Jeremiah's Conflict with Pashhur the Priest

¹When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was the chief officer of the Temple, heard me proclaim these things,

²he had me beaten and placed in chains near the upper Benjamin Gate in the Temple.

³The next morning, after Pashhur had released me from the chains, I said to him, “The Lord did not name you Pashhur. The name he has given you is ‘Terror Everywhere.’

⁴The Lord himself has said, ‘I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to your friends, and you will see them all killed by the swords of their enemies. I am going to put all the people of Judah under the power of the king of Babylonia; he will take some away as prisoners to his country and put others to death.

⁵I will also let their enemies plunder all the wealth of this city and seize all its possessions and property, even the treasures of the kings of Judah, and carry everything off to Babylonia.

⁶As for you, Pashhur, you and all your family will also be captured and taken off to Babylonia. There you will die and be buried, along with all your friends to whom you have told so many lies.’”

Jeremiah Complains to the Lord

⁷Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I am, and you have overpowered me. Everyone makes fun of me; they laugh at me all day long.

⁸Whenever I speak, I have to cry out and shout, “Violence! Destruction!” Lord, I am ridiculed and scorned all the time because I proclaim your message.

⁹But when I say, “I will forget the Lord and no longer speak in his name,” then your message is like a fire burning deep within me. I try my best to hold it in, but can no longer keep it back.

¹⁰I hear everybody whispering, “Terror is everywhere! So let's report him to the authorities!” Even my close friends wait for my downfall. “Perhaps he can be tricked,” they say; “then we can catch him and get revenge.”

¹¹But you, Lord, are on my side, strong and mighty, and those who persecute me will fail. They will be disgraced forever, because they cannot succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

¹²But, Almighty Lord, you test people justly; you know what is in their hearts and minds. So let me see you take revenge on my enemies, for I have placed my cause in your hands.

¹³Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! He rescues the oppressed from the power of evil people.

¹⁴Curse the day I was born! Forget the day my mother gave me birth!

¹⁵Curse the one who made my father glad by bringing him the news, “It's a boy! You have a son!”

¹⁶May he be like those cities that the Lord destroyed without mercy. May he hear cries of pain in the morning and the battle alarm at noon,

¹⁷for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's womb would have been my grave.

¹⁸Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?

Jerusalem's Defeat Is Predicted

¹King Zedekiah of Judah sent to me Pashhur son of Malchiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah with this request:

²“Please speak to the Lord for us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army are besieging the city. Maybe the Lord will perform one of his miracles for us and force Nebuchadnezzar to retreat.”

³Then the Lord spoke to me, and I told those who had been sent to me

⁴to tell Zedekiah that the Lord, the God of Israel, had said, “Zedekiah, I am going to defeat your army that is fighting against the king of Babylonia and his army. I will pile up your soldiers' weapons in the center of the city.

⁵I will fight against you with all my might, my anger, my wrath, and my fury.

⁶I will kill everyone living in this city; people and animals alike will die of a terrible disease.

⁷But as for you, your officials, and the people who survive the war, the famine, and the disease—I will let all of you be captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and by your enemies, who want to kill you. Nebuchadnezzar will put you to death. He will not spare any of you or show mercy or pity to any of you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

⁸Then the Lord told me to say to the people, “Listen! I, the Lord, am giving you a choice between the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.

⁹Anyone who stays in the city will be killed in war or by starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians, who are now attacking the city, will not be killed; they will at least escape with their life.

¹⁰I have made up my mind not to spare this city, but to destroy it. It will be given over to the king of Babylonia, and he will burn it to the ground. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Judgment on the Royal House of Judah

^11-12The Lord told me to give this message to the royal house of Judah, the descendants of David: “Listen to what I, the Lord, am saying. See that justice is done every day. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. If you don't, the evil you are doing will make my anger burn like a fire that cannot be put out.

