Jeremiah 21 — Septuagint (LXX)

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,

Inquire of the LORD on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous deeds, and he will withdraw from us.

Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah:

This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.

I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and with mighty arm, in anger, in fury, and in fierce wrath.

I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence.

And afterward — declares the LORD — I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, the people, and those who survive in this city from the pestilence, 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 lives. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, he will not have pity, and he will not show mercy.

And to this people you shall say: This is what the LORD says: I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.

Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you shall live, and his life shall be to him as plunder.

For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good — declares the LORD. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

To the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD!

O house of David, this is what the LORD says: Execute justice each morning, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain — declares the LORD — you who say, 'Who will come down against us? Who will enter our strongholds?'

I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds — declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour everything around her.