Jeremiah
Jeremiah 21
The Way of Life and the Way of Death
1 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to him. They said: 2 “Ask the Lord for us, because the king of Babylon has taken his stand against us — whether the Lord will act according to all his wonders, so that the king will withdraw from us.” 3 And Jeremiah said to them, “This is what you are to say to King Zedekiah of Judah:”
4 “This is what the Lord says: Look, I am turning the weapons of war in your hands — the ones you are fighting the Chaldeans with, who have shut you in from outside the wall — back into the middle of this city.”
5 “And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, with wrath and anger and great fury.”
6 “And I will strike everyone living in this city, both man and cattle, with a great plague, and they will die.”
7 “And after that, says the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people left in this city from the plague and the famine and the sword, into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives; and they will cut them down with the edge of the sword. I will not spare them, and I will not pity them.”
8 “And to this people you are to say: This is what the Lord says: Look, I have set before your face the way of life and the way of death.”
9 “The one who stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine, but the one who goes out and crosses over to the Chaldeans who have shut you in will live — his life will be his plunder, and he will live.”
10 “For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good. It will be handed over into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down with fire.”
11 “House of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord!”
12 “House of David, this is what the Lord says: Give your rulings in the morning; set things straight. Rescue the man who has been robbed from the hand of the one wronging him, or my anger will be kindled like fire and burn with no one to put it out.”
13 “Look, I am against you who live in the valley of Sor, in the flat country — against those who say, ‘Who will frighten us? Who will get into our home?’”
14 “And I will light a fire in her forest, and it will devour everything around her.”