Navi: Galut vs Geula

(1) In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

(2) The Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, together with some of the vessels of the House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god; he deposited the vessels in the treasury of his god.

(3) Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief officer, to bring some Israelites of royal descent and of the nobility—

(4) youths without blemish, handsome, proficient in all wisdom, knowledgeable and intelligent, and capable of serving in the royal palace—and teach them the writings and the language of the Chaldeans.

(5) The king allotted daily rations to them from the king’s food and from the wine he drank. They were to be educated for three years, aOr “and some of them.”at the end of which they-a were to enter the king’s service.

(6) Among them were the Judahites Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

(8) Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

(9) He did what was displeasing to GOD, just as his father had done.

(10) At that time, the troopsatroops Heb. “servants.” of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

(11) King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against the city while his troops were besieging it.

(12) Thereupon King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, and his courtiers, commanders, and officers, surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

(13) He carried off from Jerusalembfrom Jerusalem Heb. “from there.” all the treasures of the House of GOD and the treasures of the royal palace; he stripped off all the golden decorations in the Temple of GOD—which King Solomon of Israel had made—as GOD had warned.

(14) He exiled all of Jerusalem: all the commanders and all the warriors—ten thousand exiles—as well as all the artisans and smiths; only the poorest people in the land were left.

(15) He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s mother and wives and officers and the notables of the land were brought as exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon.

(16) All the able men, to the number of seven thousand—all of them warriors, trained for battle—and a thousand artisans and smiths were brought to Babylon as exiles by the king of Babylon.

(17) And the king of Babylon appointed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’scJehoiachin’s Heb. “his.” uncle, king in his place, changing his name to Zedekiah.

(18) dFor the rest of this book cf. Jer. 39 and 52. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

(19) He did what was displeasing to GOD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

(20) Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah were a cause of anger for GOD, so thatewere a cause of anger for GOD, so that Meaning of Heb. uncertain. they were cast out of the divine presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

(1) And in the ninth year of hisahis I.e., Zedekiah’s. reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar moved against Jerusalem with his whole army. He besieged it; and they built towers against it all around.

(2) The city continued in a state of siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

(3) By the ninth day [of the fourth month]b[of the fourth month] Cf. Jer. 52.6. the famine had become acute in the city; there was no food left for the common people.

(4) Then [the wall of] the city was breached. All the soldiers [left the city] by night through the gate between the double walls, which is near the king’s garden—the Chaldeans were all around the city; and [the king] set out for the Arabah.cArabah Hoping to escape across the Jordan.

(5) But the Chaldean troops pursued the king, and they overtook him in the steppes of Jericho as his entire force left him and scattered.

(6) They captured the king and brought him before the king of Babylon at Riblah; and they put him on trial.

(7) They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes; then Zedekiah’s eyes were put out. He was chained in bronze fetters and he was brought to Babylon.

(8) On the seventh day of the fifth month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

(9) He burned the House of GOD, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down the house of every notable person.dthe house of every notable person Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

(10) The entire Chaldean force that was with the chief of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.

(11) The remnant of the people that was left in the city, the defectors who had gone over to the king of Babylon—and the remnant of the population—were taken into exile by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards.

(12) But some of the poorest in the land were left by the chief of the guards, to be vinedressers and field hands.

(13) The Chaldeans broke up the bronze columns of the House of GOD, the stands, and the bronze tank that was in the House of GOD; and they carried the bronze away to Babylon.

(14) They also took all the pails, scrapers, snuffers, ladles, and all the other bronze vessels used in the service.

(15) The chief of the guards took whatever was of gold and whatever was of silver: firepans and sprinkling bowls.

(16) The two columns, the one tank, and the stands that Solomon provided for the House of GOD—all these objects contained bronze beyond weighing.

(17) The one column was eighteen cubits high. It had a bronze capital above it; the height of the capital was three cubits, and there was a meshwork [decorated] with pomegranates about the capital, all made of bronze. And the like was true of the other column with its meshwork.

(18) The chief of the guards also took Seraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah, the deputy priest, and the three guardians of the threshold.

(1) The word that came to Jeremiah from GOD:

(2) Stand at the gate of the House of GOD, and there proclaim this word: Hear the word of GOD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship GOD!

(3) Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell in this place.

(4) Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “The Temple of GOD, the Temple of GOD, the Temple of GOD are these [buildings].”

(5) No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one party and another;

(6) if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt—

(7) then only will I let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors for all time.

(8) See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail.

(9) Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely, and sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not experienced,

(10) and then come and stand before Me in this House that bears My name and say, “We are safe”?—[Safe] to do all these abhorrent things!

(11) Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching—declares GOD.

(12) Just go to My place at Shiloh, where I had established My name formerly, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

(13) And now, because you do all these things—declares GOD—and though I spoke to you persistently, you would not listen; and though I called to you, you would not respond—

(14) therefore I will do to the House that bears My name, on which you rely, and to the place that I gave you and your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh.

(15) And I will cast you out of My presence as I cast out your kinsfolk, the whole brood of Ephraim.

(16) As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, do not plead with Me; for I will not listen to you.

