Jeremiah:37-39
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And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim ,
whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah .
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But neither he ,
nor his servants ,
nor the people of the land ,
did hearken unto the words of the LORD ,
which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah .
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And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah ,
saying ,
Pray now unto the LORD our God for us .
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Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people :
for they had not put him into prison .
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Then Pharaoh '
s army was come forth out of Egypt :
and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them ,
they departed from Jerusalem .
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Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah ,
saying ,
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Thus saith the LORD ,
the God of Israel ;
Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah ,
that sent you unto me to enquire of me ;
Behold ,
Pharaoh '
s army ,
which is come forth to help you ,
shall return to Egypt into their own land .
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And the Chaldeans shall come again ,
and fight against this city ,
and take it ,
and burn it with fire .
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Thus saith the LORD ;
Deceive not yourselves ,
saying ,
The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us :
for they shall not depart .
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For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you ,
and there remained but wounded men among them ,
yet should they rise up every man in his tent ,
and burn this city with fire .
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And it came to pass ,
that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh '
s army ,
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Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin ,
to separate himself thence in the midst of the people .
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And when he was in the gate of Benjamin ,
a captain of the ward was there ,
whose name was Irijah ,
the son of Shelemiah ,
the son of Hananiah ;
and he took Jeremiah the prophet ,
saying ,
Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans .
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Then said Jeremiah ,
It is false ;
I fall not away to the Chaldeans .
But he hearkened not to him :
so Irijah took Jeremiah ,
and brought him to the princes .
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Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah ,
and smote him ,
and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe :
for they had made that the prison .
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When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon ,
and into the cabins ,
and Jeremiah had remained there many days ;
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Then Zedekiah the king sent ,
and took him out :
and the king asked him secretly in his house ,
and said ,
Is there any word from the LORD ?
And Jeremiah said ,
There is :
for ,
said he ,
thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon .
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Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah ,
What have I offended against thee ,
or against thy servants ,
or against this people ,
that ye have put me in prison ?
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Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you ,
saying ,
The king of Babylon shall not come against you ,
nor against this land ?
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Therefore hear now ,
I pray thee ,
O my lord the king :
let my supplication ,
I pray thee ,
be accepted before thee ;
that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe ,
lest I die there .
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Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison ,
and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers '
street ,
until all the bread in the city were spent .
Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison .
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Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan ,
and Gedaliah the son of Pashur ,
and Jucal the son of Shelemiah ,
and Pashur the son of Malchiah ,
heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people ,
saying ,
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Thus saith the LORD ,
He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword ,
by the famine ,
and by the pestilence :
but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live ;
for he shall have his life for a prey ,
and shall live .
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Thus saith the LORD ,
This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon '
s army ,
which shall take it .
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Therefore the princes said unto the king ,
We beseech thee ,
let this man be put to death :
for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city ,
and the hands of all the people ,
in speaking such words unto them :
for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people ,
but the hurt .
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Then Zedekiah the king said ,
Behold ,
he is in your hand :
for the king is not he that can do any thing against you .
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Then took they Jeremiah ,
and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech ,
that was in the court of the prison :
and they let down Jeremiah with cords .
And in the dungeon there was no water ,
but mire :
so Jeremiah sunk in the mire .
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Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian ,
one of the eunuchs which was in the king '
s house ,
heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon ;
the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin ;
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Ebedmelech went forth out of the king '
s house ,
and spake to the king ,
saying ,
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My lord the king ,
these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet ,
whom they have cast into the dungeon ;
and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is :
for there is no more bread in the city .
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Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian ,
saying ,
Take from hence thirty men with thee ,
and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon ,
before he die .
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So Ebedmelech took the men with him ,
and went into the house of the king under the treasury ,
and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags ,
and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah .
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And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah ,
Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords .
And Jeremiah did so .
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So they drew up Jeremiah with cords ,
and took him up out of the dungeon :
and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison .
