Jeremiah · Brenton's English Septuagint
Jeremiah 38 Brenton's English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
1 At that time, saith the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.
1 Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,
2 Thus saith the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go ye and destroy not Israel.
2 “Yahweh says, ‘He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live. He will escape with his life and he will live.’
3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee in compassion.
3 Yahweh says, ‘This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.’”
4 For I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet take thy timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.
4 Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death, because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them; for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.”
5 For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.
5 Zedekiah the king said, “Behold, he is in your hand; for the king can’t do anything to oppose you.”
6 For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, [saying], Arise ye, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.
6 Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
7 For thus saith the Lord to Jacob; Rejoice ye, and exult over the head of the nations: make proclamation, and praise ye: say, The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.
7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate),
8 Behold, I bring them from the north, and will gather them from the end of the earth to the feast of the passover: and [the people] shall beget a great multitude, and they shall return hither.
8 Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying,
9 They went forth with weeping, and I will bring them back with consolation, causing them to lodge by the channels of waters in a straight way, and they shall not err in it: for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Hear the words of the Lord, ye nations, and proclaim [them] to the islands afar off; say, He that scattered Israel will also gather him, and keep him as one that feeds his flock.
10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.”
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
11 So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 And they shall come, and shall rejoice in the mount of Sion, and shall come to the good things of the Lord, [even] to a land of corn, and wine, and fruits, and cattle, and sheep: and their soul shall be as a fruitful tree; and they shall hunger no more.
12 Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords.” Jeremiah did so.
13 Then shall the virgins rejoice in the assembly of youth, and the old men shall rejoice; and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will make them merry.
13 So they lifted Jeremiah up with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
14 I will expand and cheer with wine the soul of the priests the sons of Levi, and my people shall be satisfied with my good things: thus saith the Lord.
14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in Yahweh’s house. Then the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
15 A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing; Rachel would not cease weeping for her children, because they are not.
15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? If I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”
16 Thus saith the Lord; Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thine eyes from thy tears: for there is a reward for thy works; and they shall return from the land of [thine] enemies.
16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
17 [There shall be] an abiding [home] for thy children.
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you will go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burned with fire. You will live, along with your house.
18 I have heard the sound of Ephraim lamenting, [and saying], Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened; I as a calf was not [willingly] taught: turn thou me, and I shall turn; for thou [art] the Lord my God.
18 But if you will not go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you won’t escape out of their hand.’”
19 For after my captivity I repented; and after I knew, I groaned for the day of shame, and shewed thee that I bore reproach from my youth.
19 Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.”
20 Ephraim is a beloved son, a pleasing child to me: for because my words are in him, I will surely remember him: therefore I made haste [to help] him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
20 But Jeremiah said, “They won’t deliver you. Obey, I beg you, Yahweh’s voice, in that which I speak to you; so it will be well with you, and your soul will live.
21 Prepare thyself, O Sion; execute vengeance; look to thy ways: return, O virgin of Israel, by the way by which thou wentest, return mourning to thy cities.
21 But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me:
22 How long, O disgraced daughter, wilt thou turn away? for the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.
22 ‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you.”
23 For thus saith the Lord; They shall yet speak this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn his captivity; blessed be the Lord on his righteous holy mountain!
23 They will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. You will cause this city to be burned with fire.’”
24 And there shall be dwellers in the cities of Juda, and in all his land, together with the husbandman, and [the shepherd] shall go forth with the flock.
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know of these words, and you won’t die.
25 For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don’t hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also tell us what the king said to you;’
26 Therefore I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me.
26 then you shall tell them, ‘I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.’”
27 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of man, and the seed of beast.
27 Then all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived.
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I watched over them, to pull down, and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
28 So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.
29 In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.
29 Not in this translation
30 But every one shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him that eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.
30 Not in this translation
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
31 Not in this translation
32 not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord.
32 Not in this translation
33 For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
33 Not in this translation
34 And they shall not at all teach every one his [fellow] citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.
34 Not in this translation
35 Though the sky should be raised to a [greater] height, saith the Lord, and though the ground of the earth should be sunk [lower] beneath, yet I will not cast off the family of Israel, saith the Lord, for all that they have done.