¹³You, Jerusalem, are sitting high above the valleys, like a rock rising above the plain. But I will fight against you. You say that no one can attack you or break through your defenses.

¹⁴But I will punish you for what you have done. I will set your palace on fire, and the fire will burn down everything around it. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Young Men at Nebuchadnezzar's Court

¹In the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia attacked Jerusalem and surrounded the city.

²The Lord let him capture King Jehoiakim and seize some of the Temple treasures. He took some prisoners back with him to the temple of his gods in Babylon, and put the captured treasures in the temple storerooms.

³The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief official, to select from among the Israelite exiles some young men of the royal family and of the noble families.

⁴They had to be handsome, intelligent, well-trained, quick to learn, and free from physical defects, so that they would be qualified to serve in the royal court. Ashpenaz was to teach them to read and write the Babylonian language.

⁵The king also gave orders that every day they were to be given the same food and wine as the members of the royal court. After three years of this training they were to appear before the king.

⁶Among those chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all of whom were from the tribe of Judah.

⁷The chief official gave them new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

⁸Daniel made up his mind not to let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him,

⁹and God made Ashpenaz sympathetic to Daniel.

¹⁰Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, “The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you don't look as fit as the other young men, he may kill me.”

¹¹So Daniel went to the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends.

¹²“Test us for ten days,” he said. “Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

¹³Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look.”

¹⁴He agreed to let them try it for ten days.

¹⁵When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food.

¹⁶So from then on the guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provided.

¹⁷God gave the four young men knowledge and skill in literature and philosophy. In addition, he gave Daniel skill in interpreting visions and dreams.

¹⁸At the end of the three years set by the king, Ashpenaz took all the young men to Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁹The king talked with them all, and Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah impressed him more than any of the others. So they became members of the king's court.

²⁰No matter what question the king asked or what problem he raised, these four knew ten times more than any fortuneteller or magician in his whole kingdom.

²¹Daniel remained at the royal court until Cyrus, the emperor of Persia, conquered Babylonia.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

¹In the second year that Nebuchadnezzar was king, he had a dream. It worried him so much that he couldn't sleep,

²so he sent for his fortunetellers, magicians, sorcerers, and wizards to come and explain the dream to him. When they came and stood before the king,

³he said to them, “I'm worried about a dream I've had. I want to know what it means.”

⁴They answered the king in Aramaic, “May Your Majesty live forever! Tell us your dream, and we will explain it to you.”

⁵The king said to them, “I have made up my mind that you must tell me the dream and then tell me what it means. If you can't, I'll have you torn limb from limb and make your houses a pile of ruins.

⁶But if you can tell me both the dream and its meaning, I will reward you with gifts and great honor. Now then, tell me what the dream was and what it means.”

⁷They answered the king again, “If Your Majesty will only tell us what the dream was, we will explain it.”

⁸At that, the king exclaimed, “Just as I thought! You are trying to gain time, because you see that I have made up my mind

⁹to give all of you the same punishment if you don't tell me the dream. You have agreed among yourselves to go on telling me lies because you hope that in time things will change. Tell me what the dream was, and then I will know that you can also tell me what it means.”

¹⁰The advisers replied, “There is no one on the face of the earth who can tell Your Majesty what you want to know. No king, not even the greatest and most powerful, has ever made such a demand of his fortunetellers, magicians, and wizards.

¹¹What Your Majesty is asking for is so difficult that no one can do it for you except the gods, and they do not live among human beings.”

¹²At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the execution of all the royal advisers in Babylon.

¹³So the order was issued for all of them to be killed, including Daniel and his friends.

God Shows Daniel What the Dream Means

¹⁴Then Daniel went to Arioch, commander of the king's bodyguard, who had been ordered to carry out the execution. Choosing his words carefully,

¹⁵he asked Arioch why the king had issued such a harsh order. So Arioch told Daniel what had happened.

¹⁶Daniel went at once and obtained royal permission for more time, so that he could tell the king what the dream meant.

