Study Desk

While he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a soldier was there watching. His name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. He took hold of Jeremiah the man of God, saying, "You are going over to the Babylonians!"

King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to his house. The king asked him in secret, "Is there any word from the Lord?" And Jeremiah said, "There is!" Then he said, "You will be given over to the king of Babylon!"

"The Lord says, ‘He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by hunger and by disease. But he who goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will get away with his life and live.'

In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came and gathered around Jerusalem.

When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his men of war saw them, they ran out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls. They went out toward the Jordan Valley.

The king of Babylon killed Zedekiah's sons in front of his eyes at Riblah. He killed all the leaders of Judah also.

The well where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he had killed because of Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made because of his fear of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael the son the Nethaniah filled it with the dead.

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, who now fills you with fear. Do not be afraid of him,' says the Lord. ‘For I am with you to save you and take you from his hands.

Tell them, ‘The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "See, I will send for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I will set his throne over these stones that I have hidden. He will spread his covering over them.

I will set fire to the houses of worship where the gods of Egypt are worshiped. He will burn them and take them away. So he will dress himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his coat. And he will go away from there in peace.

"As for the special perfume that you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, did not the Lord remember it? Did it not come into His mind?

Because you have burned special perfume and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His Laws or done what He said to do, this trouble has come upon you, as it has this day."

I will give them over to those who want to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his captains. After that, Egypt will be filled with people as it was long ago," says the Lord.

Because you have trusted in your own works and riches, you also will be taken. And Chemosh will go away to a strange land together with his religious leaders and important men.

The one who does the Lord's work without care is cursed. Cursed is the one who keeps his sword from blood.

"Moab has been at rest since he was young. He has been like wine which sits a long time, not being poured from jar to jar. He has not gone away to a strange land. So he keeps his taste, and his smell is not changed.

The days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will send to him those who turn over jars, and they will turn him over. They will empty his jars and break them in pieces.

Moab has been destroyed, and men have gone up to his cities. His best young men have gone down to be killed," says the King, Whose name is the Lord of All.

The trouble of Moab will soon come. His suffering comes in a hurry.

Have sorrow for him, all you who live around him, and all who know his name. Say, ‘How his power has been broken, the greatness of his power!'