35 Not in this translation
36 Thus saith the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the moon and the stars for a light by night, and [makes] a roaring in the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; the Lord Almighty is his name:
36 Not in this translation
37 if these ordinances cease from before me, saith the Lord, then shall the family of Israel cease to be a nation before me for ever.
37 Not in this translation
38 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.
38 Not in this translation
39 And the measurement of it shall proceed in front of them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it shall be compassed with a circular wall of choice stones.
39 Not in this translation
40 And all the Asaremoth even to Nachal Kedron, as far as the corner of the horse-gate eastward, shall be holiness to the Lord; and it shall not fail any more, and shall not be destroyed for ever.
40 Not in this translation
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Chronicles 9:12; Nehemiah 11:12; Ezra 2:3; Jeremiah 21:1–10; Acts 5:28
- 2 Jeremiah 39:18; Jeremiah 45:5; Jeremiah 34:17; Ezekiel 14:21; Jeremiah 42:17
- 3 Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 32:3–5
- 4 Jeremiah 26:11; Acts 16:20; Jeremiah 29:7; Nehemiah 6:9; Amos 7:10
- 5 John 19:12–16; 2 Samuel 3:39; 1 Samuel 15:24; 2 Samuel 19:22; Proverbs 29:25
- 6 Jeremiah 37:21; Psalm 69:2; Psalm 69:14–15; Jeremiah 38:22; Jeremiah 37:16
- 7 Amos 5:10; Deuteronomy 21:19; Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 29:2; Matthew 20:16
- 9 Jeremiah 37:21–38:6; Job 31:34; Esther 7:4–6; Jeremiah 52:6; Proverbs 31:8–9
- 10 Psalm 75:10; Esther 8:7; Proverbs 21:1; Esther 5:2
- 12 Ephesians 4:32; Romans 12:10; Romans 12:15
- 13 Jeremiah 37:21; Acts 23:35; Acts 28:16; Acts 28:30; Jeremiah 39:14–18
- 14 Jeremiah 21:1–2; 1 Kings 22:16; Jeremiah 37:17; Jeremiah 42:2–5; 1 Samuel 3:17–18
- 15 Luke 22:67–68
- 16 Jeremiah 37:17; Jeremiah 38:1–6; John 3:2; Isaiah 57:16; Zechariah 12:1
- 17 Jeremiah 27:12; Jeremiah 27:17; Jeremiah 38:2; Jeremiah 21:8–10; Jeremiah 39:3
- 18 Jeremiah 24:8–10; Jeremiah 32:3–5; 2 Kings 25:4–10; Jeremiah 38:3; Jeremiah 38:23
- 19 John 12:42; Isaiah 51:12–13; Jeremiah 38:22; John 19:12–13; Isaiah 57:11
- 20 Jeremiah 26:13; Isaiah 55:3; Daniel 4:27; 2 Chronicles 20:20; Acts 26:29
- 21 Ezekiel 2:4–5; Ezekiel 2:7; Exodus 10:3–4; Jeremiah 5:3; Acts 20:26–27
- 22 Lamentations 5:11; Lamentations 1:2; Jeremiah 43:6; Lamentations 1:13; Psalm 69:14
- 23 Jeremiah 41:10; Jeremiah 38:18; Jeremiah 39:6; 2 Kings 25:7; Jeremiah 27:12–13
- 25 Jeremiah 38:27; Jeremiah 38:4–6
- 26 Jeremiah 37:20; Jeremiah 37:15; Jeremiah 42:2; Esther 4:8
- 27 2 Kings 6:19; 1 Samuel 16:2–5; Acts 23:6; 1 Samuel 10:15–16
- 28 Jeremiah 39:14; Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 15:20–21; Psalm 23:4; Jeremiah 38:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
when you slack the hands of the people? It is thou who disbelievest that compellest me to say these things; it is thou that hast drawn me out into these words.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 13 (1889)