Jeremiah and the Rechabites

¹When Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me,

²“Go to the members of the Rechabite clan and talk to them. Then bring them into one of the rooms in the Temple and offer them some wine.”

³So I took the entire Rechabite clan—Jaazaniah (the son of another Jeremiah, who was Habazziniah's son) and all his brothers and sons—

⁴and brought them to the Temple. I took them into the room of the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah. This room was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, an important official in the Temple, and near the rooms of the other officials.

⁵Then I placed cups and bowls full of wine before the Rechabites, and I said to them, “Have some wine.”

⁶But they answered, “We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab told us that neither we nor our descendants were ever to drink any wine.

⁷He also told us not to build houses or farm the land and not to plant vineyards or buy them. He commanded us always to live in tents, so that we might remain in this land where we live like strangers.

⁸We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We ourselves never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters.

^9-10We do not build houses for homes—we live in tents—and we own no vineyards, fields, or grain. We have fully obeyed everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.

¹¹But when King Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, we decided to come to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian and Syrian armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem.”

^12-13Then the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, told me to go and say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “I, the Lord, ask you why you refuse to listen to me and to obey my instructions.

¹⁴Jonadab's descendants have obeyed his command not to drink wine, and to this very day none of them drink any. But I have kept on speaking to you, and you have not obeyed me.

¹⁵I have continued to send you all my servants the prophets, and they have told you to give up your evil ways and to do what is right. They warned you not to worship and serve other gods, so that you could go on living in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or pay any attention to me.

¹⁶Jonadab's descendants have obeyed the command that their ancestor gave them, but you people have not obeyed me.

¹⁷So now, I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will bring on you people of Judah and of Jerusalem all the destruction that I promised. I will do this because you would not listen when I spoke to you, and you would not answer when I called you.”

¹⁸Then I told the Rechabite clan that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, “You have obeyed the command that your ancestor Jonadab gave you; you have followed all his instructions, and you have done everything he commanded you.

¹⁹So I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, promise that Jonadab son of Rechab will always have a male descendant to serve me.”

Baruch Reads the Scroll in the Temple

¹In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me,

²“Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present.

³Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”

⁴So I called Baruch son of Neriah and dictated to him everything that the Lord had said to me. And Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll.

⁵Then I gave Baruch the following instructions: “I am no longer allowed to go into the Temple.

⁶But I want you to go there the next time the people are fasting. You are to read the scroll aloud, so that they will hear everything that the Lord has said to me and that I have dictated to you. Do this where everyone can hear you, including the people of Judah who have come in from their towns.

⁷Perhaps they will pray to the Lord and turn from their evil ways, because the Lord has threatened this people with his terrible anger and fury.”

⁸So Baruch read the Lord's words in the Temple exactly as I had told him to do.

⁹In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the people fasted to gain the Lord's favor. The fast was kept by all who lived in Jerusalem and by all who came there from the towns of Judah.

¹⁰Then, while all the people were listening, Baruch read from the scroll everything that I had said. He did this in the Temple, from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the court secretary. His room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple.

The Scroll Is Read to the Officials

¹¹Micaiah, the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll what the Lord had said.

¹²Then he went to the royal palace, to the room of the court secretary, where all the officials were in session. Elishama, the court secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there.

¹³Micaiah told them everything that he had heard Baruch read to the people.

¹⁴Then the officials sent Jehudi (the son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi) to tell Baruch to bring the scroll that he had read to the people. Baruch brought them the scroll.

¹⁵“Sit down,” they said, “and read the scroll to us.” So Baruch did.

¹⁶After he had read it, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, “We must report this to the king.”

¹⁷Then they asked him, “Tell us, now, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”

¹⁸Baruch answered, “Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me, and I wrote it down in ink on this scroll.”

¹⁹Then they told him, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are.”

The King Burns the Scroll

²⁰The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the court secretary, and went to the king's court, where they reported everything to the king.

²¹Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took it from the room of Elishama and read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him.

²²It was winter and the king was sitting in his winter palace in front of the fire.

²³As soon as Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king cut them off with a small knife and threw them into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was burned up.

²⁴But neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all this was afraid or showed any sign of sorrow.

²⁵Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he paid no attention to them.

