1 Josiab ôab Sedekiab, Babilons gao-aob Nebukadnesari ge Judab gao-aose mâib ge Jojakimmi ôab Konjab soas ǃnâ gere gaosîsen. 2 Xawe gu ge ǁîb kas, ǁîb ǂamkhoegu kas, ǃhūb di ǁaes kas hoasa ǃKhūb di mîdi kēbo-aob Jeremiab ǃnâ-ūb ge mîde ge ǃgâ ǂgao tama hâ i.
3 Gao-aob Sedekiab ge Selemjab ôab Jukali tsî Maasejab ôab prister Sefanjab tsîga kēbo-aob Jeremiab ǃoa nē haisis ǀkha ge sî: “Toxopa ǃKhūb sada Elob ǃoa ǀgoreba da re.” 4 Jeremiab ge noxopa ǃnorasase ǁaes ǁaegu gere hâma, noxopab ge ǃkhō-oms ǃnâ ǂgāhe tama hâ i xui-ao. 5 Faraob toroǂnubis ge Egipteba xu ǃgûǂoa tsî Jerusalemsa gere xāǂgā. Xaldeaǁîn ge ǁnāsan ge ǁnâu, o Jerusalemsa xu ge ǂgae-oasen.
6 Os ge ǃKhūb di mîsa kēbo-aob Jeremiab ǃoa ge hā: 7 “Nētib ge ǃKhūb Israeli di Eloba ra mî: Nēti du ge Judab gao-aob, tita du nî dîǃgâse go tita ǃoa a sî duba nî mîba. Faraob di toroǂnubis sados nî huise ge ǃgûǂoas ge ǁîs di ǃhūb Egipteb ǁga nî oa. 8 Tsîn ge Xaldeaǁîna ǁkhawa oaǀkhī tsî nē ǃās ǃoagu hā nî ǃkham; ǁîn ge ǃāsa ū tsî ǁîsa nî khauǃkhū.” 9 Nētib ge ǃKhūba ra mî: “Tā ǂgaeǂhapusen, Xaldeaǁîn ge ǂanǂansase nî ǁnāxū da; ǁîn ge sida xu nî bē” ti ǂâi tsî. ǁÎn sado xu ǃgûbē tide xuige. 10 Xaldeaǁîn di toroǂnubis sadu ǃoagu ra ǃkhams hoasa du ga dan, tsî gu ga tsuihe hâ khoegu ǀguiga ǁîgu tentomdi ǃgau, xawe gu ge ǁîga khâi tsî nē ǃāsa nî khauǃkhū.
Jeremiab ge ǃkhōsis ǃnâ ra ūhe
11 Xaldeaǁîn di toroǂnubis ge Jerusalemsa xu ǂgae-oaseno, Faraob di toroǂnubis ǃaroma, 12 ob ge Jeremiaba Jerusalemsa xu ge ǂoa, Benjaminni ǀkharib ǁga ǃgû tsîb ǁnāpa ǁaes ǃnâ ǃâ-e sī nî ǃkhōǃoase. 13 Tsî Jeremiab Benjamindao-ams tawa ra sī, hîab ge Selemjab ôa tsî Hananjab ǁnurib, ǃûi-aogu di mûǂamaob Jerijaba kēbo-aob Jeremiaba ǃkhō tsî ge mî: “Sats ge Xaldeaǁîn ǁga ra ǃgû.”
14 Ob ge Jeremiaba ge ǃeream: “Ama tama i, Xaldeaǁîn ǃoa ta ǃgû tama.” Xaweb ge Jerijaba ǁîba ǃgâ ǂgao tama ge i, tsîb ge ǁîba Jeremiaba ǃkhō tsî ǂamkhoegu tawa ge sī-ū. 15 ǂAmkhoegu ge kaise Jeremiab ǀkha ǁaixa tsî ǁîba ǂnau tsî xoa-aob Jonatanni di oms, ǃkhō-omse ge dīhes ǃnâ ge ǂganamǂgā. 16 ǁNātib ge Jeremiaba ǃkhō-oms di ǃnaka hâ ǃnā-oms ǃnâ ge ǂgāhe tsî ǂomxa ǁaeba ǁnāpa ge hâ.
17 ǁNās khaoǃgâb ge gao-aob Sedekiaba ǁîba sī ū kai tsî gao-ommi ǃnâ ǂganǃgâsase ge dî bi: “Mî-e ǃKhūba xu hâ i a?” Ob ge Jeremiaba ge ǃeream: “Î, hâ a. Sats ge Babilons gao-aob ǃomǁae nî māǁnâhe.” 18 Ob ge Jeremiaba gao-aob Sedekiaba ge dî: “Mâ ǂkhabadī-e ta tita sats ǃoagus kas, sa ǃgāgu ǃoagus kas, nē ǁaes ǃoagus kas hoasa ge dī, ots ǃkhō-oms ǃnâ ge ǂgā te? 19 Mâpa gu nēsi sadu kēbo-aogu, sado ge kēboba tsî ‘Babilons gao-aob ge sadu ǃoagu tsî nē ǃhūb ǃoagu hā ǃkham tide’ ti mîga hâ? 20 Nēsi ǃgâ te re, ǃgôahesa gao-aotse, î ta ti ǀkhomabasensa sa aiǃâ hā-ū re. Tā ǁkhawa xoa-aob Jonatanni oms ǁga sî-oa te re, î ta tā ǁnāpa ǁō.”
21 Ob ge gao-aob Sedekiaba ge mîmā, îb Jeremiaba ǃûi-aogu di ai-ommi ǃnâ ǂgāhe. Tsîb ge tsēkorobe ǀgui pereba pereǁganaoga xu gere māhe, ǃās di pere-i hoa-i ge toas kōse. ǁNātib ge Jeremiaba ǃûi-aogu di ai-ommi ǃnâ ge hâ.
Zedekiah's Request to Jeremiah
1 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.”
Jeremiah Is Arrested and Imprisoned
11 The Babylonian army retreated from Jerusalem because the Egyptian army was approaching. 12 So I started to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of my share of the family property. 13 But when I reached the Benjamin Gate, the officer in charge of the soldiers on duty there, a man by the name of Irijah, the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, stopped me and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
14 I answered, “That's not so! I'm not deserting.” But Irijah would not listen to me. Instead, he arrested me and took me to the officials. 15 They were furious with me and had me beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan, the court secretary, whose house had been made into a prison. 16 I was put in an underground cell and kept there a long time.
17 Later on King Zedekiah sent for me, and there in the palace he asked me privately, “Is there any message from the Lord?”
“There is,” I answered, and added, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylonia.” 18 Then I asked, “What crime have I committed against you or your officials or this people, to make you put me in prison? 19 What happened to your prophets who told you that the king of Babylonia would not attack you or the country? 20 And now, Your Majesty, I beg you to listen to me and do what I ask. Please do not send me back to the prison in Jonathan's house. If you do, I will surely die there.”
21 So King Zedekiah ordered me to be locked up in the palace courtyard. I stayed there, and each day I was given a loaf of bread from the bakeries until all the bread in the city was gone.
