The Lord's words in Red
My words in Blue
Jeremiah's words Green
Jeremiah for Today and Tomorrow
Chapters 24 to 29
The following chapters are some of the events in the life of Jeremiah as he warned the people of his day about the coming punishment from the Lord. You can take the lessons to learn as you meditate on the events that look place. We shall see from the start of chapter 30, there are indeed lessons and events with Israel and Judah that will yet take place at the end of this age, and into the age to come. I will present it from the New-Living Translation: CHAPTER 24 Good and Bad Figs 1 After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the princes of Judah and all the skilled craftsmen, the LORD gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem. 2 One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with figs that were spoiled and could not be eaten. 3 Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I replied, "Figs, some very good and some very bad." 4 Then the LORD gave me this message: 5 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. 6 I have sent them into captivity for their own good. I will see that they are well treated, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them hearts that will recognize me as the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly. 8 "But the rotten figs," the LORD said, "represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like spoiled figs, too rotten to eat. 9 I will make them an object of horror and evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I send them. 10 I will send war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors." Seventy Years of Captivity CHAPTER 25 1 This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign (605 B.C.) over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign. 2 Jeremiah the prophet said to the people in Judah and Jerusalem, 3 "For the past twenty-three years - from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now - the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened. 4 Again and again, the LORD has sent you his prophets, but you have not listened or even tried to hear. 5 Each time the message was this: 'Turn from the evil road you are travelling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever. 6 Do not make me angry by worshipping the idols you have made. Then I will not harm you.' 7 "But you would not listen to me," says the LORD. "You made me furious by worshipping your idols, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer." 8 And now the LORD Almighty says: "Because you have not listened to me, 9 I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the other nations near you. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever." Obviously "forever" here has a context of until the time appointed. 10 "I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your businesses will fail, and all your homes will stand silent and dark. 11 This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years." Again in context "Israel" is here the people of Judah, who are Israelites, as Californians are Americans. 12 "Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins, says the LORD. I will make the country of the Babylonians an everlasting wasteland. 13 I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book - all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations. 14 Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people." The Cup of the LORD'S Anger 15 Then the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me, "Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16 When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them." The book of Revelation tells all that is to come on the nations of this earth in the last 42 months of this age. 17 So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it - every nation the LORD sent me to. 18 I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing. 19 I went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh, his officials, his princes, and his people. They, too, drank from that terrible cup, 20 along with all the foreigners living in that land. So did all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod. 21 Then I went to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, 22 and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea. 23 I went to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places. 24 I went to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert, 25 and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media. 26 And I went to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other - all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the LORD's anger. Probably Jeremiah went in "spirit" or "vision" to all the nations. A way of telling us that God will deal with the nations of the earth in His time plan and as we know from the book of Revelation. 27 Then the LORD said to me, "Now tell them, 'The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit, and you will fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.' 28 And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, 'The LORD Almighty says: You must drink from it. You cannot escape! 29 I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city where my own name is honored. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!'" It is indeed true that the Lord will start to shake the nations of the world by first (after the fall of the king of the South) allowing Judah, Jerusalem and the nations of modern Israel (the majority of the Western world) to fall to destruction, then it will be the end time Babylon of Europe and finally the kings of the East (Russia, China, India, Japan etc.) 30 "Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, 'The LORD will roar loudly against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout against everyone on the earth, like the harvesters do as they crush juice from the grapes. 31 His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with his sword. The LORD has spoken!'" 32 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!" 33 In that day those the LORD has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered like dung on the ground. No such destruction like this has come on the earth, but when the events of the book of Revelation take place, the FULL depth of these prophecies will take place. The destruction of Judah in captivity to Babylon was a TYPE of what will come on the whole planet earth in the last days. 34 Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like fragile pottery. 35 You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape. 36 Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds, to the leaders of the flock shouting in despair, for the LORD is spoiling their pastures. 37 Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the LORD's fierce anger. 38 He has left his den like a lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the LORD's fierce anger. Again, what was to befall Judah and her spiritual and secular leaders was a type of what is yet to come on Judah, Israel, and all nations, at the end of this age. Jeremiah's Escape from Death CHAPTER 26 1 This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah. 2 The LORD said, "Stand out in front of the Temple of the LORD, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will be able to withhold the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins. 4 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you will not listen to me and obey the law I have given you, 5 if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them 6 then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.'" 7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the LORD's Temple. 8 But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the LORD had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted. 9 "What right do you have to prophesy in the LORD'S name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed?" And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple. 10 When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court. 11 The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. "This man should die!" they said. "You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city." 12 Then Jeremiah spoke in his own defense. "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this Temple and this city," he said. "The LORD gave me every word that I have spoken. 13 But if you stop your sinning and begin to obey the LORD your God, he will cancel this disaster that he has announced against you. 14 As for me, I am helpless and in your power - do with me as you think best. 15 But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard." 16 Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, "This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God." 17 Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to the people there. 18 They said, "Think back to the days when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to rubble! A great forest will grow on the hilltop, where the Temple now stands.' 19 But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshipped the LORD. They begged him to have mercy on them. Then the LORD held back the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. If we kill Jeremiah, who knows what will happen to us?" 20 (At this time, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim was also prophesying for the LORD. And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did. 21 When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plot and escaped to Egypt. 22 Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah. 23 They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.) 24 Ahikam son of Shaphan also stood with Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed. Jeremiah Wears an Ox Yoke CHAPTER 27 1 This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah. 2 The LORD said to me, "Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs. 3 Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. 