shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon; and this city shall be burned with fire.

Then said Zedekiah to Jeremiah: Let no man know of these words, that thou die not. And if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and come unto thee, and say to thee, Tell us what thou saidst unto the king; hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said to thee; then thou shalt say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and questioned him; and he told them according to all that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived. And Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

And in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, when the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem, the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying: Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum thine uncle cometh unto thee, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. And Hanamel his uncle's son came to him in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said to him: Buy now my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thee. Then Jeremiah bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel his uncle's son, and weighed him the money, seventeen shekels of silver. And he wrote the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances. And Jeremiah took the deed of pur

MESSIANIC REDEMPTION.

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chase, the sealed, and the open; and he delivered the deed of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah in the presence of Hanamel his cousin, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the deed of purchase, in the presence of all the Jews that abode in the court of the guard.

Then Jeremiah charged Baruch in their presence, saying: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of purchase, both the sealed deed, and this open one, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may be preserved many days. For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will perform that good word which I spake unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and right in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem dwell safely. And this is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness. For thus saith Jehovah : There shall never fail to David one sitting on the throne of the house of Israel; and to the priests the Levites there shall not fail a man before Me to offer burnt-offerings, and to burn oblations, and to do sacrifice continually. Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, that there be no day nor night in their season; then may My covenant be broken with David My servant, that he have no son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea be measured; so will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me,

And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the lower city was taken, and all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate. And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled, and went forth out of the city that night, by way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls, and fled by the road of the Arabah. And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. And they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and he pronounced judgment upon him. And he slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

And in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, to Jerusa lem. And he took the inner city, and burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house burned he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. And the remnant of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, even the remnant of the fighting men, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away captive. But some of the poor of the land he left to be vine-dressers

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and husbandmen. And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans brake in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the firepans and the basins, whatsoever was of gold or of silver, the captain of the guard took away.

And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door; and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, that were found in the city. And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. And over the people that were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had left, he set Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, to be governor.

CHAPTER XI.

JEREMIAH, Xxxix.-xliv., xlvi. Ezekiel, xxix.

THE REMNANT OF JUDAH.

Jeremiah Released-He Joins Gedaliah-Guerrilla Chiefs - They Join Gedaliah-Johanan's Warning-Ishmael's Treachery-Samaritan Pilgrims Murdered-Carried Captive to Ammon-Johanan Rescues the Captives-Afraid of the Chaldeans-Inquiring of Jeremiah-They Must Stay in the Land-Disobedience-Flight to Egypt-Idolatry-Feast of the Moon Goddess-Answering Jeremiah-Destruction of the Remnant-Conquest of Egypt-Ezekiel's Prophecy-Jacob shall be Brought back.

Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, saying: Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm ; but do unto him whatsoever he shall say to thee. And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and brought him manacled, among all the captives of Jerusalem, unto Ramah. Then he took Jeremiah, and said to him: Behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which are upon thine hand. If it seem good to thee to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look well unto thee; but if it seem ill to thee to come with me to Babylon, forbear. Behold, all the land is before. thee; whither it seemeth good and right to thee to go, thither go. But Jeremiah would not go with him to Babylon. Then said Nebuzaradan: Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of