¹⁷Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened.

¹⁸He told them to pray to the God of heaven for mercy and to ask him to explain the mystery to them so that they would not be killed along with the other advisers in Babylon.

¹⁹Then that same night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he praised the God of heaven:

²⁰“God is wise and powerful! Praise him forever and ever.

²¹He controls the times and the seasons; he makes and unmakes kings; it is he who gives wisdom and understanding.

²²He reveals things that are deep and secret; he knows what is hidden in darkness, and he himself is surrounded by light.

²³I praise you and honor you, God of my ancestors. You have given me wisdom and strength; you have answered my prayer and shown us what to tell the king.”

Daniel Tells the King the Dream and Explains It

²⁴So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had commanded to execute the royal advisers. He said to him, “Don't put them to death. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means.”

²⁵At once Arioch took Daniel into King Nebuchadnezzar's presence and told the king, “I have found one of the Jewish exiles who can tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream.”

²⁶The king said to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar), “Can you tell me what I dreamed and what it means?”

²⁷Daniel replied, “Your Majesty, there is no wizard, magician, fortuneteller, or astrologer who can tell you that.

²⁸But there is a God in heaven, who reveals mysteries. He has informed Your Majesty what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you the dream, the vision you had while you were asleep.

²⁹“While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about the future; and God, who reveals mysteries, showed you what is going to happen.

³⁰Now, this mystery was revealed to me, not because I am wiser than anyone else, but so that Your Majesty may learn the meaning of your dream and understand the thoughts that have come to you.

³¹“Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at.

³²Its head was made of the finest gold; its chest and arms were made of silver; its waist and hips of bronze,

³³its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

³⁴While you were looking at it, a great stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it, struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, and shattered them.

³⁵At once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold crumbled and became like the dust on a threshing place in summer. The wind carried it all away, leaving not a trace. But the stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole earth.

³⁶“This was the dream. Now I will tell Your Majesty what it means.

³⁷Your Majesty, you are the greatest of all kings. The God of heaven has made you emperor and given you power, might, and honor.

³⁸He has made you ruler of all the inhabited earth and ruler over all the animals and birds. You are the head of gold.

³⁹After you there will be another empire, not as great as yours, and after that a third, an empire of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.

⁴⁰And then there will be a fourth empire, as strong as iron, which shatters and breaks everything. And just as iron shatters everything, it will shatter and crush all the earlier empires.

⁴¹You also saw that the feet and the toes were partly clay and partly iron. This means that it will be a divided empire. It will have something of the strength of iron, because there was iron mixed with the clay.

⁴²The toes—partly iron and partly clay—mean that part of the empire will be strong and part of it weak.

⁴³You also saw that the iron was mixed with the clay. This means that the rulers of that empire will try to unite their families by intermarriage, but they will not be able to, any more than iron can mix with clay.

⁴⁴At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever.

⁴⁵You saw how a stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it and how it struck the statue made of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God is telling Your Majesty what will happen in the future. I have told you exactly what you dreamed, and have given you its true meaning.”

The King Rewards Daniel

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground and gave orders for sacrifices and offerings to be made to Daniel.

⁴⁷The king said, “Your God is the greatest of all gods, the Lord over kings, and the one who reveals mysteries. I know this because you have been able to explain this mystery.”

⁴⁸Then he gave Daniel a high position, presented him with many splendid gifts, put him in charge of the province of Babylon, and made him the head of all the royal advisers.

⁴⁹At Daniel's request the king put Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in charge of the affairs of the province of Babylon; Daniel, however, remained at the royal court.

²⁵The Lord will destroy the homes of arrogant men, but he will protect a widow's property.

²⁶The Lord hates evil thoughts, but he is pleased with friendly words.

²⁷Try to make a profit dishonestly, and you get your family in trouble. Don't take bribes and you will live longer.

²⁸Good people think before they answer. Evil people have a quick reply, but it causes trouble.