Daily Text and Bible Reading: Saturday, August 30 [Press play below]

34.1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all her cities:
34.2 “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says, ‘Go and speak to King Zedekiah of Judah and tell him: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘Here I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
34.3 And you will not escape out of his hand, for you will without fail be caught and handed over to him. And you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak to you face-to-face, and you will go to Babylon.’
34.4 However, hear the word of Jehovah, O King Zedekiah of Judah, ‘This is what Jehovah says concerning you: “You will not die by the sword.
34.5 In peace you will die, and they will make a burning ceremony for you as they did for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, and they will mourn you, ‘Alas, O master!’ for ‘I have spoken the word,’ declares Jehovah.”’”’”
34.6 Jeremiah the prophet then spoke all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem,
34.7 when the armies of the king of Babylon were fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for they were the only fortified cities that remained of the cities of Judah.
34.8 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them,
34.9 that everyone should free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one would keep a fellow Jew as his slave.
34.10 So all the princes and all the people obeyed. They had entered into the covenant that everyone should free his male and female slaves and not keep them as slaves any longer. They obeyed and let them go.
34.11 However, they later brought back the male and female slaves whom they had freed, and they again forced them back into slavery.
34.12 So the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:
34.13 “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says, ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:
34.14 “At the end of seven years, each of you should free his Hebrew brother who was sold to you and who has served you six years; you must set him free.” But your forefathers did not listen or incline their ears to me.
34.15 And recently you yourselves turned around and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty to your fellow men, and you made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name.
34.16 But then you turned around and profaned my name by bringing back your male and female slaves whom you had freed according to their desire, and you forced them back into slavery.’
34.17 “Therefore this is what Jehovah says: ‘You have not obeyed me in proclaiming liberty, each one to his brother and to his fellow man. So I will now proclaim liberty to you,’ declares Jehovah, ‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, and I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
34.18 And this is what will happen to the men who violated my covenant by not carrying out the words of the covenant that they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between the halves,
34.19 namely, the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the halves of the calf:
34.20 I will hand them over to their enemies and to those seeking to take their lives, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.
34.21 And I will give King Zedekiah of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking to take their lives and into the hand of the armies of the king of Babylon, who are withdrawing from against you.’
34.22 “‘Here I will give the order,’ declares Jehovah, ‘and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it and capture it and burn it with fire; and the cities of Judah I will make a wasteland, without an inhabitant.’”
Chapter 35

35.1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying:
35.2 “Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the dining rooms; then offer them wine to drink.”
35.3 So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah the son of Habazziniah, his brothers, all his sons, and the entire house of the Rechabites
35.4 into the house of Jehovah. I brought them to the dining room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of the true God, which was next to the dining room of the princes that was above the dining room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum the doorkeeper.
35.5 Then I put cups and goblets full of wine before the men of the house of the Rechabites and said to them: “Drink wine.”
35.6 But they said: “We will not drink wine, because Jehonadab the son of Rechab, our forefather, gave us this command, ‘Neither you nor your sons must ever drink wine.
35.7 And you must not build a house, sow seed, or plant or obtain a vineyard. Instead, you must always dwell in tents, so that you may live for a long time in the land where you are residing as foreigners.’
35.8 So we continue to obey the voice of Jehonadab the son of our forefather Rechab in all that he commanded us, by never drinking any wine—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters.
35.9 And we do not build houses to dwell in, nor do we have vineyards or fields or seed.
35.10 We keep living in tents and obeying all that Jehonadab our forefather commanded us.
35.11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem to escape the army of the Chaldeans and of the Syrians,’ and now we are living in Jerusalem.”
35.12 And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying:
35.13 “This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “Were you not continually urged to obey my words?” declares Jehovah.
35.14 “Jehonadab the son of Rechab commanded his descendants not to drink wine, and they have carried out his words by not drinking it to this day, thus obeying the order of their forefather. However, I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not obeyed me.
35.15 And I kept sending all my servants the prophets to you, sending them again and again, saying, ‘Turn back, please, each of you from your evil ways, and do what is right! Do not walk after other gods and serve them. Then you will keep dwelling in the land that I gave to you and your forefathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.
35.16 The descendants of Jehonadab the son of Rechab have carried out the order that their forefather gave them, but these people have not listened to me.”’”
35.17 “Therefore this is what Jehovah, the God of armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Here I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the calamity that I have warned them about, for I have spoken to them, but they would not listen, and I kept calling to them, but they would not answer.’”
35.18 And Jeremiah said to the household of the Rechabites: “This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have obeyed the order of your forefather Jehonadab and you continue to observe all his orders, doing exactly what he ordered you,
35.19 this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says: “There will never fail to be a descendant of Jehonadab the son of Rechab to serve in my presence.”’”
Chapter 36