²⁶Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the Lord had hidden us.

Jeremiah Writes Another Scroll

²⁷After King Jehoiakim had burned the scroll that I had dictated to Baruch, the Lord told me

²⁸to take another scroll and write on it everything that had been on the first one.

²⁹The Lord told me to say to the king, “You have burned the scroll, and you have asked Jeremiah why he wrote that the king of Babylonia would come and destroy this land and kill its people and its animals.

³⁰So now, I, the Lord, say to you, King Jehoiakim, that no descendant of yours will ever rule over David's kingdom. Your corpse will be thrown out where it will be exposed to the sun during the day and to the frost at night.

³¹I will punish you, your descendants, and your officials because of the sins all of you commit. Neither you nor the people of Jerusalem and of Judah have paid any attention to my warnings, and so I will bring on all of you the disaster that I have threatened.”

³²Then I took another scroll and gave it to my secretary Baruch, and he wrote down everything that I dictated. He wrote everything that had been on the first scroll and similar messages that I dictated to him.

The Speech of Holofernes

¹When the noise of the crowd around the council had subsided, Holofernes spoke to Achior in front of the entire group, those from the Mediterranean coast, the Moabites, and the Ammonite mercenaries.

²Achior, who do you think you are, acting like a prophet? Who are you to tell us not to go to war against the Israelites because some god will defend them? Nebuchadnezzar is our god, and that's all that matters. He will send his army and wipe these Israelites off the face of the earth. Their god can't help them.

³But we serve Nebuchadnezzar, and we will beat them as easily as if their whole army were one man. They will not be able to hold their ground against our cavalry;

⁴it will overwhelm them. The mountains will be soaked with their blood, and the valleys will be filled with their corpses. After our attack, they will be completely wiped out; not a trace of them will be left. This is the command of Nebuchadnezzar, the lord of the whole earth, and he doesn't speak idle words.

⁵Achior, you are nothing but an Ammonite mercenary, and you talk like a traitor. You will not see me again until I come and punish this race of runaway slaves.

⁶And when I do, my soldiers will put you to death. You will be just another name on the casualty list.

⁷Now my men will take you into the mountains and leave you in one of the Israelite towns,

⁸and you will die with the people there.

⁹Why look so worried, Achior? Don't you think the town can stand against me? I will carry out all my threats; you can be sure of that!

Achior Is Brought to Bethulia

¹⁰Then Holofernes ordered his men, who were waiting in his tent, to seize Achior, take him to Bethulia, and hand him over to the Israelites.

¹¹So the men seized Achior and took him out of the camp into the valley. From there they led him into the mountains, as far as the spring which was below Bethulia.

¹²When the men of that town saw them approaching, they picked up their weapons and ran to the top of the hill. Every man who used a sling as a weapon rained stones down on Holofernes' soldiers, and this stopped them from coming any farther up the mountain.

¹³The Assyrians were forced to take cover along the mountainside, where they tied Achior up and left him lying at the foot of the mountain. Then they returned to Holofernes.

¹⁴Later, when the Israelites came down from Bethulia, they untied Achior, brought him into the town, and took him before the town officials,

¹⁵who at that time were Uzziah son of Micah, of the tribe of Simeon, Chabris son of Gothoniel, and Charmis son of Melchiel.

¹⁶The officials called together the town elders, and all the women and the young men also ran to the assembly. Achior was brought before the people, and Uzziah began questioning him.

¹⁷Achior told them what had been said at Holofernes' war council, what he himself had said to the Assyrian officers, and how Holofernes had boasted about what he would do to the Israelites.

¹⁸When the people heard this, they fell on their knees and worshiped God. They prayed:

¹⁹O Lord God of heaven, look how our boastful enemies have humiliated your people! Have pity on us and help us.

²⁰Then they reassured Achior and praised him for what he had done.

²¹After the assembly was over, Uzziah took Achior home with him, and gave a banquet there for the elders. All that night they prayed to the God of Israel for help.

The Siege of Bethulia

^1-2The next day Holofernes gathered his whole army together, as well as his allied forces. It was an immense army, consisting of 170,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, not counting the support troops who took care of the equipment. He ordered them to march on Bethulia, seize the mountain passes, and attack the Israelites. So they moved out

³and set up camp beside the spring in the valley near Bethulia. The camp was so wide that it spread out toward the town of Dothan as far as Balbaim, and so long that it stretched from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces Jezreel Valley.

