in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts 110 that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

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27 1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim 1 the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Make thee bands and bars, and put them upon thy neck; and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king 120 of Tyre, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and give them a charge unto their masters, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the 125 face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm : and I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. And it shall come to pass, 130 that the nation and the kingdom which will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, 135 nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land. But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, 140 and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.

12 And I2 spake to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will 145 ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by. the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon ? And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 150

1 For Jehoiakim read Zedekiah.

2 For I read Jeremiah.

For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you. Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus 155 saith the LORD: Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city become 160 a desolation? But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts. For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city, 165 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem ; yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house 170 of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

28 1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of 175 the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the 180 yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives 185 of Judah, that went to Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD, even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do 190 so the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD's house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon unto this place. Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of

all the people: The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied against many countries, and against 195 great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him. Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. 200 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had 205 broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD: Thou hast broken the bars of wood; but thou shalt make 1 in their stead bars of iron. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel : I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that 210 they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him and I have given him the beasts of the field also. Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; the LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the 215 LORD, Behold, I will send thee away from off the face of the earth this year thou shalt die. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

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1 For thou shalt make read I will make.

LESSON LXXV

JEREMIAH AND ZEDEKIAH

Jeremiah's personal adventures during the last sieges of
Jerusalem. His lament over its fall.

JEREMIAH XXXVII. 3—XXXIX. 14; LAMENTATIONS IV. 37 3 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. And Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when 5 the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they brake up from Jerusalem. Then came the word of the

LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, 10 which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; and they shall take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the LORD: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For 15 though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

11 And it came to pass that when the army of the Chaldeans 20 was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the midst of the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, 25 the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans; but he hearkened not to him so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to