20:1And Pashur the son of Immer, the priest -- and he was chief officer in the house of Jehovah -- heard Jeremiah prophesy these things.

20:2And Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Jehovah.

20:3And it came to pass the next day, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks; and Jeremiah said unto him, Jehovah hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.

20:4For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine 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 smite them with the sword.

20:5And, I will give all the wealth of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

20:6And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there thou shalt be buried, thou and all thy friends to whom thou hast prophesied falsehood.

20:7Jehovah, thou hast enticed me, and I was enticed; thou hast laid hold of me, and hast prevailed; I am become a derision the whole day: every one mocketh me.

20:8For as oft as I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and spoil; for the word of Jehovah is become unto me a reproach and a derision all the day.

20:9And I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: but it was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I became wearied with holding in, and I could not.

20:10For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side: Report, and we will report it. All my familiars are watching for my stumbling: Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him; and we shall take our revenge on him.

20:11But Jehovah is with me as a mighty terrible one; therefore my persecutors shall stumble and shall not prevail; they shall be greatly ashamed, for they have not prospered: it shall be an everlasting confusion that shall not be forgotten.

20:12And thou, Jehovah of hosts, who triest the righteous, who seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause.

20:13Sing ye unto Jehovah, praise Jehovah, for he hath delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

20:14Cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed!

20:15Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad!

20:16And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear a cry in the morning, and a shouting at noonday,

20:17because he slew me not from the womb. Or would that my mother had been my grave, and her womb always great with me!

20:18Wherefore came I forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame?

21:1The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,

21:2Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us; for Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that Jehovah will deal with us according to all his marvellous works, that he may go up from us.

21:3And Jeremiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:

21:4Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.

21:5And I myself will fight against you with a stretched-out hand, and with a strong arm, and in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.

21:6And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.

21:7And afterwards, saith Jehovah, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life, and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword: he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

21:8And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

21:9He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out, and deserteth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.

21:10For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith Jehovah: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

21:11And touching the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the word of Jehovah.

21:12House of David, thus saith Jehovah: Judge with justice in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like fire and burn, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

21:13Behold, I am against thee, inhabitress of the valley, the rock of the plain, saith Jehovah; ye that say, Who shall come down against us, or who shall enter into our dwellings?

21:14And I will visit you according to the fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.

22:1Thus saith Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

22:2and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in through these gates.

22:3Thus saith Jehovah: Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place.

22:4For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in through the gates of this house kings sitting in the place of David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, -- he, and his servants, and his people.

22:5But if ye will not hear these words, I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that this house shall become a waste.

22:6For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art a Gilead unto me, the summit of Lebanon: verily I will make thee a wilderness, cities not inhabited.

22:7And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down the choice of thy cedars, and cast them into the fire.

22:8And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?

22:9And they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

22:10Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

22:11For thus saith Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more;

22:12for he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

22:13Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his upper chambers by injustice; that taketh his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not his earning;

22:14that saith, I will build me a wide house, and spacious upper chambers; and he cutteth out for himself windows; and it is wainscoted with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

22:15Shalt thou reign, because thou viest with the cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? Then it was well with him.

22:16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah.

22:17But thine eyes and thy heart are only on thine extortion, and on the blood of the innocent, to shed it, and on oppression and on violence, to do it.

22:18Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah: They shall not lament for him, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister! They shall not lament for him, Ah, lord! or Ah, his glory!

22:19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged along and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

22:20Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and give forth thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the heights of Abarim: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

22:21I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy way from thy youth, that thou hearkenedst not unto my voice.

22:22The wind shall feed on all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely, then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

22:23Thou inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how pitiful shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, pain as of a woman in travail!

22:24As I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet upon my right hand, yet will I pluck thee thence;

22:25and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them before whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

22:26And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

22:27And into the land whereunto they lift up their souls to return, thither shall they not return.

22:28Is this man Coniah a despised broken vase? a vessel wherein is no delight? Wherefore are they thrown out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

22:29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah!

22:30Thus saith Jehovah: Write this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.