Jeremiah The Destruction of Jerusalem

Lesson #10 for December 5, 2015

Scriptures: Ezekiel 8; Romans 1:22-25; Jeremiah 37:1-10; 38:1-6; 29:1-14; Daniel 9:2[i].

1.    In this lesson we will discuss the final events leading to the total destruction of Jerusalem. Daniel and his friends and many others had been taken into Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C. at the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s first conquest of Judah. Ezekiel and most the population of Judah were exiled to Babylon in 598-597 B.C. The final destruction of Jerusalem occurred after a siege by Nebuchadnezzar lasting about two and one-half years, and the wall of Jerusalem was breached in 586 B.C. and the city completely destroyed.

2.    So, during the times we are talking about in this lesson, Daniel was in Babylon, Ezekiel was in an area near the Chebar River in Babylonia, and Jeremiah was in Jerusalem as it was being besieged.

Within a few short years the king of Babylon was to be used as the instrument of God’s wrath upon impenitent Judah. Again and again Jerusalem was to be invested [surrounded] and entered by the besieging armies of Nebuchadnezzar. Company after company-at first a few only, but later on thousands and tens of thousands-were to be taken captive to the land of Shinar [Babylon], there to dwell in enforced exile. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah-all these Jewish kings were in turn to become vassals of the Babylonian ruler, and all in turn were to rebel. Severer and yet more severe chastisements were to be inflicted upon the rebellious nation, until at last the entire land was to become a desolation, Jerusalem was to be laid waste and burned with fire, the temple that Solomon had built was to be destroyed, and the kingdom of Judah was to fall, never again to occupy its former position among the nations of earth.—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 422.2-423.0. [Content in brackets is added.]

3.    What were the events that led up to that final destruction? Read Ezekiel 8. Ezekiel was taken in vision from his place of residence near the Chebar River in Babylonia to Jerusalem where he was shown groups of people hiding away within the temple premises, worshiping idols, snakes, and unclean animals; and he was even shown people in the courtyard bowing toward the east, worshiping the sun. Incredibly, at least some of those people thought that God had abandoned them and that He could no longer see them. There was a group of women weeping over the death of the “god” Tammuz who was believed to die each year in the autumn as the vegetation died and was thought to come back to life the next year in the spring. That was a fertility cult ceremony from Babylonia being carried out inside the premises of Solomon’s Temple. What was God supposed to do with people who were behaving like that?

4.    Read Ezekiel 8:12ii. What would lead them to say that God could not see what they were doing and that God had abandoned them? Did they really believe that the Lord no longer cared about what they did? Did they really think that those pagan gods could or would do anything for them? What had happened to their thinking?

5.    Read Romans 1:22-25iii. Their minds had apparently been so corrupted by this behavior that God had to finally give up on them. (See Hosea 4:17iv.) When God gets “angry,” it is because we are running away from Him as fast as we can and have repeatedly rejected Him. So, there is nothing more He can do for us except to let us go.

6.    Zedekiah, the last of the sons of Josiah to rule in Jerusalem and the last king on the throne of Judah before its destruction by the Babylonians, was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar in 598/597 B.C. At first, he apparently was willing to listen to instruction from God; but, he very quickly abandoned that attitude.

7.    Nebuchadnezzar had become completely frustrated by the behavior of the Jewish people and especially the king he had placed on the throne. Instead of remaining loyal to Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah had sought to establish a military relationship with the Egyptians. When Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Jerusalem at the beginning of that final siege, the Egyptian army started marching north, and Nebuchadnezzar’s army temporarily abandoned Jerusalem to face the Egyptians. Zedekiah mistakenly believed that things were going to be better. But, Jeremiah pleaded with Zedekiah to recognize that Babylon was coming back. (See Ezekiel 17:15-18.) Babylon almost annihilated the Egyptians in the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. and then returned to siege Jerusalem.

8.    Jeremiah continued to plead with the people to surrender to the Babylonians and remain faithful to Nebuchadnezzar. Unfortunately, to the military who were still left in Jerusalem and who were trying to fight off the Babylonians, that sounded like treason. Read Jeremiah 38:1-6[v].