4 Give them this message for their masters: 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 5 By my great power I have made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose. 6 Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control. 7 All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until his time is up. But then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon. 8 So you must submit to Babylon's king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon's yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the LORD. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.'" 9 "Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, 'The king of Babylon will not conquer you.' 10 They are all liars, and I will drive you from your land and send you far away to die. 11 But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the LORD, have spoken!" 12 Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. "If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon and his people," I said. 13 "Why do you insist on dying - you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon's king? 14 Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, 'The king of Babylon will not conquer you.' They are liars. 15 This is what the LORD says: I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die - you and all these prophets, too." 16 Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold utensils taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie! 17 Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed? 18 If they really are the LORD's prophets, let them pray to the LORD Almighty about the gold utensils that are still left in the LORD'S Temple and in the king's palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem. Let them pray that these remaining articles will not be carried away with you to Babylon! 19 For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the bronze pillars in front of the Temple, the bronze Sea in the Temple courtyard, the bronze water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles. 20 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other important people of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the precious things kept in the Temple and in the palace of Judah's king: 22 They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them, says the LORD. But someday I will bring them back to Jerusalem again." Jeremiah Condemns Hananiah CHAPTER 28 1 One day in late summer of that same year - the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah - Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said, 2 "The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks. 3 Within two years, I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon. 4 And I will bring back jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the LORD, have spoken!" 5 Jeremiah responded to Hananiah as they stood in front of all the priests and people at the Temple. 6 He said, "Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the LORD does everything you say. I hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple and all our loved ones. 7 But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people. 8 The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of war, famine, and disease. 9 So a prophet who predicts peace must carry the burden of proof. Only when his predictions come true can it be known that he is really from the LORD." So it is today, the burden of proof as to the true prophet of the Lord is indeed that what he says WILL COME TO PASS! 10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it. 11 And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, "The LORD has promised that within two years he will break the yoke of oppression from all the nations now subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon." At that, Jeremiah left the Temple area. 12 Soon afterward the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah: 13 "Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the LORD says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but you have replaced it with a yoke of iron. 14 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.'" 15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, but the people believe your lies. 16 Therefore, the LORD says you must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the LORD." 17 Two months later, Hananiah died. So it has been with many would be prophets, some said about 1975 would be the end of this age. Many of them came in the 1980s predicting the end of the age and the return of Christ by 1988 (40 years after the Jews had formed a nation in the Holy Land). Books were published, I saw and read a lot of them. Some prophets gave the early or middle 1990s for the start of the Great Tribulation. Some prophets claimed the year 2,000 would be the end of the age. I told my readers that ALL these prophets were WRONG! And they were indeed. They were FALSE prophets. Some prophets have come in this decade and said the end would be in 2008. But I've told you Jesus will NOT come in this decade. Truly MANY false prophets have come, many will yet come, just as they have always come in every century, just as they came in the time of Jeremiah. A Letter to the Exiles CHAPTER 29 1 Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. 2 This was after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah, and all the craftsmen had been deported from Jerusalem. 3 He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah's ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah's letter said: 4 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5 "Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food you produce. 6 Marry, and have children. Then find spouses for them, and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the LORD for that city where you are held captive, for if Babylon has peace, so will you." 8 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, "Do not let the prophets and mediums who are there in Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams 9 because they prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them," says the LORD. 10 "The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. 14 I will be found by you," says the LORD. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land." 15 You may claim that the LORD has raised up prophets for you in Babylon. 16 But this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David's throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem - your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon. 17 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like rotting figs - too bad to eat. 18 Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery 19 For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through my prophets. And you who are in exile have not listened either," says the LORD. 20 Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, all you captives there in Babylon. 21 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about your prophets - Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah - who are telling you lies in my name: "I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for a public execution. 22 Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that whenever the Judean exiles want to curse someone they will say, 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!' 23 For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have lied in my name. I am a witness to this," says the LORD. A Message for Shemaiah 24 The LORD sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon: 25 "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You said to Zephaniah, 26 'The LORD has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the LORD. You are responsible to put anyone who claims to be a prophet in the stocks and neck irons. 27 So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you? 28 Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said we should build homes and plan to stay for many years. He said we should plant fruit trees, because we will be here to eat the fruit for many years to come.'" 29 But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah's letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him. 30 Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah: 31 "Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, 'This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies, 32 I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has taught you to rebel against me. I the LORD, have spoken!'" And so it was as the Lord had spoken through the mouth of Jeremiah His true prophet. Promises of Deliverance: A prophecy for the end time and the age to come: CHAPTER 30 30 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah. 3 For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it and live here again. I, the LORD, have spoken!" 4 This is the message the LORD gave concerning Israel and Judah: 5 "This is what the LORD says: I have heard the people crying; there is only fear and trembling. 6 Now let me ask you a question: Do men give birth to babies? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like women about to give birth? 7 ***In all history there has never been such a time of terror.*** It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel. Yet in the end, they will be saved! Ah, it is the prophetic time of trouble that HAS NEVER BEEN THE LIKE IN ALL THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. It is the time Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24; the time of the greatest TRIBULATION ever to come on earth since the creation of Adam and Eve. It will be the greatest tribulation on Isarel and Judah that they have ever faced in their long history. So say the prophetic books of the Lord. But those books also say they will be delivered from destruction and captivity, by the LORD Himself when He returns in glory and power to reign over this earth for 1,000 years [Revelation 20]!!!
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