Jerusalem’s Doom Is Sealed

21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when ^(A)King Zedekiah sent to him ^(B)Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and ^(C)Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, ^2 (D)“Please inquire of the Lord for us, for ^[a]Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the ^[b]Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and ^(E)I will assemble them in the midst of this city. ⁵ I ^(F)Myself will fight against you with an ^(G)outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. ⁶ I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷ And afterward,” says the Lord, ^(H)“I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. ^(I)He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” ’

⁸ “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, ^(J)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who ^(K)remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and ^[c]defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall ^(L)live, and his life shall be as a prize to him. ¹⁰ For I have ^(M)set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the Lord. ^(N)“It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall ^(O)burn it with fire.” ’

Message to the House of David

¹¹ “And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs

24 The ^(A)Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar ^(B)king of Babylon had carried away captive ^(C)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ² One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so ^(D)bad. ³ Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”

⁴ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I ^[a]acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶ For I will set My eyes on them for good, and ^(E)I will bring them back to this land; ^(F)I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. ⁷ Then I will give them ^(G)a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be ^(H)My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me ^(I)with their whole heart.

⁸ ‘And as the bad ^(J)figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the ^(K)residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and ^(L)those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will deliver them to ^(M)trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, ^(N)to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are ^[b]consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”

Symbol of the Bonds and Yokes

27 In^[a] the beginning of the reign of ^[b]Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, ^(A)king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, ^(B)and put them on your neck, ³ and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters: ^5 (C)‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and ^(D)have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. ^6 (E)And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(F)My servant; and ^(G)the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. ^7 (H)So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, ^(I)until the time of his land comes; ^(J)and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. ⁸ And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. ⁹ Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your ^[c]dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ For they prophesy a ^(K)lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ¹¹ But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”

¹² I also spoke to ^(L)Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live! ^13 (M)Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ Therefore ^(N)do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy ^(O)a lie to you; ¹⁵ for I have ^(P)not sent them,” says the Lord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, ^(Q)the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you. ¹⁷ Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste? ¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’

¹⁹ “For thus says the Lord of hosts ^(R)concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away ^(S)captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the ^(T)vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem: ²² ‘They shall be ^(U)carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I ^(V)visit them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then ^(W)I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”

Praise to God for His Everlasting Mercy

The Test of Knowing Christ

2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, ^(A)we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² And ^(B)He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but ^(C)also for the whole world.

The Test of Knowing Him

³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a ^(D)liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But ^(E)whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God ^[a]is perfected ^(F)in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ^6 (G)He who says he abides in Him ^(H)ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

^7 [b]Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had ^(I)from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard ^[c]from the beginning. ⁸ Again, ^(J)a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, ^(K)because the darkness is passing away, and ^(L)the true light is already shining.

^9 (M)He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. ^10 (N)He who loves his brother abides in the light, and ^(O)there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹ But he who ^(P)hates his brother is in darkness and ^(Q)walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Their Spiritual State

Do Not Love the World

^15 (V)Do not love the world or the things in the world. ^(W)If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, ^(X)the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And ^(Y)the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Deceptions of the Last Hour

^18 (Z)Little children, ^(AA)it is the last hour; and as you have heard that ^(AB)the^[d] Antichrist is coming, ^(AC)even now many antichrists have come, by which we know ^(AD)that it is the last hour. ^19 (AE)They went out from us, but they were not of us; for ^(AF)if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out ^(AG)that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

²⁰ But ^(AH)you have an anointing ^(AI)from the Holy One, and ^(AJ)you^[e] know all things. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

^22 (AK)Who is a liar but he who denies that ^(AL)Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ^23 (AM)Whoever denies the Son does not have the ^(AN)Father either; ^(AO)he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

²⁴ Therefore let that abide in you ^(AP)which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, ^(AQ)you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ^25 (AR)And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to ^[f]deceive you. ²⁷ But the ^(AS)anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and ^(AT)you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing ^(AU)teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you ^[g]will abide in Him.

The Children of God

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in Him, that ^[h]when He appears, we may have ^(AV)confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ^29 (AW)If you know that He is righteous, you know that ^(AX)everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.