9.    As we have mentioned in previous lessons, conditions became so desperate toward the end of the siege of Jerusalem that people were actually eating their own dead children. (Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; 4:10)vi But, in that horrible situation, Jeremiah was pleading with the people just to leave the city and surrender to the Babylonian army, saying that they would save their lives by that action. Otherwise, he warned them that they would die of war, starvation, or disease. Jeremiah further assured them that the city was going to fall to the Babylonian army. As you might guess, the military leaders were not happy to hear such a message. They wanted to put Jeremiah to death. When people are unhappy about a message being received from someone who they are afraid might be telling them the truth and they cannot convince that person to stop saying what they are saying, then the usual human reaction is to kill the messenger. Jeremiah had grown up within a few miles of Jerusalem and spent most of his life there; but, like Jesus hundreds of years later, Jeremiah was not respected in his home territory. (Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44)vii Did the fact that Jeremiah remained in the city do any good? Why are we studying his book 2500 years later?

10.    When the military leaders reported to the king what Jeremiah was saying, the king, who had no backbone at all-just to appease them-said, “Do what you like with him.” Jeremiah was taken and lowered into a more or less dry well in the courtyard of the palace. There, he sank down into the mud.

11.    What do you think those leaders expected to happen to Jeremiah? The expected him to die there!

12.    Read Jeremiah 38:7-13viii. Fortunately for Jeremiah, there was someone who took his messages seriously. Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, who worked in the royal palace heard what had happened to Jeremiah and appealed to King Zedekiah. He was permitted to take three men with him and pull Jeremiah out of the well. After that, Jeremiah was kept in the courtyard under the auspices of Zedekiah in a kind of house arrest. Daily, he was provided at least a small amount of food.

13.    How many prophets in the history of the Bible have had their lives threatened? How many have been thrown into prison because of their messages. What about John the Baptist? Isaiah? Think about Peter and John even in the New Testament.

14.    Could God’s modern church ever be guilty of doing anything like that? When Ellen White returned from Europe and established her home in California in 1887, she recognized that there were problems developing in the Adventist Church. She traveled with the delegation from California to the Minneapolis General Conference Session in 1888 and gave her approval and support to the messages brought by E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones. The church leaders from Battle Creek were very unhappy about what Waggoner and Jones were preaching, and they thought Ellen White had been misled by those two young men. After the Minneapolis meetings, Ellen White began to travel to a series of camp meetings around the eastern United States in the company of A. T. Jones. The two of them emphasized the message of righteousness by faith and a correct understanding of the law which the young men had been preaching.

15.    Shortly thereafter, the General Conference leadership decided it was best to ask Ellen White to go to Australia. She said clearly that she had received no revelation from God that she should go; but, she went anyway because the church leaders had asked her to go. They were hoping to get her out of their hair! Fortunately for us, Ellen White used the time in Australia not only to establish and build up the church there but also to write Steps to Christ, The Desire of Ages, and Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.

16.    When the wall of Jerusalem was finally breached and Jerusalem fell, what happened to Jeremiah? Read Jeremiah 40:1-6ix. How did the Babylonians know who Jeremiah was? How do you explain the speech of Nebuzaradon? How did they know about the messages that he had been given over the prior several years? No doubt, some who had taken Jeremiah’s advice and fled to the Babylonians told them of his work. Even though he was a “captive,” Jeremiah was given the option of staying in Jerusalem or going with the exiles to Babylonia. (Jeremiah 39:11-12; 40:6-7)[x]

17.    Jeremiah chose to stay in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar exiled everyone whom he thought might be of use to his nation. He left behind people who were so poor and weak that they perhaps could not even have made the journey to Babylonia.

