Part 517 (1/2)

34:15. And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a covenant in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated.

34:16. And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids.

34:17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.

34:18. And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two and pa.s.sed between the parts thereof:

34:19. The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land that pa.s.sed between the parts of the calf:

34:20. And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

34:21. And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which are gone from you.

34:22. Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation, without an inhabitant.

Jeremias Chapter 35

The obedience of the Rechabites condemns the disobedience of the Jews.

The reward of the Rechabites.

35:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying:

35:2. Go to the house of the Rechabites: and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers of the treasures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink.

Rechabites... These were of the race of Jethro, father in law to Moses.

35:3. And I took Jezonias the son of Jeremias the son of Habsanias, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.

35:4. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, to the treasure house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of G.o.d, which was by the treasure house of the princes, above the treasure of Maasias the son of Sellum, who was keeper of the entry.

35:5. And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine.

35:6. And they answered: We will not drink wine: because Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your children, for ever:

35:7. Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow reed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are strangers.

35:8. Therefore we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all things that he commanded us: so as to drink no wine all our days: neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters:

35:9. Nor to build houses to dwell in, nor to have vineyard, or field, or seed:

35:10. But we have dwelt in tents, and have been obedient according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

35:11. But when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up to our land, we said: Come, let us go into Jerusalem from the face of the army of the Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of Syria: and we have remained in Jerusalem.

35:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

35:13. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the G.o.d of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not receive instruction, to obey my words, saith the Lord?

35:14. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, by which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, have prevailed: and they have drunk none to this day, because they have obeyed the commandment of their father: but I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you have not obeyed me.