Thus said the Lord, "Go, and buy a potter"s earthen vessel, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee: and say, "Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; thus saith the Lord of hosts, the G.o.d of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, at which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other G.o.ds, whom they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled his place with the blood of innocents; and have {304} built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings unto Baal; which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life: and their carcases will I give to be food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city an astonishment, and an hissing; everyone that pa.s.seth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them."
"Then shalt thou break the vessel in the sight of the men that go with thee, and shalt say unto them, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter"s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury in Topheth, till there lie no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth: and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of {305} heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other G.o.ds.""
Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord"s house, and said to all the people: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the G.o.d of Israel, "Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have p.r.o.nounced against it; because they have made their heart hard, that they might not hear my words.""
III
THE KING"S ANGER
(Jeremiah had his prophecies written down by his clerk. But when the king read from the scroll on which they were written, he was so angry that he cut up the scroll, and burned it. This did not prevent the prophecies from being known, for Jeremiah had them written upon a new scroll.)
And it came to pa.s.s in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and {306} Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I cannot go into the house of the Lord: therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord"s house upon the fast day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord, and will return everyone from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath p.r.o.nounced against this people."
And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord"s house.
Now it came to pa.s.s in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before the Lord. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the ears of all the people. And when Micaiah had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, he went down into the king"s house, into the scribe"s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there. Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi unto Baruch, {307} saying, "Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come."
So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them. And they said unto him, "Sit down now, and read it to us." So Baruch read it to them.
Now it came to pa.s.s, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said unto Baruch, "We will surely tell the king of all these words."
And they asked Baruch, saying, "Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?"
Then Baruch answered them, "He p.r.o.nounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
Then said the princes unto Baruch, "Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are."
And they went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king, and to all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brasier burning before him. And it came to pa.s.s, when Jehudi had read three or four sections, that the king cut it with his penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brasier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brasier. And they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, {308} nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.
And the king commanded his officers to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord hid them.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, "Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.
"And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shalt say, "Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
""Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his family and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have p.r.o.nounced against them, and they hearkened not.""
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
{309}
IV
JEREMIAH IN PRISON
(Jeremiah continued to rebuke the people for the evil of their lives, and especially to insist that they could find no hope in an alliance with the faithless nation of Egypt. This so enraged some of the princes that the prophet was put into prison, and then into the foulest dungeon of the prison. How he suffered for truth-telling, and how he escaped, is told in the following story):--
And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, hearkened unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
And Zedekiah the king sent his officer to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Pray now unto the Lord our G.o.d for us."
Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not yet put him into prison. And Pharaoh"s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they went away from Jerusalem.
Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel: "Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh"s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight {310} against this city; and they shall take it, and burn it with fire." Thus saith the Lord: "Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.""
And it came to pa.s.s that when the army of the Chaldeans went away from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh"s army, then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to look after his property.
And when he was in the gate of the city, a captain of the guard was there; and he laid hold of Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Thou art deserting to the Chaldeans."
Then said Jeremiah, "It is false; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans;" but he hearkened not to him: so the officer laid hold of Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days; then Zedekiah the king sent, and brought him: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the Lord?"
And Jeremiah said, "There is. Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
Moreover Jeremiah said unto King Zedekiah, "Wherein have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or {311} against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where now are your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, "The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land"? And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there."
Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard, and they gave him daily a loaf of bread from the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
And the king"s officers heard the words that Jeremiah spake unto all the people, saying, "Thus saith the Lord, "He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live." Thus saith the Lord, "This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.""
Then the princes said unto the king, "Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but their hurt."
And Zedekiah the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand: for the king cannot do anything against you."
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon that was in the court of the guard: and they let down {312} Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, which was in the king"s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon, he went forth out of the king"s house, and spake to the king, saying, "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine: for there is no more bread in the city."
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die."
So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the storehouse, and took thence old clothes and old rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, "Put now these old clothes and rags under thine arms under the cords." And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord: and the king said unto Jeremiah, "I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me."