Jeremiah 34:1-35:19 These are the wordes whiche the Lord spake vnto Ieremie, what tyme as Nabuchodonozor the king of Babylon, and all his hoast, and all the kyngdomes that were vnder his power, and all his people fought against Hierusalem and all the cities therof

Bishops⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ These are the wordes whiche the Lord spake vnto Ieremie, what tyme as Nabuchodonozor the king of Babylon, and all his hoast, and all the kyngdomes that were vnder his power, and all his people fought against Hierusalem and all the cities therof ² Thus saith the Lorde God of Israel, Go and speake to Zedekias the king of Iuda, and tell hym, the Lorde sendeth thee this worde: beholde, I wyll deliuer this citie into the hande of the kyng of Babylon, he shall burne it with fire ³ And thou shalt not escape his handes, but shalbe taken prisoner, and deliuered into his power: Thou shalt looke the kyng of Babylon in the face, and he shall speake to thee mouth to mouth, and then shalt thou go to Babylon ⁴ Yet heare the worde of the Lorde, O Zedekias thou kyng of Iuda, thus saith the Lorde vnto thee, Thou shalt not be slayne with the sworde ⁵ But shalt dye in peace: And as thy forefathers the kynges, thy progenitours were brent, so shalt thou be brent also, and in thy mourning they shal say, O Lorde: for thus haue I determined, saith the Lorde ⁶ Then saide Ieremie the prophete all these wordes vnto Zedekias kyng of Iuda in Hierusalem ⁷ What tyme as the kyng of Babylons hoast besieged Hierusalem, and the remnaunt of the cities [namely] Lachis and Azecah, whiche yet remayned of the strong defensed cities of Iuda ⁸ These are the wordes that the Lorde spake vnto Ieremie the prophete, when Zedekias was agreed with all the people at Hierusalem, that there shoulde be proclaymed a libertie ⁹ So that euery man should let his seruaunt and handmayde go free, Hebrue and Hebruesse, and no Iewe holde his brother as a bondman ¹⁰ Nowe as they had consented, all the princes and all the people whiche had gathered vnto this agreement, that euery man shoulde set at libertie his bondseruaunt and bondwoman, and no longer to holde them bounde: euen so they were obedient, and let them go free ¹¹ But afterwarde they repented, and toke agayne the seruauntes and handmaydens whom they had let go free, and so made them bonde agayne ¹² For whiche cause, the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ieremie from the Lorde hym selfe, saying ¹³ Thus saith the Lorde God of Israel: I made a couenaunt with your fathers when I brought them out of the lande of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying ¹⁴ When seuen yeres are out, euery man shall let his bought seruaunt an Hebrue go free, if he haue serued hym sixe yeres: but your fathers obayed me not, and hearkened not vnto me ¹⁵ As for you ye were nowe turned, and dyd right before me, in that ye proclaymed euery man to let his neighbour go free, and in that ye made a couenaunt before me in the temple that beareth my name ¹⁶ But yet ye turned your selues againe, and blasphemed my name, in this, that euery man hath required his seruaunt and handemayde agayne whom ye had let go quite and free, and compelled them to serue you agayne, and to be bondmen and bondwomen ¹⁷ And therfore thus saith the Lord: Ye haue not obayed me, euery man to proclaime freedome vnto his brother and neighbour: wherefore I wyll call you vnto freedome, saith the Lorde, euen vnto the sworde, to the pestilence, and to hunger, and will make you to be plagued in all kyngdomes of the earth ¹⁸ Yea those men that haue broken my couenaunt, and not kept the wordes of the appointment whiche they made before me, when they hewed the calfe in two, and when they went thorowe the two halfes therof ¹⁹ The princes of Iuda, the princes of Hierusalem, the gelded me, the priestes, and all the people of the lande, whiche went thorowe the two sydes of the calfe ²⁰ Those men will I geue into the power of their enemies, and into the handes of them that folowe vpon their liues: and their dead bodies shalbe meate for the foules of the