⁴When the Israelites saw the size of the army, they were terrified and said to one another, Those soldiers are going to eat up everything in sight. There's not enough food in the mountains, valleys, and hills put together to feed an army like that.

⁵But in spite of their fear, all the Israelites took up their weapons, lighted signal fires on the towers, and remained on guard duty all night.

⁶The next day Holofernes led out his entire cavalry so that the Israelites in Bethulia could see them.

⁷He inspected the approaches to the town and the springs that supplied its water. He seized the springs and stationed guards there, before returning to camp.

⁸All the leaders of the Edomite and Moabite forces, along with the commanders of the troops from the Mediterranean coast, came to Holofernes and said,

⁹Sir, if you listen to our advice, your troops will not suffer heavy losses.

¹⁰These Israelites do not rely on their weapons for defense but rather on the height of the mountains where they live, since the mountains are not easy to climb.

¹¹So then, General Holofernes, if you do not make a direct attack on them, your whole army will suffer no casualties.

¹²Stay in your camp and keep your soldiers in their quarters. Just command your men to blockade the springs at the foot of the mountains,

¹³because that's where the people of Bethulia come to draw their water. Then, when they are dying of thirst, they will surrender their town to you. Meanwhile, we and our men will go up to the tops of the surrounding mountains, where we will set up camp and keep anyone from leaving the town.

¹⁴Everyone will starve to death—men, women, and children. Even before we attack, the streets will be littered with their corpses.

¹⁵In this way you can make them pay for their rebellion and for refusing to surrender peacefully to you.

¹⁶Holofernes and his entire staff were pleased with this suggestion, so he gave orders to put the plan into action.

¹⁷The Moabites and 5,000 Assyrians moved their camp into the valley to control the source of the town's water.

¹⁸The Edomites and the Ammonites went up into the mountains and set up their camp opposite the town of Dothan. They sent some of their men to the southeast in the direction of Acraba, near Chusi, which is beside the Mochmur River. The rest of the Assyrian army set up camp in the valley. Their camp was spread out over the whole countryside, because the number of tents and the amount of equipment needed for such a large army were immense.

¹⁹Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord their God for help. They had lost their courage, for with the enemy all around them there was no way to escape.

²⁰The entire Assyrian army—infantry, chariots, and cavalry—blockaded Bethulia for thirty-four days until the town ran out of water.

²¹All the reservoirs and cisterns went dry, so that the drinking water had to be rationed, and not a day passed when there was enough water to go around.

²²Children were becoming weak; everywhere throughout the town women and young people were collapsing. No one had any strength left.

²³All the people of the town—men, women, and children alike—gathered around Uzziah and the town officials and shouted in protest,

²⁴God will punish you for what you have done to us! You are to blame for what is happening, because you did not make peace with the Assyrians.

²⁵There is no one to help us now! God has put us in their power. We are exhausted and dying of thirst.

²⁶Call the Assyrians now and surrender to them, and let Holofernes and his army take the town and loot it.

²⁷We are better off as prisoners of war. They will make us slaves, but at least we will be alive, and we won't have to watch our wives and children dying before our eyes.

²⁸Heaven and earth are witnesses against you, and so is our God, the Lord of our ancestors, who is punishing us for their sins as well as ours. We can only hope and pray that he will not let these terrible things happen to us today.

²⁹Everyone there began to weep loudly and to pray to the Lord their God.

³⁰Then Uzziah said to them, Don't give up, my friends! Let's wait five more days to see if the Lord our God will be merciful to us. Surely he will not abandon us completely.

³¹But if no help comes after five days, then I will do as you say.

³²So Uzziah dismissed the people. All the men returned to their guard posts on the walls and towers, while the women and children went back to their homes. The morale of the entire town was very low.

¹Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than have a banquet in a house full of trouble.

²A shrewd servant will gain authority over a master's worthless son and receive a part of the inheritance.

³Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person's heart is tested by the Lord.

⁴Evil people listen to evil ideas, and liars listen to lies.