Jer 11:19-21, 15:10, 18:18-23, 20:7-10, Jer 37-38 | ESV | STEP | But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter . I did not know it was against me they devised schemes , saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit , let us cut him off from the land of the living , that his name be remembered no more .

19 But I was ^alike a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know ^bit was against me
they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
^clet us cut him off from ^dthe land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
who ^etests ^fthe heart and the mind,
^glet me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^hAnathoth, ⁱwho seek your life, and say, ^j“Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”—

Jeremiah 15:10

Jeremiah’s Complaint

10 ^kWoe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! ^lI have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

Jeremiah 18:18-23

18 Then they said, ^m“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ⁿfor the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^oCome, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

19 Hear me, O Lord,
and ^plisten to the voice of my adversaries.
20 ^qShould good be repaid with evil?
Yet ^rthey have dug a pit for my life.
^sRemember how I stood before you
to speak good for them,
to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore ^tdeliver up their children to famine;
give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless ^uand widowed.
May their men meet death by pestilence,
their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22 ^vMay a cry be heard from their houses,
when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For ^wthey have dug a pit to take me
^xand laid snares for my feet.
23 Yet ^yyou, O Lord, know
all their plotting to kill me.
^zForgive not their iniquity,
nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.

Jeremiah 20:7-10

7 O Lord, ^aayou have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
^abyou are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
^acI have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, ^ad“Violence and destruction!”
For ^aethe word of the Lord has become for me
^afa reproach and ^agderision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
^ahthere is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and ^aiI am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 ^ajFor I hear many whispering.
^akTerror is on every side!
“Denounce him! ^alLet us denounce him!”
say all my ^amclose friends,
^anwatching for ^aomy fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then ^apwe can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”

Jeremiah 37

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

1 ^aqZedekiah the son of Josiah, ^arwhom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^asConiah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 ^atBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

3 King Zedekiah sent ^auJehucal the son of ^avShelemiah, and ^awZephaniah the priest, the son of ^axMaaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please ^aypray for us to the Lord our God.” 4 ^azNow Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, ^bafor he had not yet been put in prison. 5 ^bbThe army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when ^bcthe Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, ^bdthey withdrew from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who ^besent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, ^bfPharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to ^bgreturn to Egypt, to its own land. 8 And ^bhthe Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^biThey shall capture it and burn it with fire. 9 Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. 10 ^bjFor even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^bkburn this city with fire.’”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

11 Now when ^blthe Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to ^bmthe land of Benjamin ^bnto receive his portion there ^boamong the people. 13 When he was at ^bpthe Benjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of ^bqShelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ^br“You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” 14 And Jeremiah said, “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to ^bsthe officials. 15 And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him ^btand imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.

16 ^buWhen Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, 17 King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him ^bvsecretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, ^bw“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, ^bxthat you have put me in prison? 19 ^byWhere are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? 20 Now hear, please, O my lord the king: ^bzlet my humble plea come before you and ^cado not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there.” 21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to ^cbthe court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, ^ccuntil all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in ^cdthe court of the guard.

Jeremiah 38

Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern

1 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^ceJucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^cfPashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: 2 “Thus says the Lord: ^cgHe who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^chbut he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. 3 Thus says the Lord: ^ciThis city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” 4 Then the officials said to the king, ^cj“Let this man be put to death, ^ckfor he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking ^clthe welfare of this people, but their harm.” 5 King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, ^cmfor the king can do nothing against you.” 6 So they took Jeremiah ^cnand cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in ^cothe court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down ^cpby ropes. ^cqAnd there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and ^crJeremiah sank in the mud.

Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern

7 When ^csEbed-melech ^ctthe Ethiopian, ^cua eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting ^cvin the Benjamin Gate— 8 ^cwEbed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, 9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of ^cxhunger, ^cyfor there is no bread left in the city.” 10 Then the king commanded ^czEbed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” 11 So ^daEbed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern ^dbby ropes. 12 Then ^dcEbed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and ^ddthe ropes.” Jeremiah did so. 13 Then they drew Jeremiah up with ^deropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the ^dfcourt of the guard.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again

14 King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” 15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” 16 Then King Zedekiah swore ^dgsecretly to Jeremiah, ^dh“As the Lord lives, ^diwho made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of ^djthese men who seek your life.”

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^dkIf you will surrender to ^dlthe officials of the king of Babylon, ^dmthen your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. 18 But if you do not surrender to ^dnthe officials of the king of Babylon, ^dothen this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^dpand they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” 19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^dqwho have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” 20 Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, ^drand it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. 21 But if you refuse to ^dssurrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me: 22 Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,

^dt“‘Your trusted friends have deceived you
and prevailed against you;
now that your feet are sunk in the mud,
they turn away from you.’
23 All your wives and ^duyour sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. 25 If ^dvthe officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ 26 then you shall say to them, ^dw‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” 27 Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. 28 And Jeremiah remained ^dxin the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.