Jeconiah Will Be Permanently Exiled

22:24 The Lord says,41

“As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah,42 king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you.43 22:25 I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian44 soldiers. 22:26 I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to45 a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there. 22:27 You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!”46

22:28 This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away.

He will be like a clay vessel47 that no one wants.48

Why will he and his children be forced into exile?

Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about?49

22:29 O land of Judah, land of Judah, land of Judah!50

Listen to what the Lord has to say!

22:30 The Lord says,

“Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless.51

Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.

For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David

or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”

New Leaders over a Regathered Remnant

23:1 The Lord says,1 “The leaders of my people are sure to be judged.2 They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered.3 23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people4 to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done.5 I, the Lord, affirm it!6 23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people7 who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland.8 They will greatly increase in number. 23:4 I will install rulers9 over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing.10 I, the Lord, promise it!11

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise12 that a new time will certainly come13

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch,14 a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding15

and will do what is just and right in the land.16

23:6 Under his rule17 Judah will enjoy safety18

and Israel will live in security.19

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’20

23:7 “So I, the Lord, say:21 ‘A new time will certainly come.22 People now affirm their oaths with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.” 23:8 But at that time they will affirm them with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel23 from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished24 them.”25 At that time they will live in their own land.’ ”

Oracles Against the False Prophets26

23:9 Here is what the Lord says concerning the false prophets:27

My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed.

I tremble all over.28

I am like a drunk person,

like a person who has had too much wine,29

because of the way the Lord

and his holy word are being mistreated.30

23:10 For the land is full of people unfaithful to him.31

They live wicked lives and they misuse their power.32

So the land is dried up33 because it is under his curse.34

The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

23:11 Moreover,35 the Lord says,36

“Both the prophets and priests are godless.

I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.

They will stumble and fall headlong.

For I will bring disaster on them.

A day of reckoning is coming for them.”37

The Lord affirms it!38

23:13 The Lord says,39 “I saw the prophets of Samaria40

doing something that was disgusting.41

They prophesied in the name of the god Baal

and led my people Israel astray.42

23:14 But I see the prophets of Jerusalem43

doing something just as shocking.

They are unfaithful to me

and continually prophesy lies.44

So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil,

with the result that they do not stop their evildoing.45

I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom,

and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah.46

23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all,47

have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem:48

‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering

and drink the poison water of judgment.49

For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason50

that ungodliness51 has spread throughout the land.’ ”

23:16 The Lord who rules over all52 says to the people of Jerusalem:53

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say.54

23:17 They continually say55 to those who reject what the Lord has said,56

‘Things will go well for you!’57

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

23:18 Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle58

so they59 could see and hear what he has to say?60

Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

23:19 But just watch!61 The wrath of the Lord

will come like a storm!62

Like a raging storm it will rage down63

on the heads of those who are wicked.

23:20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back

until he has fully carried out his intended purposes.64

In days to come65

you people will come to understand this clearly.66

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message.67

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle,68

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

23:23 Do you people think69 that I am some local deity

and not the transcendent God?”70 the Lord asks.71

23:24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself

where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks.72

“Do you not know that I am everywhere?”73

the Lord asks.74

23:25 The Lord says,75 “I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’76 23:26 Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds.77 23:27 How long will they go on plotting78 to make my people forget who I am79 through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors80 did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal.81 23:28 Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain!82 I, the Lord, affirm it!83 23:29 My message is like a fire that purges dross!84 It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces!85 I, the Lord, so affirm it!86 23:30 So I, the Lord, affirm87 that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me.88 23:31 I, the Lord, affirm89 that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares.…’90 23:32 I, the Lord, affirm91 that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies.92 I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all.93 I, the Lord, affirm it!”94

23:33 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah,95 when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What burdensome message96 do you have from the Lord?’ Tell them, ‘You are the burden,97 and I will cast you away.98 I, the Lord, affirm it!99 23:34 I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says “The Lord’s message is burdensome.”100 I will punish both that person and his whole family.’ ”101

23:35 So I, Jeremiah, tell you,102 “Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, ‘How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?’103 23:36 You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome.104 For what is ‘burdensome’105 really pertains to what a person himself says.106 You are misrepresenting107 the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all.108 23:37 Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’109 23:38 But just suppose you continue to say, ‘The message of the Lord is burdensome.’ Here is what the Lord says will happen: ‘I sent word to you that you must not say, “The Lord’s message is burdensome.” But you used the words “The Lord’s message is burdensome” anyway. 23:39 So110 I will carry you far off111 and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight.112 23:40 I will bring on you lasting shame and lasting disgrace which will never be forgotten!’ ”

Good Figs and Bad Figs

24:1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim’s son, King Jeconiah of Judah. He deported him and the leaders of Judah, along with the craftsmen and metal workers, and took them to Babylon.1 24:2 One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early.2 The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten. 24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

24:4 The Lord said to me,3 24:5 “I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ‘The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon4 are like those good figs. I consider them to be good. 24:6 I will look after their welfare5 and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land6 and will not uproot them.7 24:7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I8 am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly9 return to me.’

24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem10 or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.11 24:9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses.12 That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.13 24:10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease14 on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’ ”15

Seventy Years of Servitude for Failure to Give Heed

25:1 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah1 concerning all the people of Judah. (That was the same as the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.)2 25:2 So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.3 25:3 “For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah4 until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again5 what he said.6 But you would not listen. 25:4 Over and over again7 the Lord has sent8 his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention.9 25:5 He said through them,10 ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing.11 If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession.12 25:6 Do not pay allegiance to13 other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do.14 Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 25:7 So, now the Lord says,15 ‘You have not listened to me. But16 you have made me angry by the things that you have done.17 Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

25:8 “Therefore, the Lord who rules over all18 says, ‘You have not listened to what I said.19 25:9 So I, the Lord, affirm that20 I will send for all the peoples of the north21 and my servant,22 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy23 this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it24 and make them everlasting ruins.25 I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.26 25:10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands.27 I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses.28 25:11 This whole area29 will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’30

25:12 “ ‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation31 for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon32 an everlasting ruin.33 I, the Lord, affirm it!34 25:13 I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.35 25:14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation36 too. I will repay them for all they have done!’ ”37