The prophet’s answer to the messengers of Sedecias, when Jerusalem was
besieged.
21:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when king Sedecias
sent unto him Phassur, the son of Melchias, and Sophonias, the son of
Maasias the priest, saying:
21:2. Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon
maketh war against us: if so be the Lord will deal with us according to
all his wonderful works, that he may depart from us.
21:3. And Jeremias said to them: Thus shall you say to Sedecias:
21:4. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold I will turn back
the weapons of war that are in your hands, and with which you fight
against the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, that besiege you round
about the walls: and I will gather them together in the midst of this
city.
21:5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand,
and with a strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great
wrath.
21:6. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, men and beasts
shall die of a great pestilence.
21:7. And after this, saith the Lord, I will give Sedecias the king of
Juda, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in this
city from the pestilence, and the sword, and the famine, into the hand
of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and he shall
strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved to
pity, nor spare them, nor shew mercy to them.
21:8. And to this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I
set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
21:9. He that shall abide in this city, shall die by the sword, and by
the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that shall go out and flee
over to the Chaldeans, that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall
be to him as a spoil.
21:10. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for
good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
21:11. And to the house of the king of Juda: Hear ye the word of the
Lord,
21:12. O house of David, thus saith the Lord: Judge ye judgment in the
morning, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence out of the hand
of the oppressor: lest my indignation go forth like a fire, and be
kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your
ways.
21:13. Behold I come to thee that dwellest in a valley upon a rock
above a plain, saith the Lord: and you say: Who shall strike us and who
shall enter into our houses?
To thee that dwellest, etc.... He speaks to Jerusalem, confiding in the
strength of her situation upon rocks, surrounded with a deep valley.
21:14. But I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your doings,
saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof: and it
shall devour all things round about it.