Jeremiah's Message to the Royal House of Judah

^1-2The Lord told me to go to the palace of the king of Judah, the descendant of David, and there tell the king, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem to listen to what the Lord had said:

³“I, the Lord, command you to do what is just and right. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. Do not mistreat or oppress aliens, orphans, or widows; and do not kill innocent people in this holy place.

⁴If you really do as I have commanded, then David's descendants will continue to be kings. And they, together with their officials and their people, will continue to pass through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses.

⁵But if you do not obey my commands, then I swear to you that this palace will fall into ruins. I, the Lord, have spoken.

⁶“To me, Judah's royal palace is as beautiful as the land of Gilead and as the Lebanon Mountains; but I will make it a desolate place where no one lives.

⁷I am sending men to destroy it. They will all bring their axes, cut down its beautiful cedar pillars, and throw them into the fire.

⁸“Afterward many foreigners will pass by and ask one another why I, the Lord, have done such a thing to this great city.

⁹Then they will answer that it is because you have abandoned your covenant with me, your God, and have worshiped and served other gods.”

Jeremiah's Message concerning Joahaz

¹⁰People of Judah, do not weep for King Josiah; do not mourn his death. But weep bitterly for Joahaz, his son; they are taking him away, never to return, never again to see the land where he was born.

¹¹The Lord says concerning Josiah's son Joahaz, who succeeded his father as king of Judah, “He has gone away from here, never to return.

¹²He will die in the country where they have taken him, and he will never again see this land.”

Jeremiah's Message concerning Jehoiakim

¹³Doomed is the one who builds his house by injustice and enlarges it by dishonesty; who makes his people work for nothing and does not pay their wages.

¹⁴Doomed is the one who says, “I will build myself a mansion with spacious rooms upstairs.” So he puts windows in his house, panels it with cedar, and paints it red.

¹⁵Does it make you a better king if you build houses of cedar, finer than those of others? Your father enjoyed a full life. He was always just and fair, and he prospered in everything he did.

¹⁶He gave the poor a fair trial, and all went well with him. That is what it means to know the Lord.

¹⁷But you can only see your selfish interests; you kill the innocent and violently oppress your people. The Lord has spoken.

¹⁸So then, the Lord says about Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, “No one will mourn his death or say, ‘How terrible, my friend, how terrible!’ No one will weep for him or cry, ‘My lord! My king!’

¹⁹With the funeral honors of a donkey, he will be dragged away and thrown outside Jerusalem's gates.”

Jeremiah's Message about the Fate of Jerusalem

²⁰People of Jerusalem, go to Lebanon and shout, go to the land of Bashan and cry; call out from the mountains of Moab, because all your allies have been defeated.

²¹The Lord spoke to you when you were prosperous, but you refused to listen. That is what you've done all your life; you never would obey the Lord.

²²Your leaders will be blown away by the wind, your allies taken as prisoners of war, your city disgraced and put to shame because of all the evil you have done.

²³You rest secure among the cedars brought from Lebanon; but how pitiful you'll be when pains strike you, pains like those of a woman in labor.

God's Judgment on Jehoiachin

²⁴The Lord said to King Jehoiachin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, “As surely as I am the living God, even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off

²⁵and give you to people you are afraid of, people who want to kill you. I will give you to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his soldiers.

²⁶I am going to force you and your mother into exile. You will go to a country where neither of you was born, and both of you will die there.

²⁷You will long to see this country again, but you will never return.”

²⁸I said, “Has King Jehoiachin become like a broken jar that is thrown away and that no one wants? Is that why he and his children have been taken into exile to a land they know nothing about?”

²⁹O land, land, land! Listen to what the Lord has said:

³⁰“This man is condemned to lose his children, to be a man who will never succeed. He will have no descendants who will rule in Judah as David's successors. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Nebuchadnezzar Commands Everyone to Worship a Gold Statue

¹King Nebuchadnezzar had a gold statue made, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and he had it set up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

²Then the king gave orders for all his officials to come together—the princes, governors, lieutenant governors, commissioners, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other officials of the provinces. They were to attend the dedication of the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

³When all these officials gathered for the dedication and stood in front of the statue,

⁴a herald announced in a loud voice, “People of all nations, races, and languages!

⁵You will hear the sound of the trumpets, followed by the playing of oboes, lyres, zithers, and harps; and then all the other instruments will join in. As soon as the music starts, you are to bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

⁶Anyone who does not bow down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

⁷And so, as soon as they heard the sound of the instruments, the people of all the nations, races, and languages bowed down and worshiped the gold statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Daniel's Three Friends Are Accused of Disobedience

⁸It was then that some Babylonians took the opportunity to denounce the Jews.

⁹They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May Your Majesty live forever!

¹⁰Your Majesty has issued an order that as soon as the music starts, everyone is to bow down and worship the gold statue,

¹¹and that anyone who does not bow down and worship it is to be thrown into a blazing furnace.

¹²There are some Jews whom you put in charge of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who are disobeying Your Majesty's orders. They do not worship your god or bow down to the statue you set up.”

¹³At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the three men to be brought before him.

¹⁴He said to them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you refuse to worship my god and to bow down to the gold statue I have set up?

¹⁵Now then, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, oboes, lyres, zithers, harps, and all the other instruments, bow down and worship the statue. If you do not, you will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Do you think there is any god who can save you?”

¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, “Your Majesty, we will not try to defend ourselves.

¹⁷If the God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing furnace and from your power, then he will.

¹⁸But even if he doesn't, Your Majesty may be sure that we will not worship your god, and we will not bow down to the gold statue that you have set up.”

Daniel's Three Friends Are Sentenced to Death

¹⁹Then Nebuchadnezzar lost his temper, and his face turned red with anger at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual.

²⁰And he commanded the strongest men in his army to tie the three men up and throw them into the blazing furnace.

²¹So they tied them up, fully dressed—shirts, robes, caps, and all—and threw them into the blazing furnace.

²²Now because the king had given strict orders for the furnace to be made extremely hot, the flames burned up the guards who took the men to the furnace.

²³Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still tied up, fell into the heart of the blazing fire.

²⁴Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement. He asked his officials, “Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the blazing furnace?” They answered, “Yes, we did, Your Majesty.”

²⁵“Then why do I see four men walking around in the fire?” he asked. “They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt—and the fourth one looks like an angel.”

The Three Men Are Released and Promoted

²⁶So Nebuchadnezzar went up to the door of the blazing furnace and called out, “Shadrach! Meshach! Abednego! Servants of the Supreme God! Come out!” And they came out at once.

²⁷All the princes, governors, lieutenant governors, and other officials of the king gathered to look at the three men, who had not been harmed by the fire. Their hair was not singed, their clothes were not burned, and there was no smell of smoke on them.

²⁸The king said, “Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued these men who serve and trust him. They disobeyed my orders and risked their lives rather than bow down and worship any god except their own.

²⁹“And now I command that if anyone of any nation, race, or language speaks disrespectfully of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he is to be torn limb from limb, and his house is to be made a pile of ruins. There is no other god who can rescue like this.”

³⁰And the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to higher positions in the province of Babylon.

²⁹When good people pray, the Lord listens, but he ignores those who are evil.

³⁰Smiling faces make you happy, and good news makes you feel better.

³¹If you pay attention when you are corrected, you are wise.

³²If you refuse to learn, you are hurting yourself. If you accept correction, you will become wiser.

³³Reverence for the Lord is an education in itself. You must be humble before you can ever receive honors.