36:17. And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all these words from his mouth.
36:18. And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he p.r.o.nounced all these words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink.
36:19. And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.
36:20. And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up the volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words in the hearing of the king.
36:21. And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.
36:22. Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and there was a hearth before him full of burning coals.
36:23. And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that was upon the hearth, till all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth.
36:24. And the king and all his servants that heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.
36:25. But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king, not to burn the book: and he heard them not.
36:26. And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch the scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.
36:27. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after that the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremias, saying:
36:28. Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda both burnt.
36:29. And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
36:30. Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.
He shall have none, etc... Because his son Joachin or Jechonias, within three months after the death of his father, was carried away to Babylon, so that his reign is not worthy of notice.
36:31. And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have p.r.o.nounced against them, but they have not heard.
36:32. And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with fire: and there were added besides many more words than had been before.
Jeremias Chapter 37
Jeremias prophesies that the Chaldeans, who had departed from Jerusalem, would return and burn the city. He is cast into prison. His conference with Sedecias.
37:1. Now king Sedecias the son of Josias reigned instead of Jechonias the son of Joakim: whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon made king in the land of Juda.
37:2. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land did obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.
37:3. And king Sedecias sent Juchal the son of Selemias, and Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, saying: Pray to the Lord our G.o.d for us.
37:4. Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the people: for they had not as yet cast him into prison. And the army of Pharao was come out of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, hearing these tidings, departed from Jerusalem.
37:5. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, saying:
37:6. Thus saith the Lord the G.o.d of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Juda, who sent you to inquire of me: Behold the army of Pharao, which is come forth to help you, shall return into their own land, into Egypt.
37:7. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
37:8. Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not your souls, saying: The Chaldeans shall surely depart and go away from us: for they shall not go away.
37:9. But if you should even beat all the army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there should be left of them some wounded men: they shall rise up, every man from his heart, and burn this city with fire.
37:10. Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem, because of Pharao"s army,
37:11. Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin: and to divide a possession there in the presence of the citizens,
37:12. And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the gate, who was there in his turn, was one named Jerias, the son of Selemias, the son of Hananias: and he took hold of Jeremias the prophet, saying: Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans.
37:13. And Jeremias answered: It is not so, I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Jerias took Jeremias and brought him to the princes.
37:14. Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremias, and they beat him, and cast him into the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for he was chief over the prison.
37:15. So Jeremias went into the house of the prison, and into the dungeon: and Jeremias remained there many days.
37:16. Then Sedecias the king, sending, took him: and asked him secretly in his house, and said: Is there, thinkest thou, any word from the Lord?
And Jeremias said. There is. And he said: Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.
37:17. And Jeremias said to king Sedecias: In what have I offended against thee, or thy servants, or thy people, that thou hast cast me into prison?
37:18. Where are your prophets that prophesied to you, and said: The king of Babylon shall not come against you, and against this land?
37:19. Now therefore hear, I beseech thee, my lord the king: let my pet.i.tion be accepted in thy sight: and send me not back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
37:20. Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were spent: and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.
Jeremias Chapter 38
The prophet at the instance of the great men is cast into a filthy dungeon: he is drawn out by Abdemelech, and has another conference with the king.
38:1. Now Saphatias the son of Mathan, and Gedelias the son of Pha.s.sur, and Juchal the son of Selemias, and Pha.s.sur the son of Melchias heard the words that Jeremias spoke to all the people, saying:
38:2. Thus saith the Lord: Whosoever shall remain in this city, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: but he that shall go forth to the Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be safe, and he shall live.
38:3. Thus saith the Lord: This city shall surely be delivered into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
38:4. And the princes said to the king. We beseech thee that this man may be put to death: for on purpose he weakeneth the hands of the men of war, that remain in this city, and the hands of the people, speaking to them according to these words: for this man seeketh not peace to this people, but evil.
38:5. And king Sedecias said: Behold he is in your hands: for it is not lawful for the king to deny you any thing.
38:6. Then they took Jeremias and cast him into the dungeon of Melchias the son of Amelech, which was in the entry of the prison: and they let down Jeremias by ropes into the dungeon, wherein there was no water, but mire. And Jeremias sunk into the mire.
38:7. Now Abdemelech the Ethiopian, an eunuch that was in the king"s house, heard that they had put Jeremias in the dungeon: but the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin.
38:8. And Abdemelech went out of the king"s house, and spoke to the king, saying: