| New Living Translation | International Standard Version |
| 1This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah. | 1At the beginning of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2This is what the LORD said to me: “Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather straps. | 2this is what the LORD says to me: "Make restraints and yokes for yourself and put them on your neck. |
| 3Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors who have come to see King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. | 3Then send messengers to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon through the envoys who come to Jerusalem to king Zedekiah of Judah. |
| 4Give them this message for their masters: ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: | 4Give them this order for their masters: 'This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says, and this is what you are to say to your masters, |
| 5With my great strength and powerful arm I made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose. | 5"By my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth, mankind, and the animals that are on the face of the earth, and I give it to whomever I see fit. |
| 6Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control. | 6Now I've given all these lands to my servant, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I've even given him the wild animals to serve him. |
| 7All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his time is up. Then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon. | 7All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his country's time also comes, and then many nations and great kings will use him as a slave. |
| 8So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the LORD. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it. | 8If a nation and kingdom does not serve him—King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I'll judge that nation with the sword, with famine, and with plague," declares the LORD, "until I've completely destroyed it by his hand. |
| 9“‘Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, “The king of Babylon will not conquer you.” | 9You aren't to listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, and your sorcerers who say to you, 'Don't serve the king of Babylon.' |
| 10They are all liars, and their lies will lead to your being driven out of your land. I will drive you out and send you far away to die. | 10They're prophesying a lie to you in order to remove you far away from your land. I'll drive you out and you will perish. |
| 11But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the LORD, have spoken!’” | 11But I'll let the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him remain in its own land," declares the LORD, "and they'll work it and remain in it."'" |
| 12Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. “If you want to live, submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon and his people. | 12I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah using words like these: "Bring your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people, and you will live! |
| 13Why do you insist on dying—you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon’s king? | 13Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by plague as the LORD has decreed about the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? |
| 14Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer you.’ They are liars. | 14Don't listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You won't serve the king of Babylon.' Indeed, they're prophesying a lie to you. |
| 15This is what the LORD says: ‘I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die—you and all these prophets, too.’” | 15For I didn't send them," declares the LORD, "and they're falsely prophesying in my name, so I will drive both you and the prophets who prophesy to you out of the land." |
| 16Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold articles taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie! | 16Then I spoke to the priests and all this people: "This is what the LORD says: 'Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: "The vessels from the Temple are about to be returned from Babylon very soon now." Indeed, they're prophesying a lie to you. |
| 17Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed? | 17Don't listen to them! Serve the king of Babylon and you'll live. Why should this city become a ruin? |
| 18If they really are prophets and speak the LORD’s messages, let them pray to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Let them pray that the articles remaining in the LORD’s Temple and in the king’s palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem will not be carried away to Babylon!’ | 18If they're prophets, and if they have a message from the LORD, let them plead with the LORD of the Heavenly Armies so that the utensils that remain in the LORD's Temple, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem might not be taken to Babylon. |
| 19“For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has spoken about the pillars in front of the Temple, the great bronze basin called the Sea, the water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles. | 19For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says about the pillars, the bronze sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city |
| 20King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. | 20that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn't take when he took Jehoiakim's son Jeconiah, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem from Jerusalem into exile to Babylon— |
| 21Yes, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about the precious things still in the Temple, in the palace of Judah’s king, and in Jerusalem: | 21For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel says about the vessels that remain in the LORD's Temple, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, |
| 22‘They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them,’ says the LORD. ‘Then I will bring them back to Jerusalem again.’” | 22"They'll go into Babylon and there they'll remain until the time I take note of them," declares the LORD. "Then I'll bring them up and return them to this place."'" |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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