Jeremiah 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."
• 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.

Jeremiah 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.
• 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!'"

Jeremiah 30

• 1. 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!
• 8. "For in that day, says the LORD Almighty, I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains. Foreigners will no longer be their masters.
• 9. For my people will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
• 10. "So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel, says the LORD. For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return and will have peace and quiet in their own land, and no one will make them afraid.
• 11. For I am with you and will save you, says the LORD. I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not destroy you. But I must discipline you; I cannot let you go unpunished.
• 12. "This is what the LORD says: Yours is an incurable bruise, a terrible wound.
• 13. There is no one to help you or bind up your injury. You are beyond the help of any medicine.
• 14. All your allies have left you and do not care about you anymore. I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy. For your sins are many, and your guilt is great.
• 15. Why do you protest your punishment--this wound that has no cure? I have had to punish you because your sins are many and your guilt is great.
• 16. "But in that coming day, all who destroy you will be destroyed, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered, and those who attack you will be attacked.
• 17. I will give you back your health and heal your wounds, says the LORD. "Now you are called an outcast--`Jerusalem for whom nobody cares.'
• 18. But the LORD says this: When I bring you home again from your captivity and restore your fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt on her ruins. The palace will be reconstructed as it was before.
• 19. There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and make of them a great and honored nation.
• 20. Their children will prosper as they did long ago. I will establish them as a nation before me, and I will punish anyone who hurts them.
• 21. They will have their own ruler again, and he will not be a foreigner. I will invite him to approach me, says the LORD, for who would dare to come unless invited?
• 22. You will be my people, and I will be your God."
• 23. Look! The LORD's anger bursts out like a storm, a driving wind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.
• 24. The fierce anger of the LORD will not diminish until it has finished all his plans. In the days to come, you will understand all this.

New Living Translation: 268 of 324 days.