36.1 Now in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:
36.2 “Take a scroll and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the first day I spoke to you in the days of Josiah to this day.
36.3 Perhaps when those of the house of Judah hear of all the calamity that I intend to bring on them, they may turn back from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their error and their sin.”
36.4 Jeremiah then called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Jeremiah dictated all the words that Jehovah had spoken to him, and Baruch wrote them in the scroll.
36.5 Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch: “I am confined and unable to enter the house of Jehovah.
36.6 So you are the one who must go in and read aloud the words of Jehovah from the scroll that you wrote at my dictation. Read them in the hearing of the people at the house of Jehovah on the day of a fast; thus you will read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their cities.
36.7 Perhaps their request for favor will reach Jehovah, and they will turn back, each one from his evil ways, for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah has declared against this people.”
36.8 So Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him; he read aloud from the scroll the words of Jehovah at the house of Jehovah.
36.9 Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the cities of Judah proclaimed a fast before Jehovah.
36.10 Baruch then read aloud from the scroll the words of Jeremiah at the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the copyist, in the upper courtyard, at the entrance of the new gate of the house of Jehovah, in the hearing of all the people.
36.11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah the son of Shaphan heard all the words of Jehovah from the scroll,
36.12 he went down to the house of the king, to the secretary’s chamber. All the princes were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other princes.
36.13 Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.
36.14 Then all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah the son of Shelemiah the son of Cushi to Baruch, saying: “Come and bring with you the scroll from which you read in the hearing of the people.” Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went in to them.
36.15 They said to him: “Sit down, please, and read it aloud to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
36.16 Now as soon as they heard all the words, they looked at one another in dread, and they said to Baruch: “We must certainly tell the king all these words.”
36.17 And they asked Baruch: “Tell us, please, how you wrote all these words. Was it at his dictation?”
36.18 Baruch replied to them: “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them down with ink in this scroll.”
36.19 The princes said to Baruch: “Go and hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”
36.20 Then they went in to the king, to the courtyard, and deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they told the king everything they had heard.
36.21 So the king sent Jehudi out to get the scroll, and he brought it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi began to read it in the hearing of the king and of all the princes standing by the king.
36.22 The king was sitting in the winter house, in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him.
36.23 After Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king would cut off that portion with the secretary’s knife and pitch it into the fire that was burning in the brazier, until the entire scroll ended up in the fire that was in the brazier.
36.24 And they felt no dread; neither the king nor all his servants who heard all these words ripped their garments apart.
36.25 Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them.
36.26 Further, the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of the king, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but Jehovah kept them concealed.
36.27 And the word of Jehovah again came to Jeremiah after the king had burned up the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, saying:
36.28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the same words that were on the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah burned up.
36.29 And you should say against King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “You have burned up this scroll and said, ‘Why have you written on it: “The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and empty it of man and beast”?’
36.30 Therefore this is what Jehovah says against King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be left exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.
36.31 I will call him and his descendants and his servants to account for their error, and I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on the men of Judah all the calamity that I have spoken against them, but they did not listen.’”’”
36.32 Jeremiah then took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the secretary, and at Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire. And many more words like those were added.