Chapter 21

¹ The Word that came from the Lord to Jeremias, when King Sedekias sent to him Paschor the Son of Melchias, and Sophontas Son of Basæas, the Priest, saying,

² Enquire of the Lord for us; for the king of Babylon has risen up against us; if the Lord will do according to all his wonderful works, and the king shall depart from us.

³ And Jeremias said to them, Thus shall ye say to Sedekias king of Juda, ⁴ Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war wherewith ye fight against the Chaldeans that have besieged you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the midst of this city. ⁵ And I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, with wrath and great anger. ⁶ And I will smite all the dwellers in this city, both men and cattle, with grievous ¹pestilence: and they shall die. ⁷ And after this, thus saith the Lord; I will give Sedekias king of Juda, and his servants, and the people that is left in this city from the pestilence, and from the famine, and from the sword, into the hands of their enemies, that seek their lives: and they shall cut them in pieces with the edge of the sword: I will not spare them, and I will not have compassion upon them.

⁸ And thou shalt say to this people, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I have set before you the way of life, and the way of death. ⁹ He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by famine: but he that goes forth to ²advance to the Chaldeans that have besieged you, shall live, and his life shall be to him for a spoil, and he shall live. ¹⁰ For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good: it shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall consume it with fire.

¹¹ O house of the king of Juda, hear ye the word of the Lord. ¹² O house of David, thus saith the Lord; Judge judgment in the morning, and act rightly, and rescue the spoiled one from the hand of him that wrongs him, lest mine anger be kindled like fire, and it ³burn, and there be none to quench it. ¹³ Behold, I am against thee that dwellest in the valley of Sor; in the

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plain country, even against them that say, Who shall alarm us? or who shall enter into our habitation? ¹⁴ And I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.