The Living Bible (247 page)

Jeremiah
29

After Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the court officials, the tribal officers, and craftsmen had been deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah wrote them a letter from Jerusalem, addressing it to the Jewish elders, priests, prophets, and to all the people.
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 He sent the letter with Elasah (son of Shaphan) and Gemariah (son of Hilkiah) when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. And this is what the letter said:

    
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 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:

    
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 Build homes and plan to stay; plant vineyards, for you will be there many years.
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 Marry and have children, and then find mates for them and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Don’t dwindle away!
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 And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray for her, for if Babylon has peace, so will you.

    
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 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Don’t let the false prophets and mediums who are there among you fool you. Don’t listen to the dreams that they invent,
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 for they prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them, says the Lord.
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 The truth is this: You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised and bring you home again.
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 For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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 In those days when you pray, I will listen.
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 You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.

    
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 Yes, says the Lord, I will be found by you, and I will end your slavery and restore your fortunes; I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you back home again to your own land.

    
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 But now, because you accept the false prophets among you and say the Lord has sent them,
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 I will send war, famine, and plague upon the people left here in Jerusalem—on your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon, and on the king who sits on David’s throne—and make them like rotting figs, too bad to eat.
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 And I will scatter them around the world. And in every nation where I place them they will be cursed and hissed and mocked,
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 for they refuse to listen to me though I spoke to them again and again through my prophets.

    
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 Therefore listen to the word of God, all you Jewish captives over there in Babylon.
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 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says this about your false prophets, Ahab (son of Kolaiah) and Zedekiah (son of Maaseiah), who are declaring lies to you in my name: Look, I am turning them over to Nebuchadnezzar to execute publicly.
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 Their fate shall become proverbial of all evil, so that whenever anyone wants to curse someone he will say, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon burned alive!”
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 For these men have done a terrible thing among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name. I know, for I have seen everything they do, says the Lord.

    
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 And say this to Shemaiah the dreamer:
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 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: You have written a letter to Zephaniah (son of Maaseiah) the priest, and sent copies to all the other priests and to everyone in Jerusalem.
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 And in this letter you have said to Zephaniah, “The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as priest in Jerusalem. And it is your responsibility to arrest any madman who claims to be a prophet and to put him in the stocks and collar.
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 Why haven’t you done something about this false prophet Jeremiah of Anathoth?
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 For he has written to us here in Babylon saying that our captivity will be long; that we should build permanent homes and plan to stay many years; that we should plant fruit trees, for we will be here to eat the fruit from them for a long time to come.”

    
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 Zephaniah took the letter over to Jeremiah and read it to him!
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 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:

    
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 Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon and tell them this: The Lord says that because Shemaiah the Nehelamite has “prophesied” to you when I didn’t send him and has fooled you into believing his lies,
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 I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants shall see the good I have waiting for my people, for he has taught you to rebel against the Lord.

Jeremiah
30

This is another of the Lord’s messages to Jeremiah:

    
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 The Lord God of Israel says: Write down for the record all that I have said to you.
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 For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, and I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their fathers; they shall possess it and live here again.

    
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 And write this also concerning Israel and Judah:

    
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 “Where shall we find peace?” they cry. “There is only fear and trembling.
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 Do men give birth? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like women in labor?”

    
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 Alas, in all history when has there ever been a time of terror such as in that coming day? It is a time of trouble for my people—for Jacob—such as they have never known before. Yet God will rescue them!
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 For on that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains, and foreigners shall no longer be their masters!
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 For they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King,
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whom I will raise up for them, says the Lord.

    
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 So don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant; don’t be dismayed, O Israel; for I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children from their exile. They shall have rest and quiet in their own land, and no one shall make them afraid.
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 For I am with you and I will save you, says the Lord. Even if I utterly destroy the nations where I scatter you, I will not exterminate you; I will punish you, yes—you will not go unpunished.

    
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 For your sin is an incurable bruise, a terrible wound.
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 There is no one to help you or to bind up your wound, and no medicine does any good.
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 All your lovers have left you and don’t care anything about you anymore; for I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy; mercilessly, as though I were an implacable foe; for your sins are so many, your guilt is so great.

    
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 Why do you protest your punishment? Your sin is so scandalous that your sorrow should never end! It is because your guilt is great that I have had to punish you so much.

    
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 But in that coming day, all who are destroying you shall be destroyed, and all your enemies shall be slaves. Those who rob you shall be robbed; and those attacking you shall be attacked.
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 I will give you back your health again and heal your wounds. Now you are called “The Outcast” and “Jerusalem, the Place Nobody Wants.”