18.    As we have noted before, Zedekiah, his family, and his high officials were caught after escaping from Jerusalem. Zedekiah was forced to watch as his entire family and his high officials were put to death; and then, his eyes were gouged out. He was dragged to Babylon where, shortly thereafter, he died. (2 Kings 25:7; Jeremiah 52:6-11xi)

19.    Read Jeremiah 29:1-23xii. As we noted at the beginning of this lesson, Ezekiel had been taken in vision to Jerusalem to see the evil things taking place in the compound of the temple itself. Jeremiah was also told to prepare a letter to be sent from Jerusalem to the exiles already in Babylonia. He told them to settle down, to marry, to have children, and to prosper in Babylonia. He told them to work for the good of the nation where they were living. If the nation prospered, the Jews would prosper also. Isn’t that what Joseph had done? Jeremiah also told them not to be deceived by prophets trying to tell them that they would soon return to Judah. That would not happen for 70 years.

20.    What kind of response do you think Jeremiah got to that letter? Were the exiles in Babylonia any more responsive to his messages than were the people in Jerusalem?

21.    Look again at Jeremiah 29:10-13xiii. Did those words seem almost impossible to the exiles?

22.    In order to understand how impossible those words might have seemed to the Jewish people in Babylonia, we need to understand that in ancient times most of the people believed that “gods” were “assigned” to certain territories. It was believed that Yahweh the God of the Israelites only lived and worked in Palestine. Thus, they thought that praying to Him while living in Babylonia would be a futile thing to do. But, here was a message of hope and grace from one of the prominent prophets from Judah. He told them to pray while they were in Babylonia and that God would answer them. That must have surprised many of them.

23.    Read Deuteronomy 30:1-4; 4:29xiv. There was 800 years between Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Do these words sound familiar? Many so-called biblical scholars today believe that Deuteronomy was not written until after the Babylonian exile. How could anyone writing back in the days of Moses have so precisely predicted what was going to happen hundreds of years later? Did Moses weep as he gave them these messages? They do not believe that even God has the ability to predict the future. But, here is evidence very clearly presented in Scripture that God can predict the future and that the seventy-year prophecy he gave to the people in Babylonia would also come true. What was the purpose of these messages if they were not going to pay any attention to God anyway? (See John 13:19xv.)

24.    It is a well-known fact that aliens, slaves, and exiles were not treated very well. Minorities often get treated as scapegoats if things go badly. This has happened right down through human history. But, God promised those exiles that He would be with them and that when the 70 years were over, they would have an opportunity to return to Jerusalem and Judah. (See [Jeremiah 29:10; 25:11-12; 2 Chronicles 36:21]xvi; and Daniel 9:2.) Interestingly enough, they were not only promised that they would have the opportunity to return to Jerusalem but also they were told that Babylon would be destroyed and no one would ever live there again!

25.    If you are a careful student and read back through history, you will realize that everything that God has predicted has taken place exactly as He foretold it. Some of His prophecies have been conditional; we recognize that. Is the history of the fulfillment of His prior prophecies an adequate reason for believing His future prophecies?

26.    There are some interesting suggestions also in the writings of Moses as to why this period of seventy years was necessary. Read [Leviticus 25:4; 26:34,43xvii]. Try to imagine the implications of those verses. God had said that the land of Palestine was to lie fallow for a whole year at the end of every seven-year cycle. If one was a subsistence farmer living off what he could raise each day, how difficult would it be to trust God and to leave one’s fields unworked for a whole year? That would certainly be a great act of faith. Don’t you wish we knew how many of the Israelites actually did that? Were they blessed by God? Evidence suggests that most of them did not. God was saying that since they did not allow His land to rest, it would get seventy years of rest all at one time.

27.    Do we have any prophecies in Scripture or the writings of Ellen White to give us hope for the future? Does a correct and thorough reading of the book of Revelation provide encouragement? Or, does it frighten you?

28.    How did Ellen White feel about the progress of the gospel in her day? In a sermon at Lansing, Michigan on September 5, 1891, just before leaving for Australia, she said:

We are in continual danger of getting above the simplicity of the gospel.