ayre and beastes of the fielde ²¹ As for Zedekias the king of Iuda and his princes, I wyll deliuer them into the power of their enemies, & of them that desire to slay them, and into the hande of the kyng of Babylons hoast, whiche nowe is departed from you ²² But thorowe my commaundement (saith the Lord) they shall come againe before this citie, they shall fight against it, winne it, and burne it: Moreouer, I wyll lay the cities of Iuda so waste, that no man shall dwell therin ³⁵ ¹ The wordes which the Lorde spake vnto Ieremie, in the raigne of Iehoakim the sonne of Iosias kyng of Iuda, are these ² Go vnto the house of the Rechabites, and call them out, and bryng them to the house of the Lorde, into some commodious place, and geue them wine to drinke ³ Then toke I Iazaniah the sonne of Ieremie, the sonne of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sonnes, and the whole housholde of the Rechabites ⁴ And brought them into the house of the Lord, into the closet of the chyldren of Hanan the sonne of Iegedaliah the man of God, whiche was by the closet of the princes, that is aboue the closet of Maasiah the sonne of Sellum, whiche is the treasurer ⁵ And before the sonnes of the kinred of the Rechabites I set pottes full of wine, and cuppes, and sayde vnto them, Drinke wine ⁶ But they sayde, We wyll drinke no wine: for Ionadab the sonne of Rechab our father commaunded vs, saying: Ye and your sonnes shall neuer drinke wine, buylde houses, sowe no seede, plant no vines ⁷ Yea ye shall haue no vineyardes: but for al your tyme ye shall dwel in tentes, that ye may liue long in the land wherin ye be straungers ⁸ Thus haue we obayed the commaundement of Ionadab the sonne of Rechab our father in al that he hath charged vs, and so we drinke no wine al our life long, we nor our wiues, our sonnes and our daughters ⁹ Neither buylde we any house to dwel therein: we haue also among vs neither vineyardes, nor corne lande to sowe ¹⁰ But we dwell in tentes, we obay, and do according vnto all that Ionadab our father commaunded vs ¹¹ But nowe that Nabuchodonozor the kyng of Babylon came vp into the lande, we sayde, Come, let vs go to Hierusalem, that we may escape the hoast of the Chaldees and the Assyrians: and so we dwell nowe at Hierusalem ¹² Then came the worde of the Lorde vnto Ieremie, saying ¹³ Thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Iuda, and the inhabitours of Hierusalem: wyll ye not be refourmed to obay my wordes, saith the Lorde ¹⁴ The wordes whiche Ionadab the sonne of Reehab commaunded his sonnes, that they shoulde drinke no wine, are fast surely kept, for vnto this day they drinke no wine, but obay their fathers commaundement: but as for me I haue stande vp early, I haue spoken vnto you, and geuen you earnest warning, and yet haue ye not ben obedient vnto me ¹⁵ Yea I haue sent my seruauntes al the prophetes vnto you, I rose vp early, and sent you worde, saying: O turne you nowe euery man from his wicked way, amende your liues, and go not after straunge gods to worship them, that ye may continue in the lande whiche I haue geuen vnto you and your fathers: but ye woulde neither heare me nor folowe me ¹⁶ The chyldren of Ionadab Rechabs sonne, haue stedfastly kept their fathers commaundement that he gaue them: but this people is not obedient vnto me ¹⁷ And therfore thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Beholde, I wyll bryng vpon Iuda, and vpon euery one that dwelleth in Hierusalem, all the trouble that I haue deuised against them: For I haue spoken vnto them, but they woulde not folowe, I haue called vnto them, neuerthelesse they woulde geue me no aunswere ¹⁸ Ieremie also spake vnto the householde of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hoastes the God of Israel: forasmuche as ye haue obayed the commaundement of Ionadab your father, and kept all his preceptes, and done according to all that he hath bidden ¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lorde of hoastes the God Israel: Ionadab the sonne of Rechab shal not faile, but haue one out of his flocke to stande alway before me