The Father Answers Zedekiah's Plea
King Zedekiah sends messengers hoping for a miracle against Babylon. The answer is the reverse of one — our Father will fight against his own city. Two roads are set before the people: die inside the walls, or surrender and live. The royal house must judge justly.
21 1The word that came to Jeremiah from our Father when King Zedekiah sent him Pashhur son of Malchiah and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah: 2"Please ask our Father for us, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacks us. Perhaps our Father will deal with us by all his wonders, so that the enemy will withdraw from us."
3Then Jeremiah said to them, "Tell Zedekiah this:
4This is what the Father of Israel says: "I am about to turn back the weapons in your hands, used against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians besieging you outside the wall, and gather them into this city's heart. 5I myself will fight you with an outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger, rage, and great wrath. 6I will strike down this city's residents, people and animals alike; they will die in a great plague. 7Afterward, declares our Father, I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword, and famine over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, their enemies who seek their lives. He will strike them with the sword—no pity, no sparing, no compassion."
8Tell these people what our Father says: I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9Whoever stays in this city dies by sword, famine, and plague; whoever surrenders to the besieging Babylonians lives, keeping his life as spoil. 10I set my face against this city for harm, not good, declares our Father. It will be handed to Babylon's king, who will burn it with fire.
The Father's Word to David's House
11Say to the royal house of Judah: Listen to the word of our Father.
12House of David, our Father says: Judge justly each morning, free the robbed from their oppressor's hand, or my anger flares like fire, burning with no one to put it out, because of your evil deeds. 13Look, I am against you, you who dwell above the valley, you rock of the plain, declares our Father—you who say, "Who can come down against us? Who can enter our dwellings?" a a v13 Jerusalem sat on a high ridge above surrounding valleys, which gave its people a false confidence that the city was unassailable. 14I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares our Father. I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will devour everything around her."