There is an intense desire on the part of many to startle the world with something original, that shall lift the people into a state of spiritual ecstasy,

and change the present order of experience. There is certainly great need of a change in the present order of experience; for the sacredness of present truth is not realized as it should be, but the change we need is a change of heart, and can only be obtained by seeking God individually for His blessing, by pleading with Him for His power, by fervently praying that His grace may come upon us, and that our characters may be transformed. This is the change we need today, and for the attainment of this experience we should exercise persevering energy and manifest heartfelt earnestness. We should ask with true sincerity, “What shall I do to be saved?” We should know just what steps we are taking heavenward.—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 187.2-188.0.

29.    Why is there such a burning desire among so-called scholars to come up with something new? Is it so they can make a name for themselves? Are they looking for followers?

30.    How are the writings of Ellen White treated by Seventh-day Adventists and especially Seventh-day Adventist scholars in our day? Is the church taking her messages seriously?

31.    How do you think you would have survived the siege of Jerusalem? How does the seventy-year prophecy fit with the historical facts? Daniel had gone into Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C. Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem in 535 B.C. That is precisely the seventy years that had been predicted.

32.    Do you think the wickedness in Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day was worse than the wickedness in which we live in 2015?

33.    Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, most Jews settled down so comfortably in Babylonia and later in Persia that they never returned to Jerusalem. Is that what God intended by His message through Jeremiah? Or, was Jeremiah’s message God’s way of sifting out those who were truly faithful to Him and leaving the others behind? What do you think is going to happen in our day in the time of the shaking? Will the remnant spoken of in Revelation include most of the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Or, will many be shaken out? We know that the Seventh-day Adventist Church as an organization will not be able to survive legally when it becomes against the law to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. What do you think you will do if you are alive at that time? Are we taking the words of God through the ancient prophets and His modern prophet seriously?

© 2015, Kenneth Hart, MD, MA, MPH. Permission is hereby granted for any noncommercial use of these materials. Free distribution of all or of a portion of this material such as to a Bible study class is encouraged.    Info@theox. org

Last Modified: November 2, 2015

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For some interesting pictures and information about the destruction of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah, see Google Images at:

https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&ei=I8QAVof8CZPhgwS7vq-4Bw&ved=0 CBUQqi4oAQ and then search for House of Ahiel.

i-Ezekiel 8:Idolatry in Jerusalem

8 On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of our exile, the leaders of the exiles from Judah were sitting in my house with me. Suddenly the power of the Sovereign LORD came on me. 2 I looked up and saw a vision of a fiery human form. From the waist down his body looked like fire, and from the waist up he was shining like polished bronze. 3 He reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed me by the hair. Then in this vision God's spirit lifted me high in the air and took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the inner entrance of the north gate of the Temple, where there was an idol that was an outrage to God.

4 There I saw the dazzling light that shows the presence of Israel's God, just as I had seen it when I was by the Chebar River. 5 God said to me, “Mortal man, look toward the north.” I looked, and there near the altar by the entrance of the gateway I saw the idol that was an outrage to God.

6 God said to me, “Mortal man, do you see what is happening? Look at the disgusting things the people of Israel are doing here, driving me farther and farther away from my holy place. You will see even more disgraceful things than this.”

7 He took me to the entrance of the outer courtyard and showed me a hole in the wall. 8 He said, “Mortal man, break through the wall here.” I broke through it and found a door. 9 He told me, “Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there.” 10 So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals,[a] and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping. 11 Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense. 12 God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The LORD doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.’”

13 Then the LORD said to me, “You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that.” 14 So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.[b]

15 He asked, “Mortal man, do you see that? You will see even more disgusting things.” 16 So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

17 The LORD said to me, “Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even more angry. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible![c] 18 They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy. They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can, but I will not listen to them.”

Romans 1:22 They say they are wise, but they are fools; 23 instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.

24 And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. 25 They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.

Jeremiah 37:37 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia made Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah in the place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2 But neither Zedekiah nor his officials nor the people obeyed the message which the LORD had given me.

3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to ask me to pray to the LORD our God on behalf of our nation. 4 I had not yet been put in prison and was still moving about freely among the people. 5 The Babylonian army had been besieging Jerusalem, but when they heard that the Egyptian army had crossed the Egyptian border, they retreated.

