Jeremiah 21

1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,

2Please inquire of Yahweh on our behalf, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will act for us according to all his wondrous acts, so that he will withdraw from us.

3Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah:”

4Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Behold, I am turning back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.

5And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, and with anger and wrath and great fury.

6And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die by a great pestilence.

7And after that, declares Yahweh, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, the people, and those left in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their life; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them or have pity or compassion.

8And to this people you shall say, ‘Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.’

9The one who stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but the one who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and his life will be to him as plunder.

10For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

11And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of Yahweh.

12House of David, thus says Yahweh: Administer justice in the morning, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of their deeds.

13Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, declares Yahweh—you who say, “Who will come down against us, and who will enter into our dwellings?”

14And I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares Yahweh, and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will consume all that is around her.