The Berean Pursuit

Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, ‘The one who stays in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But the one who goes out to the Chaldeans will live. And his life will be for him as booty, and he will live.’ Thus says Yahweh, ‘Surely this city will be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’"

Then the officials said to the king, "Please, this man must be killed, because he is making slack the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them words like these, for this man is not seeking for welfare to this people, but only for harm." And Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand, for the king is not able to do a thing against you." So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit of Malchiah, the son of the king, which was in the courtyard of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down by ropes. Now in the pit there was no water, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

When Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who was in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the pit—now the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin— Ebed-melech went out from the house of the king and spoke to the king, saying, "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, in that they have thrown him into the pit, and he will die there because of starvation, for there is no longer any bread in the city." Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, "Take with you these thirty men and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the pit before he dies."

So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the palace of the king, to a place beneath the storehouse, and he took from there rags and worn-out clothes. And he let them down into the pit by ropes to Jeremiah. Then Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, "Please put the rags and worn-out clothes under the joints of your arms under the ropes," and Jeremiah did so. And they pulled Jeremiah by the ropes and brought him up from the pit. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.

And Zedekiah the king sent and made someone bring Jeremiah the prophet to him, to the third entrance that was at the temple of Yahweh. And the king said to Jeremiah, "I am asking you something, you must not hide anything from me." And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely kill me? Besides, if I advise you, you will not listen to me. So Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, "As Yahweh lives, who has made for us this life, I will not kill you and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life."

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If only you will go surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then you will live, and this city will not be burned with fire, and you will live, you and your house. But if you do not go surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.’"

And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and they abuse me." And Jeremiah said, "They will not give you over. Please obey the voice of Yahweh with regard to what I am saying to you, and it will go well with you, and you will live. But if you are refusing to surrender, this is the thing that Yahweh has shown me. Now look, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah are being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon. And look, they are saying,

And all your wives and your children will be led out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hand, but by the hand of the king of Babylon you will be seized, and this city will burn with fire."

And Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "No man must know about these words so that you will not die. And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Please tell us what you said to the king. You must not conceal it from us so that we will not kill you. And what did the king say to you?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea before the king, to not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’" And all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he informed them like all these words that the king commanded. So they fell silent, for the conversation was not heard. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured. And it happened that Jerusalem was captured.

In the ninth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was taken by assault. And all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the chief officer, Nergal-sharezer the high official, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. And then when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the soldiers with him, they fled and went out at night from the city by the way of the garden of the king through the gate between the walls. And they went out toward the Jordan Valley. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he pronounced sentence on him. And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and tied him up with bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the palace of the king and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Then the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those deserting who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, deported to Babylon. And some of the poor people, who had nothing, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah. And he gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon commanded concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, "Take him and set your eyes on him. And you must not do something bad to him, but only that which he speaks to you, so do with him." So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent word, along with Nebushazban the chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer the high official, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon. And they sent and took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the guard and gave him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him to the house, so he stayed in the midst of the people.

And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah at his confinement in the courtyard of the guard, saying, "Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Look, I am about to bring my words to pass against this city for evil and not for good. And they will be before you on that day. But I will rescue you on that day," declares Yahweh, "and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are frightened. For surely I will save you, and you will not fall by the sword. But your life will be for you as booty because you have trusted in me," declares Yahweh.’"

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old at his beginning to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh like all that Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of Yahweh this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until his casting them from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And then in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, he and all his army. And they laid siege to it, and built siege works against it all around. So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was breached, and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls that are at the garden of the king, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went in the direction of the Jordan Valley. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. Then he made blind the eyes of Zedekiah, and they tied him up with bronze fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon. And he put him in prison until the day of his death.

Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem. And he burned the temple of Yahweh, and the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard deported some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the craftsmen. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land to serve as vinedressers and farmers.

And the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the temple of Yahweh, and the kettle stands and the sea of bronze that were in the temple of Yahweh, and they carried all their bronze to Babylon. And they took with them the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pans, and all the vessels of bronze which were used in temple service. And the captain of the guard took the bowls, and the firepans, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the pans, and the libation bowls, those made of solid gold and those made of solid silver. The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze oxen that were under the kettle stands which King Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh—there was not a weight for the bronze of all these vessels! Now the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness was four fingers, hollowed out. And a capital upon it was bronze and the height of the one capital was five cubits, and latticework and pomegranates were on the capital on all sides, all of bronze. And like these was the second pillar with pomegranates. And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates on the latticework on all sides were a hundred.

Then the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and three keepers of the threshold. And from the city he took one high official who was chief officer over the soldiers, and seven men of the king’s advisors who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who levied for military service the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah left from its land.

This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans; in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred and thirty-two persons from Jerusalem; in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, deported seven hundred and forty-five Judean persons; there were four thousand six hundred persons in all.

And then in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, the king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and brought him out from prison. Then he spoke with him kindly and gave his seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So he changed the garments of his imprisonment and he ate food before him continually all the days of his life. And his allowance, a continual allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon on a daily basis all the days of his life up to the day of his death.

Therefore, ridding yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants long for the unadulterated spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is kind, to whom you are drawing near, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God. And you yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture,

Therefore the honor is for you who believe, but for those who refuse to believe,

and

who stumble because they disobey the word to which also they were consigned. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, the ones who were not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy.

Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against your soul, maintaining your good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in the things in which they slander you as evildoers, by seeing your good deeds they may glorify God on the day of visitation.

Subject yourselves to every human authority for the sake of the Lord, whether to a king as having supreme authority, or to governors as those sent out by him for the punishment of those who do evil and the praise of those who do good. For the will of God is as follows: by doing good to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as free persons, and not using your freedom as a covering for evil, but as slaves of God. Honor all people, love the community of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Domestic slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unjust. For this finds favor, if because of consciousness of God someone endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this finds favor with God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his footsteps, who did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when suffering, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we may die to sins and live to righteousness, by whose wounds you were healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but you have turned back now to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.