6 Then the LORD, the God of Israel, told me 7 to say to Zedekiah, “The Egyptian army is on its way to help you, but it will return home. 8 Then the Babylonians will come back, attack the city, capture it, and burn it down. 9 I, the LORD, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians will not come back, because they will. 10 Even if you defeat the whole Babylonian army, so that only wounded men are left, lying in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city to the ground.”

38:Jeremiah in a Dry Well

38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard that I was telling the people that 2 the LORD had said, “Whoever stays on in the city will die in war or of starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will not be killed; they will at least escape with their life.” 3 I was also telling them that the LORD had said, “I am going to give the city to the Babylonian army, and they will capture it.”

4 Then the officials went to the king and said, “This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people; he only wants to hurt them.”

5 King Zedekiah answered, “Very well, then, do what you want to with him; I can't stop you.” 6 So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah's well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.

29:Jeremiah's Letter to the Jews in Babylonia

29 I wrote a letter to the priests, the prophets, the leaders of the people, and to all the others whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia. 2 I wrote it after King Jehoiachin, his mother, the palace officials, the leaders of Judah and of Jerusalem, the engravers, and the skilled workers had been taken into exile. 3 I gave the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah was sending to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. It said:

4 “The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those people whom he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia: 5 ‘Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them. 6 Marry and have children. Then let your children get married, so that they also may have children. You must increase in numbers and not decrease. 7 Work for the good of the cities where I have made you go as prisoners. Pray to me on their behalf, because if they are prosperous, you will be prosperous too. 8 I, the LORD, the God of Israel, warn you not to let yourselves be deceived by the prophets who live among you or by any others who claim they can predict the future. Do not pay any attention to their[a] dreams. 9 They are telling you lies in my name. I did not send them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.’

10 “The LORD says, ‘When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. 11 I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.[b] 12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. 13 You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. 14 Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country and from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the LORD, have spoken.’

Daniel 9:2 In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the LORD had told the prophet Jeremiah.

ii-Ezekiel 8:12 God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The LORD doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.’”

iii-Romans 1:22 They say they are wise, but they are fools; 23 instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.

24 And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. 25 They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.

iv-Hosea 4:17 The people of Israel are under the spell of idols. Let them go their own way.

v-Jeremiah 38:38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard that I was telling the people that 2 the LORD had said, “Whoever stays on in the city will die in war or of starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will not be killed; they will at least escape with their life.” 3 I was also telling them that the LORD had said, “I am going to give the city to the Babylonian army, and they will capture it.”

4 Then the officials went to the king and said, “This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people; he only wants to hurt them.”

5 King Zedekiah answered, “Very well, then, do what you want to with him; I can't stop you.” 6 So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah's well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.

vi-Jeremiah 19:9 The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children.”

Lamentations 2:Good News Translation (GNT)

20 Look, O LORD! Why are you punishing us like this?

Women are eating the bodies of the children they loved!

Priests and prophets are being killed in the Temple itself

4:Good News Translation (GNT)

10 The disaster that came to my people brought horror;

loving mothers boiled their own children for food.

vii-Matthew 13:57 And so they rejected him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family.”

Mark 6:4 Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.”

Luke 4:24 I tell you this,” Jesus added, “prophets are never welcomed in their hometown.

John 4:44 For he himself had said, “Prophets are not respected in their own country.”

viii-Jeremiah 38:7 However, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian,[a] a eunuch who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate. 8 So Ebedmelech went there and said to the king, 9 “Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city.” 10 Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three men and to pull me out of the well before I died. 11 So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me by ropes. 12 He told me to put the rags under my arms, so that the ropes wouldn't hurt me. I did this, 13 and they pulled me up out of the well. After that I was kept in the courtyard.

ix-Jeremiah 40:7 However, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian,[a] a eunuch who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate. 8 So Ebedmelech went there and said to the king, 9 “Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city.” 10 Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three men and to pull me out of the well before I died. 11 So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me by ropes. 12 He told me to put the rags under my arms, so that the ropes wouldn't hurt me. I did this, 13 and they pulled me up out of the well. After that I was kept in the courtyard.

x-Jeremiah 39:11 But King Nebuchadnezzar commanded Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, to give the following order: 12 “Go and find Jeremiah and take good care of him. Do not harm him, but do for him whatever he wants.”

