Ezekiel: the siege begins · Jeremiah: the siege of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 24 WEB

¹Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. ³Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says, “Put the cauldron on the fire. Put it on, and also pour water into it. ⁴Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece: the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice bones. ⁵Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron. Make it boil well. Yes, let its bones be boiled within it.” ⁶“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is in it, and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece without casting lots for it. ⁷“‘“For the blood she shed is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. ⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.” ⁹“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. ¹⁰Heap on the wood. Make the fire hot. Boil the meat well. Make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned. ¹¹Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bronze may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. ¹²She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her. ¹³“‘“In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. ¹⁴“‘“I, the LORD, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord GOD.’” ¹⁵Also the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁶“Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. ¹⁷Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.” ¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded. ¹⁹The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things mean to us, that you act like this?” ²⁰Then I said to them, “The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²¹‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword. ²²You will do as I have done. You won’t cover your lips or eat mourner’s bread. ²³Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You won’t mourn or weep; but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. ²⁴Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”’” ²⁵“You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart—their sons and their daughters— ²⁶that in that day he who escapes will come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? ²⁷In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Jeremiah 34–35 WEB

^34:1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying: ²“The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, the LORD says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire. ³You won’t escape out of his hand, but will surely be taken and delivered into his hand. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth. You will go to Babylon.”’ ⁴“Yet hear the LORD’s word, O Zedekiah king of Judah. The LORD says concerning you, ‘You won’t die by the sword. ⁵You will die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you. They will lament you, saying, “Ah Lord!” for I have spoken the word,’ says the LORD.” ⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities. ⁸The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that no one should make bondservants of them, of a Jew his brother. ¹⁰All the princes and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant go free, that no one should make bondservants of them any more. They obeyed and let them go, ¹¹but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. ¹²Therefore the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ¹³“The LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: ¹⁴At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you. But your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear. ¹⁵You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor. You had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name; ¹⁶but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’” ¹⁷Therefore the LORD says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says the LORD, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts: ¹⁹the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth. ²¹“I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their life and into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, who has gone away from you. ²²Behold, I will command,” says the LORD, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

^35:1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ²“Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the LORD’s house, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.” ³Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, with his brothers, all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; ⁴and I brought them into the LORD’s house, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of the princes, which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. ⁵I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!” ⁶But they said, “We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink no wine, neither you nor your children, forever. ⁷You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, or have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land in which you live as nomads.’ ⁸We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters; ⁹and not to build houses for ourselves to dwell in. We have no vineyard, field, or seed; ¹⁰but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come! Let’s go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we will dwell at Jerusalem.’” ¹²Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³“The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words?” says the LORD. ¹⁴“The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s commandment; but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and you have not listened to me. ¹⁵I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Every one of you must return now from his evil way, amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers;’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me. ¹⁶The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me.”’ ¹⁷“Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.’” ¹⁸Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you,’ ¹⁹therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jonadab the son of Rechab will not lack a man to stand before me forever.’”