Daily Text and Bible Reading: Wednesday, August 27 [Press play below]

27.1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah:
27.2 “This is what Jehovah has told me, ‘Make for yourself straps and yoke bars, and put them on your neck.
27.3 Then send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah.
27.4 Give them this command for their masters: “‘“This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says; this is what you should say to your masters,
27.5 ‘It is I who made the earth, mankind, and the beasts that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I have given it to whomever I please.
27.6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him.
27.7 All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, when many nations and great kings will make him their slave.’
27.8 “‘“‘If any nation or kingdom refuses to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and refuses to put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,’ declares Jehovah, ‘until I have finished them off by his hand.’
27.9 “‘“‘Therefore, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your magicians, and your sorcerers, who are saying to you: “You will not serve the king of Babylon.”
27.10 For they are prophesying lies to you, so that you will be taken far away from your land and I will disperse you and you will perish.
27.11 “‘“‘But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will allow to remain on its land,’ declares Jehovah, ‘to cultivate it and dwell in it.’”’”
27.12 Also to King Zedekiah of Judah I spoke in the same way, saying: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and you will keep living.
27.13 Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as Jehovah has said about the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
27.14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ because they are prophesying lies to you.
27.15 “‘For I have not sent them,’ declares Jehovah, ‘but they are prophesying lies in my name, with the result that I will disperse you and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.’”
27.16 And to the priests and to all this people I said: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you: “Look! The utensils of the house of Jehovah will be brought back from Babylon very soon!” for they are prophesying lies to you.
27.17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and you will keep living. Why should this city become a ruin?
27.18 But if they are prophets and if the word of Jehovah is with them, please let them beg Jehovah of armies that the remaining utensils in the house of Jehovah, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not be taken away to Babylon.’
27.19 “For this is what Jehovah of armies says concerning the pillars, the Sea, the carriages, and the remaining utensils that are left in this city,
27.20 which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take when he took into exile Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, together with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
27.21 yes, this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the utensils that are left at the house of Jehovah, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:
27.22 ‘“To Babylon they will be brought, and there they will remain until the day I turn my attention to them,” declares Jehovah. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.”’”
Chapter 28

28.1 In that same year, in the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, the prophet Hananiah the son of Azzur from Gibeon said to me in the house of Jehovah in the presence of the priests and all the people:
28.2 “This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
28.3 Within two years I am bringing back to this place all the utensils of the house of Jehovah that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from this place and brought to Babylon.’”
28.4 “‘And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who have gone to Babylon,’ declares Jehovah, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
28.5 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of Jehovah.
28.6 Jeremiah the prophet said: “Amen! May Jehovah do this! May Jehovah fulfill your words that you prophesied by bringing back from Babylon to this place the utensils of the house of Jehovah and all the exiled people!
28.7 However, hear, please, this message that I am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people.
28.8 Long ago the prophets who were prior to me and prior to you used to prophesy concerning many lands and great kingdoms, about war, calamity, and pestilence.
28.9 If a prophet prophesies about peace and the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that Jehovah truly sent that prophet.”
28.10 At that Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it.
28.11 Hananiah then said in the presence of all the people: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘Just like this I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.
28.12 After Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, this message of Jehovah came to Jeremiah:
28.13 “Go and say to Hananiah, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “You have broken yoke bars of wood, but instead of them you will make yoke bars of iron.”
28.14 For this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will put an iron yoke bar on the neck of all these nations, to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they must serve him. Even the wild beasts of the field I will give him.”’”
28.15 Jeremiah the prophet then said to Hananiah the prophet: “Listen, please, O Hananiah! Jehovah has not sent you, but you have caused this people to trust in a lie.
28.16 Therefore this is what Jehovah says, ‘Look! I am removing you from the face of the ground. This year you will die, for you have urged rebellion against Jehovah.’”
28.17 So Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.
Chapter 29

29.1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders among the exiled people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,
29.2 after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the metalworkers had gone out of Jerusalem.
29.3 He sent the letter by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said:
29.4 “This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiled people, whom I have caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,
29.5 ‘Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit.
29.6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Become many there, and do not decrease.
29.7 And seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray in its behalf to Jehovah, for in its peace you will have peace.
29.8 For this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they are dreaming.
29.9 For ‘they are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,’ declares Jehovah.”’”
29.10 “For this is what Jehovah says, ‘When 70 years at Babylon are fulfilled, I will turn my attention to you, and I will make good my promise by bringing you back to this place.’
29.11 “‘For I well know the thoughts that I am thinking toward you,’ declares Jehovah, ‘thoughts of peace, and not of calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
29.12 And you will call me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.’
29.13 “‘You will seek me and find me, for you will search for me with all your heart.
29.14 And I will let you find me,’ declares Jehovah. ‘And I will gather your captives and collect you together out of all the nations and places to which I have dispersed you,’ declares Jehovah. ‘And I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to go into exile.’
29.15 “But you have said, ‘Jehovah has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.’
29.16 “For this is what Jehovah says to the king sitting on the throne of David and to all the people dwelling in this city, your brothers who have not gone with you into exile,
29.17 ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “Here I am sending against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.”’
29.18 “‘And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, and a curse, and an object of astonishment, something to whistle at, and a reproach among all the nations to which I disperse them,
29.19 because they have not listened to my words that I sent to them with my servants the prophets,’ declares Jehovah, ‘sending them again and again.’ “‘But you have not listened,’ declares Jehovah.
29.20 “Therefore, hear the word of Jehovah, all you exiled people, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
29.21 This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name, ‘Here I am giving them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.
29.22 And what happens to them will become a curse spoken by all the exiles of Judah in Babylon: “May Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!”
29.23 for they have acted disgracefully in Israel, committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking false words in my name that I did not command them. “‘“I am the One who knows, and I am a witness,” declares Jehovah.’”
29.24 “And to Shemaiah of Nehelam you will say,
29.25 ‘This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says: “Because you sent in your name letters to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
29.26 ‘Jehovah has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest to become the overseer of the house of Jehovah, to be in charge of any madman who acts like a prophet and to put him into the stocks and into the pillory;
29.27 why, then, have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is acting as a prophet for you?
29.28 For he even sent to us at Babylon, saying: “It will be a long time! Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit,—”’”’”
29.29 When Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet,
29.30 the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying:
29.31 “Send to all the exiled people, saying, ‘This is what Jehovah says concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: “Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and he tried to make you trust in lies,
29.32 therefore this is what Jehovah says, ‘Here I am turning my attention to Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. Not one man of his will survive among this people, and he will not see the good that I will do for my people,’ declares Jehovah, ‘for he has urged rebellion against Jehovah.’”’”