    
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 But, says the Lord, when I bring you home again from your captivity and restore your fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt upon her ruins; the palace will be reconstructed as it was before.
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 The cities will be filled with joy and great thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and make of them a great and honored nation.
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 Their children shall prosper as in David’s reign; their nations shall be established before me, and I will punish anyone who hurts them.
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 They will have their own ruler again.
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He will not be a foreigner. And I will invite him to be a priest at my altars, and he shall approach me, for who would dare to come unless invited.
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 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

    
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 Suddenly the devastating whirlwind of the Lord roars with fury; it shall burst upon the heads of the wicked.
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 The Lord will not call off the fierceness of his wrath until it has finished all the terrible destruction he has planned. Later on
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you will understand what I am telling you.

Jeremiah
31

At that time, says the Lord, all the families of Israel shall recognize me as the Lord; they shall act like my people.
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 I will care for them as I did those who escaped from Egypt, to whom I showed my mercies in the wilderness, when Israel sought for rest.
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 For long ago the Lord had said to Israel: I have loved you, O my people, with an everlasting love; with loving-kindness I have drawn you to me.
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 I will rebuild your nation, O virgin of Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with the timbrels.
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 Again you will plant your vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.

    
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 The day shall come when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will call out and say, “Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.”
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 For the Lord says: Sing with joy for all that I will do for Israel, the greatest of the nations! Shout out with praise and joy: “The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.”
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 For I will bring them from the north and from earth’s farthest ends, not forgetting their blind and lame, young mothers with their little ones, those ready to give birth. It will be a great company who comes.
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 Tears of joy shall stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They shall walk beside the quiet streams and not stumble. For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest child.

    
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 Listen to this message from the Lord, you nations of the world, and publish it abroad: The Lord who scattered his people will gather them back together again and watch over them as a shepherd does his flock.
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 He will save Israel from those who are too strong for them!
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 They shall come home and sing songs of joy upon the hills of Zion and shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord—the good crops, the wheat, the wine, and the oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life shall be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows shall be gone.
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 The young girls will dance for joy, and menfolk—old and young—will take their part in all the fun; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice, for their captivity with all its sorrows will be behind them.
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 I will feast the priests with the abundance of offerings brought to them at the Temple; I will satisfy my people with my bounty, says the Lord.

    
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 The Lord spoke to me again, saying: In Ramah there is bitter weeping—Rachel
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is weeping for her children and cannot be comforted, for they are gone.
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 But the Lord says: Don’t cry any longer, for I have heard your prayers
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and you will see them again; they will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.
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 There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children will come again to their own land.

    
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 I have heard Ephraim’s groans: “You have punished me greatly; but I needed it all, as a calf must be trained for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the Lord, my God.
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 I turned away from God, but I was sorry afterwards. I kicked myself for my stupidity. I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in younger days.”

    
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 And the Lord replies: Ephraim is still my son, my darling child. I had to punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.

    
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 As you travel into exile, set up road signs pointing back to Israel. Mark your pathway well. For you shall return again, O virgin Israel, to your cities here.
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 How long will you vacillate, O wayward daughter? For the Lord will cause something new and different to happen—Israel will search for God.
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 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: When I bring them back again, they shall say in Judah and her cities, “The Lord bless you, O center of righteousness, O holy hill!”
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 And city dwellers and farmers and shepherds alike shall live together in peace and happiness.
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 For I have given rest to the weary and joy to all the sorrowing.

    
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 (Then Jeremiah wakened. “Such sleep is very sweet!” he said.)

    
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 The Lord says: The time will come when I will greatly increase the population and multiply the number of cattle here in Israel.
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 In the past I painstakingly destroyed the nation, but now I will carefully build it up.
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 The people shall no longer quote this proverb—“Children pay for their fathers’ sins.”
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 For everyone shall die for his own sins—the person eating sour grapes is the one whose teeth are set on edge.

    
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 The day will come, says the Lord, when I will make a new contract with the people of Israel and Judah.
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 It won’t be like the one I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a contract they broke, forcing me to reject them,
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says the Lord.
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 But this is the new contract I will make with them: I will inscribe my laws upon their hearts,
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so that they shall want to honor me;
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then they shall truly be my people and I will be their God.
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 At that time it will no longer be necessary to admonish one another to know the Lord. For everyone, both great and small, shall really know me then, says the Lord, and I will forgive and forget their sins.

    
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 The Lord who gives us sunlight in the daytime and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea to make the roaring waves—his name is Lord Almighty—says this:
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 I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to do away with these laws of nature!
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 Not until the heavens can be measured and the foundations of the earth explored, will I consider casting them away forever for their sins!

    
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 For the time is coming, says the Lord, when all Jerusalem shall be rebuilt for the Lord, from the tower of Hananel at the northeast corner,
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to the Corner Gate at the northwest;
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and from the hill of Gareb at the southwest,
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across to Goah on the southeast.
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 And the entire city, including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the brook of Kidron, and from there to the Horse Gate on the east side of the city, all shall be holy to the Lord; it shall never again be captured or destroyed.