Part 318 (1/2)

Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, ”If I declare it unto thee wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.”

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So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, ”As the Lord liveth, that made us, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.”

Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, ”Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of hosts, the G.o.d of Israel: 'If thou wilt go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.'”

And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, ”I am afraid of the Jews that deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the Chaldeans deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.”

But Jeremiah said, ”They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, in that which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me: Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.”

Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, ”Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.”

So Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

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V

CONFUSION IN THE LAND

(Jerusalem is taken and Jeremiah is kindly treated by the victors. The people who remain in the land, now a royal colony, take courage, but the a.s.sa.s.sination of the governor throws everything into confusion.)

And it came to pa.s.s when Jerusalem was taken, in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it; in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the walls of the city. Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate.

And it came to pa.s.s that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him.

Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the n.o.bles of Judah.

Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

ANATHOTH, THE HOME OF JEREMIAH.

From a photograph taken by Prof. D. G. Lyon, and used by his kind permission.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remainder of the people that stayed in the city, the deserters also, that came to him, and the remainder of the people that stayed.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ”Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.”