Jeremiah

27* Early in the reign of Sidkijah the son of Josiah as king of Judah this word came to Jeremiah: 2 Says Jehovah to me, Make oxbows and ties for yourself and put them on your neck, 3 and send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the Bene-ʽAmmon and to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon by their messengers that come to Jerusalem to King Sidkijah of Judah, 4 and give them a message to their sovereigns, “Says Israel’s God Jehovah of Armies, You are to say to your sovereigns 5 ‘I made the earth, man and beast that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever I see fit to; 6* and now I myself have given all these countries into the hands of my servant King Nebucadnessar of Babylon, and I have given him the wild beasts too to be his subjects. 7 —— 8 And the nation and kingdom that does not become subject to him, King Nebucadnessar of Babylon, and that which does not put its neck under the king of Babylon’s yoke, that nation I will punish with warfare and starvation and pestilence, quoth Jehovah, till I get them into his hands. 9 And as for you, do not, listen to your prophets and soothsayers and dreamers and fortunetellers that are telling you “You are not to become subject to the king of Babylon”; 10 for they are prophesying falsely to you so as to take you far away from your soil and have me set you adrift, and you be lost. 11 And the nation that does put its neck under the king of Babylon’s yoke and become subject to him I will leave on its soil, quoth Jehovah, and it shall work it and live on it.’”

12* And to King Sidkijah of Judah I said these same things: “Put your neck under the king of Babylon’s yoke and become subject to him, and live; 13 why should you die, you and your people, by warfare and starvation and pestilence, as Jehovah has foretold to the nation that does not become subject to the king of Babylon? 14 And do not listen to the words of the prophets that are saying to you ‘You are not to be subject to the king of Babylon,’ because they are prophesying falsely to you; 15 for I have not sent them, quoth Jehovah, and they are prophesying in my name falsely, so as to have me set you adrift and you be lost, you and the prophets that are prophesying to you.”

16* And I spoke to the priests and all this people, saying “Says Jehovah, Do not listen to the words of your prophets that are prophesying to you ‘Here are the vessels of Jehovah’s house going to be brought back from Babylon,’ because they are prophesying falsely to you; I did not send them. 17 —— 18 If they are prophets and have Jehovah’s word with them, let them intercede with me; 19 for Jehovah says of the pillars and the sea and the bases and the rest of the vessels 20 that the king of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah out of Judah, 21 —— 22 They shall come to Babylon, quoth Jehovah.”