following events occurred in that same year, early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. To be more precise, it was the fifth month of the fourth year of his reign.<n id="1" /> The prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to Jeremiah<n id="2" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple in the presence of the priests and all the people.<n id="3" />

The prophet Jeremiah said, &#8220;Amen! May the <sc>Lordsc> do all this! May the <sc>Lordsc> make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and the people who were carried into exile.

Then he spoke up in the presence of all the people. &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;In the same way I will break the yoke of servitude of all the nations to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon<n id="1" /> before two years are over.&#8217;&#8221; After he heard this, the prophet Jeremiah departed and went on his way.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination<n id="2" /> deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream.

For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;And you exiles<n id="3" /> have not paid any attention to them either,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />

I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness &#8211; they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> have done this wickedness.<n id="2" />

He also ordered Jerahmeel, who was one of the royal princes,<n id="1" /> Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. However, the <sc>Lordsc> hid them.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">King Zedekiah sent<n id="1" /> Jehucal<n id="2" /> son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah<n id="3" /> son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say, &#8220;Please pray to the <sc>Lordsc> our God on our behalf.&#8221;

But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate.<n id="1" /> There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah,<n id="2" /> who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said,<n id="3" /> &#8220;You are deserting to the Babylonians!&#8221;<n id="4" />

&#8220;Your royal Majesty, those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city.<n id="1" />

Then the king gave Ebed Melech the Ethiopian the following order: &#8220;Take thirty<n id="1" /> men with you from here and go pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Some time later<n id="1" /> Zedekiah sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entrance<n id="2" /> of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I would like to ask you a question. Do not hide anything from me when you answer.&#8221;<n id="3" />

They said to him, &#8220;Please grant our request<n id="1" /> and pray to the <sc>Lordsc> your God for all those of us who are still left alive here.<n id="2" /> For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before.<n id="3" />

The prophet Jeremiah answered them, &#8220;Agreed!<n id="1" /> I will indeed pray to the <sc>Lordsc> your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything the <sc>Lordsc> replies in response to you.<n id="2" /> I will not keep anything back from you.&#8221;