(17) Don’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

(18) The children gather sticks, the fathers build the fire, and the mothers knead dough, to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and they pour libations to other gods, to vex Me.

(19) Is it Me they are vexing?—says GOD. It is rather themselves, to their own disgrace.

(20) Assuredly, thus said my Sovereign GOD: My wrath and My fury will be poured out upon this place, on human beings and on animals, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the soil. It shall burn, with none to quench it.

(21) Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat!

(22) For when I freed your ancestors from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice.

(23) But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you.

(24) Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward,

(25) from the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt until today. And though I kept sending all My servants, the prophets, to themethem Heb. “you.” daily and persistently,

(26) they would not listen to Me or give ear. They stiffened their necks, they acted worse than their ancestors.

(27) You shall say all these things to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall call to them, but they will not respond to you.

(28) Then say to them: This is the nation that would not obey the ETERNAL their God, that would not accept rebuke. Faithfulness has perished, vanished from their mouths.

(29) Shear your locks and cast them away,
Take up a lament on the heights,
For GOD has spurned and cast off
The brood that provoked such wrath.

(30) For the people of Judah have done what displeases Me—declares GOD. They have set up their abominations in the House that is called by My name, and they have defiled it.

(31) And they have built the shrines of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in fire—which I never commanded, which never came to My mind.

(32) Assuredly, a time is coming—declares GOD—when this peoplefthis people Heb. “they.” shall no longer speak of Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but of the Valley of Slaughter; and they shall bury in Topheth until no room is left.

(33) The carcasses of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them off.

(34) And I will silence in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride. For the whole land shall fall to ruin.

...No English Translation Available...

Meaning: They believe that Hashem won't destroy his own temple and thus as long as they offer Korbanot they are safe since Hashem wouldn't ever destroy his own home. They don't realize how sorely mistaken they truly are.

(1) The word that came to Jeremiah from GOD—when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, to say,

(2) “Please inquire of GOD on our behalf, for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps GOD will act for our sake in accordance with all the priorathe prior Lit. “His.” wonders, so that he will withdraw from us.”

(3) Jeremiah answered them, “Thus shall you say to Zedekiah:

(4) Thus said the ETERNAL, the God of Israel: I am going to turn around the weapons in your hands with which you are battling outside the wall against those who are besieging you—the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans—and I will take them into the midst of this city;

(5) and I Myself will battle against you with an outstretched mighty arm, with anger and rage and great wrath.

(6) I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both human and animal: they shall die by a terrible pestilence.

(7) And then—declares GOD—I will deliver King Zedekiah of Judah and his courtiers and the people—those in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine—into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword without pity, without compassion, without mercy.

(8) “And to this people you shall say: Thus said GOD: I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

(9) Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but whoever leaves and goes over to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live; he shall at least gain his life.bhe shall at least gain his life Lit. “he shall have his life as booty.”

(10) For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good—declares GOD. It shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it by fire.”

(11) To the House of the king of Judah: Hear the word of GOD!

(12) O House of David, thus said GOD:
Render just verdicts
Morning by morning;
Rescue from the defrauder
Anyone who is robbed.
Else My wrath will break forth like fire
And burn, with none to quench it,
Because of your wicked acts.

(13) I will deal with you, O inhabitants of the valley,
O rock of the plaincO inhabitants of the valley, / O rock of the plain Force of Heb. uncertain.—declares GOD—
You who say, “Who can come down against us?
Who can get into our lairs?”

(14) I will punish you according to your deeds
—declares GOD.
I will set fire to its forest;dforest Perhaps a reference to the royal palace; cf. 1 Kings 7.2.
It shall consume all that is around it.

(1) GOD showed me two baskets of figs, placed in front of the Temple of GOD. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had exiled King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and the officials of Judah, and the artisans and smiths, and had brought them from Jerusalem to Babylon.

(2) One basket contained very good figs, like first-ripened figs, and the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

(3) And GOD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “Figs—the good ones are very good, and the bad ones very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

(4) Then the word of GOD came to me:

(5) Thus said the ETERNAL, the God of Israel: As with these good figs, so will I single out for good the Judean exiles whom I have driven out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

(6) I will look upon them favorably, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not overthrow them; I will plant them and not uproot them.

(7) And I will give them the understanding to acknowledge Me, for I am GOD. And they shall be My people and I will be their God, when they turn back to Me with all their heart.

(8) And like the bad figs, which are so bad that they cannot be eaten—thus said GOD—so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem that is left in this land, and those who are living in the land of Egypt:

(9) I will make them a horror—an evil—to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and a proverb, a byword and a curseaa curse I.e., a standard by which people curse; cf. Gen. 12.2 and note; Zech. 8.13. in all the places to which I banish them.

(10) I will send the sword, famine, and pestilence against them until they are exterminated from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.

(1) This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the priests, the prophets, the rest of the elders of the exile community, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon—

(2) after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the artisans and smiths had left Jerusalem.

(3) [The letter was sent] through Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah had dispatched to Babylon, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

(4) Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel, to the whole community that I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:

(5) Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit.

(6) YouaYou I.e., the men in the community. should take wives and beget sons and daughters; and you should take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease.