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Then Zedekiah the king sent ,
and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD :
and the king said unto Jeremiah ,
I will ask thee a thing ;
hide nothing from me .
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Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah ,
If I declare it unto thee ,
wilt thou not surely put me to death ?
and if I give thee counsel ,
wilt thou not hearken unto me ?
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So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah ,
saying ,
As the LORD liveth ,
that made us this soul ,
I will not put thee to death ,
neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life .
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Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah ,
Thus saith the LORD ,
the God of hosts ,
the God of Israel ;
If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon '
s princes ,
then thy soul shall live ,
and this city shall not be burned with fire ;
and thou shalt live ,
and thine house :
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But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon '
s princes ,
then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans ,
and they shall burn it with fire ,
and thou shalt not escape out of their hand .
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And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah ,
I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans ,
lest they deliver me into their hand ,
and they mock me .
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But Jeremiah said ,
They shall not deliver thee .
Obey ,
I beseech thee ,
the voice of the LORD ,
which I speak unto thee :
so it shall be well unto thee ,
and thy soul shall live .
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But if thou refuse to go forth ,
this is the word that the LORD hath shewed me :
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And ,
behold ,
all the women that are left in the king of Judah '
s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon '
s princes ,
and those women shall say ,
Thy friends have set thee on ,
and have prevailed against thee :
thy feet are sunk in the mire ,
and they are turned away back .
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So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans :
and thou shalt not escape out of their hand ,
but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon :
and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire .
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Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah ,
Let no man know of these words ,
and thou shalt not die .
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But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee ,
and they come unto thee ,
and say unto thee ,
Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king ,
hide it not from us ,
and we will not put thee to death ;
also what the king said unto thee :
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Then thou shalt say unto them ,
I presented my supplication before the king ,
that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan '
s house ,
to die there .
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Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah ,
and asked him :
and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded .
So they left off speaking with him ;
for the matter was not perceived .
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So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken :
and he was there when Jerusalem was taken .
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In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah ,
in the tenth month ,
came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem ,
and they besieged it .
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And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah ,
in the fourth month ,
the ninth day of the month ,
the city was broken up .
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And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in ,
and sat in the middle gate ,
even Nergalsharezer ,
Samgarnebo ,
Sarsechim ,
Rabsaris ,
Nergalsharezer ,
Rabmag ,
with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon .
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And it came to pass ,
that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them ,
and all the men of war ,
then they fled ,
and went forth out of the city by night ,
by the way of the king '
s garden ,
by the gate betwixt the two walls :
and he went out the way of the plain .
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But the Chaldeans '
army pursued after them ,
and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho :
and when they had taken him ,
they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath ,
where he gave judgment upon him .
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Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes :
also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah .
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Moreover he put out Zedekiah '
s eyes ,
and bound him with chains ,
to carry him to Babylon .
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And the Chaldeans burned the king '
s house ,
and the houses of the people ,
with fire ,
and brake down the walls of Jerusalem .
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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city ,
and those that fell away ,
that fell to him ,
with the rest of the people that remained .
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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people ,
which had nothing ,
in the land of Judah ,
and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time .
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Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard ,
saying ,
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Take him ,
and look well to him ,
and do him no harm ;
but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee .
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So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent ,
and Nebushasban ,
Rabsaris ,
and Nergalsharezer ,
Rabmag ,
and all the king of Babylon '
s princes ;
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Even they sent ,
and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison ,
and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan ,
that he should carry him home :
so he dwelt among the people .
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Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah ,
while he was shut up in the court of the prison ,
saying ,
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Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian ,
saying ,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts ,
the God of Israel ;
Behold ,
I will bring my words upon this city for evil ,
and not for good ;
and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee .
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But I will deliver thee in that day ,
saith the LORD :
and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid .
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For I will surely deliver thee ,
and thou shalt not fall by the sword ,
but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee :
because thou hast put thy trust in me ,
saith the LORD .
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD ,
after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah ,
when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah ,
which were carried away captive unto Babylon .