UNROLL
Dusk from the flat top of Jerusalem’s wall: far below in the valley, rows of Babylonian tents and the small glow of many cooking fires, and an earth ramp resting against the wall’s foot.

Shepherds and prophets

Jeremiah 21

When trouble comes, do you want God’s help, or God’s way?

14 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
  2. 2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the north
  3. 7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
  4. 11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
  5. 21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letterChapter 21
  6. 30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
  7. 34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
  8. 40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
  9. 46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  10. 52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

Jerusalem Will Fall to Babylon

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Pashhur and Zephaniah
Gray first light over a vast Assyrian camp on a wide plain: rows of low tents with still flaps, spears stacked in bundles, wicker shields leaning on tent poles, cooking fires gone cold, a thin mist between the rows, horses tethered at the far edge, no one in sight.

They said, “Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the LORD will perform for us something like all His past wonders, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

God
Gray dawn on the flat walkway on top of Jerusalem’s wall: Judean spears and round shields lean in a row against the low parapet, their points turned inward toward the city’s roofs, no one holding them.

But Jeremiah answered, “You are to tell Zedekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city.

God

And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.

God

I will strike down the residents of this city, both man and beast. They will die in a terrible plague.’

God

‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’

God

Furthermore, you are to tell this people that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

Jeremiah 21:8

God
First light at a small postern gate in Jerusalem’s wall: the heavy wooden door stands a little open, and a worn path runs out and down the slope toward Babylonian tents far off on the plain.

Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.

God

For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it with fire.’

Question

Quick question

Zedekiah’s envoys came with a request, not a confession. Look back at what they asked in 21:2.

What did Zedekiah’s envoys hope the LORD would do?

A Message to the House of David

God

Moreover, tell the house of the king of Judah to hear the word of the LORD.

God
Early morning in a stone gate passage of Jerusalem: the worn stone benches where judges sit stand empty beside a clay water jar, while a poor woman with a small boy waits just outside in the first sun.

O house of David, this is what the LORD says:

‘Administer justice every morning,

and rescue the victim of robbery

from the hand of his oppressor,

or My wrath will go forth like fire

and burn with no one to extinguish it

because of their evil deeds.

God
God

Behold, I am against you who dwell above the valley,

atop the rocky plateau—

declares the LORD—

you who say, “Who can come against us?

Who can enter our dwellings?”

God
Late evening inside a long dim hall of tall cedar pillars in rows: the floor and pillars stand intact, thin smoke drifts low between them, and a red glow of embers shows at the far end.

I will punish you as your deeds deserve,

declares the LORD.

I will kindle a fire in your forest

that will consume everything around you.’”

0:09

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

Lord, I have wanted Your wonders without Your ways. Teach me to choose the way of life You set before me, and to do justice in the small mornings of my life. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Jeremiah 21

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A verse to carry with you

Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

Jeremiah 21:8

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