(7) And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to GOD in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.

(2) Rabbi Hanina, the vice-high priest said: pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive.

(1) In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

(2) The Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, together with some of the vessels of the House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god; he deposited the vessels in the treasury of his god.

(3) Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief officer, to bring some Israelites of royal descent and of the nobility—

(4) youths without blemish, handsome, proficient in all wisdom, knowledgeable and intelligent, and capable of serving in the royal palace—and teach them the writings and the language of the Chaldeans.

(5) The king allotted daily rations to them from the king’s food and from the wine he drank. They were to be educated for three years, aOr “and some of them.”at the end of which they-a were to enter the king’s service.

(6) Among them were the Judahites Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

(7) The chief officer gave them new names; he named Daniel Belteshazzar, Hananiah Shadrach, Mishael Meshach, and Azariah Abed-nego.

(8) Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the king’s food or the wine he drank, so he sought permission of the chief officer not to defile himself,

(9) and God disposed the chief officer to be kind and compassionate toward Daniel.

(10) The chief officer said to Daniel, “I fear that my lord the king, who allotted food and drink to you, will notice that you look out of sorts, unlike the other youths of your age—and you will put my lifebLit. “head.” in jeopardy with the king.”

(11) Daniel replied to the guard whom the chief officer had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

(12) “Please test your servants for ten days, giving us legumes to eat and water to drink.

(13) Then compare our appearance with that of the youths who eat of the king’s food, and do with your servants as you see fit.”

(14) He agreed to this plan of theirs, and tested them for ten days.

(15) When the ten days were over, they looked better and healthier than all the youths who were eating of the king’s food.

(16) So the guard kept on removing their food, and the wine they were supposed to drink, and gave them legumes.

(17) God made all four of these young men intelligent and proficient in all writings and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding of visions and dreams of all kinds.

(18) When the time the king had set for their presentation had come, the chief officer presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.

(19) The king spoke with them, and of them all none was equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so these entered the king’s service.

(20) Whenever the king put a question to them requiring wisdom and understanding, he found them to be ten times better than all the magicians and exorcists throughout his realm.

(21) Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.

(1) In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, when the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah was fulfilled,aCf. Jer. 29.10. the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his realm by word of mouth and in writing as follows:

(2) “Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me with building Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

(3) Anyone of you of all His people—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem that is in Judah and build the House of the LORD God of Israel, the God that is in Jerusalem;

(4) and all who stay behind, wherever he may be living, let the people of his place assist him with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, besides the freewill offering to the House of God that is in Jerusalem.”

(5) So the chiefs of the clans of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, all whose spirit had been roused by God, got ready to go up to build the House of the LORD that is in Jerusalem.

(6) All their neighbors supported them with silver vessels, with gold, with goods, with livestock, and with precious objects, besides what had been given as a freewill offering.

(7) King Cyrus released the vessels of the LORD’s house which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem and had put in the house of his god.

(8) These King Cyrus of Persia released through the office of Mithredath the treasurer, who gave an inventory of them to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

(9) This is the inventory: 30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins, 29 knives,

(10) 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bMeaning of Heb. uncertain.double bowls,-b 1,000 other vessels;

(11) in all, 5,400 gold and silver vessels. Sheshbazzar brought all these back when the exiles came back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

(1) When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.

(2) Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers set to and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it as is written in the Teaching of Moses, the man of God.

(3) They set up the altar on its site because they were in fear of the peoples of the land, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings each morning and evening.

(4) Then they celebrated the festival of Tabernacles as is written, with its daily burnt offerings in the proper quantities, on each day as is prescribed for it,

(5) followed by the regular burnt offering and the offerings for the new moons and for all the sacred fixed times of the LORD, and whatever freewill offerings were made to the LORD.

(6) From the first day of the seventh month they began to make burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the Temple of the LORD had not been laid.

(7) They paid the hewers and craftsmen with money, and the Sidonians and Tyrians with food, drink, and oil to bring cedarwood from Lebanon by sea to Joppa, in accord with the authorization granted them by King Cyrus of Persia.

(8) In the second year after their arrival at the House of God, at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brother priests and Levites, and all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem, as their first step appointed Levites from the age of twenty and upward to supervise the work of the House of the LORD.

(9) Jeshua, his sons and brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, aI.e., Hodaviah of 2.40.the sons of Judah,-a together were appointed in charge of those who did the work in the House of God; also the sons of Henadad, their sons and brother Levites.

(10) When the builders had laid the foundation of the Temple of the LORD, priests in their vestments with trumpets, and Levites sons of Asaph with cymbals were stationed to give praise to the LORD, as King David of Israel had ordained.

(11) They sang songs extolling and praising the LORD, bCf. Pss. 106.1; 136.“For He is good, His steadfast love for Israel is eternal.”-b All the people raised a great shout extolling the LORD because the foundation of the House of the LORD had been laid.

(12) Many of the priests and Levites and the chiefs of the clans, the old men who had seen the first house, wept loudly at the sight of the founding of this house. Many others shouted joyously at the top of their voices.

(13) The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the people’s weeping, for the people raised a great shout, the sound of which could be heard from afar.