40:7 Some of the Judean officers and soldiers had not surrendered. They heard that the king of Babylonia had made Gedaliah governor of the land and had placed him in charge of all those who had not been taken away to Babylonia—the poorest people in the land.

xi-2 Kings 25:7 While Zedekiah was looking on, his sons were put to death; then Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's eyes put out, placed him in chains, and took

Jeremiah 52:6 On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat, 7 the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley. 8 But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him. 9 Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. 10 At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed. 11 After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.

xii-Jeremiah 29:29 I wrote a letter to the priests, the prophets, the leaders of the people, and to all the others whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia. 2 I wrote it after King Jehoiachin, his mother, the palace officials, the leaders of Judah and of Jerusalem, the engravers, and the skilled workers had been taken into exile. 3 I gave the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah was sending to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. It said:

4 “The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those people whom he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia: 5 ‘Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them. 6 Marry and have children. Then let your children get married, so that they also may have children. You must increase in numbers and not decrease. 7 Work for the good of the cities where I have made you go as prisoners. Pray to me on their behalf, because if they are prosperous, you will be prosperous too. 8 I, the LORD, the God of Israel, warn you not to let yourselves be deceived by the prophets who live among you or by any others who claim they can predict the future. Do not pay any attention to their[a] dreams. 9 They are telling you lies in my name. I did not send them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.’

10 “The LORD says, ‘When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. 11 I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.[b] 12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. 13 You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. 14 Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country and from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the LORD, have spoken.’

15 “You say that the LORD has given you prophets in Babylonia. 16 Listen to what the LORD says about the king who rules the kingdom that David ruled and about the people of this city, that is, your relatives who were not taken away as prisoners with you. 17 The LORD Almighty says, ‘I am bringing war, starvation, and disease on them, and I will make them like figs that are too rotten to be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with war, starvation, and disease, and all the nations of the world will be horrified at what they see. Everywhere I scatter them, people will be shocked and terrified at what has happened to them. People will make fun of them and use their name as a curse. 19 This will happen to them because they did not obey the message that I kept on sending to them through my servants the prophets. They refused to listen. 20 All of you whom I sent into exile in Babylonia, listen to what I, the LORD, say.’

21 “The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, has spoken about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are telling you lies in his name. He has said that he will hand them over to the power of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, who will put them to death before your eyes. 22 When the people who were taken away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia want to bring a curse on someone, they will say, ‘May the LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylonia roasted alive!’ 23 This will be their fate because they are guilty of terrible sins—they have committed adultery and have told lies in the LORD's name. This was against the LORD's will; he knows what they have done, and he is a witness against them.[c] The LORD has spoken.”

xiii-Jeremiah 29:10 “The LORD says, ‘When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. 11 I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.[a] 12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. 13 You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.

xiv-Deuteronomy 30:30 “I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse. When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you. 2 If you and your descendants will turn back to the LORD and with all your heart obey his commands that I am giving you today, 3 then the LORD your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again. 4 Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you together and bring you back,

4:29 There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

xv-John 13:19 I tell you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that ‘I Am Who I Am.’

xvi-Jeremiah 29:10 “The LORD says, ‘When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home.

25:11 This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighboring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years. 12 After that I will punish Babylonia and its king for their sin. I will destroy that country and leave it in ruins forever.

2 Chronicles 36:21 And so what the LORD had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest[a] that has not been observed.”

xvii-Leviticus 25:4 But the seventh year is to be a year of complete rest for the land, a year dedicated to the LORD. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards.

26:34-35 Then the land will enjoy the years of complete rest that you would not give it; it will lie abandoned and get its rest while you are in exile in the land of your enemies.

43 First, however, the land must be rid of its people, so that it can enjoy its complete rest, and they must pay the full penalty for having rejected my laws and my commands.

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