In this part of Chapter 29, Yirmiyahu continues his epistle to the Babylonian exiles. Up to this point, he instructed them to settle in Babylon and not to believe the false prophets who promised a swift return. Now, he conveys a harsh prophecy concerning those remaining in Jerusalem, and subsequently delivers two sharp, personal prophecies against three false prophets: Achav ben Kolayah, Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseyah, and Shemayah HaNechelami. The entire chapter demonstrates how the Holy One, blessed be He, paved the way for Yirmiyahu by removing his mendacious rivals from the scene, one by one.
כִּי־כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ הַיּוֹשֵׁב אֶל־כִּסֵּא דָוִד וְאֶל־כׇּל־הָעָם הַיּוֹשֵׁב בָּעִיר הַזֹּאת אֲחֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָצְאוּ אִתְּכֶם בַּגּוֹלָה׃ - For thus said Hashem concerning the king who sits upon the throne of David and concerning all the people dwelling in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into exile:
Here Yirmiyahu delivers a prophecy to the king sitting on David's throne - namely Tzidkiyahu, who was not exiled - and to all the people still remaining in Jerusalem: "your brethren who did not go out with you into exile." And here is the substance of the prophecy:
כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת הִנְנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ בָּם אֶת־הַחֶרֶב אֶת־הָרָעָב וְאֶת־הַדָּבֶר וְנָתַתִּי אוֹתָם כַּתְּאֵנִים הַשֹּׁעָרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־תֵאָכַלְנָה מֵרֹעַ׃ - Thus said Hashem of Hosts: Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I will make them like the vile figs which cannot be eaten due to badness.
The Holy One, blessed be He, informs the exiles: Not only will you not return here anytime soon, but those who remained in the Land will also be exiled. "Vile figs" [te'enim hash'arim] - the Radak explains: dirty and spoiled figs, related to the word se'aruryah (abomination); bad figs unfit for eating. The logic is straightforward: if those remaining here are to be handed over to the sword, famine, pestilence, captivity, and plunder, how could those in Babylon possibly return here to find redemption? This prophecy serves to seal the doom of any hope of returning within the next seventy years.
וְרָדַפְתִּי אַחֲרֵיהֶם בַּחֶרֶב בָּרָעָב וּבַדָּבֶר וּנְתַתִּים לְזַעֲוָה לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ לְאָלָה וּלְשַׁמָּה וְלִשְׁרֵקָה וּלְחֶרְפָּה בְּכׇל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר־הִדַּחְתִּים שָׁם׃ - And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, an execration, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.
What is za'avah ("horror" or "trembling")? One explanation is that it derives from za'azu'a (shock or trembling), meaning that anyone who sees them will be shaken with horror. A second explanation is that it implies being displaced and driven from place to place. Indeed, the root of za'azu'a denotes moving from one's place, as in "he neither rose nor moved [za] before him" - za means to move. And just as a niddah is called so because she is distanced and removed (nadah) from her place, so too za'avah connotes being dislodged from one's place. He tells them: you will be shaken and driven away to all the kingdoms of the earth.
תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר־לֹא־שָׁמְעוּ אֶל־דְּבָרַי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַחְתִּי אֲלֵיהֶם אֶת־עֲבָדַי הַנְּבִאִים הַשְׁכֵּם וְשָׁלֹחַ וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ - Because they did not listen to My words, says Hashem, which I sent to them through My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you did not listen, says Hashem.
"Rising early and sending" - Chazal explain that He would send them prophets morning and evening, yet they would not listen. Indeed, anyone who examines the Scriptures will see dozens of prophets, and all of them - Trei Asar (the Twelve Minor Prophets), Yirmiyahu, Yeshayahu, Yechezkel - prophesied in the era preceding the Destruction. An abundance of messengers, yet no one lent an ear.
וְאַתֶּם שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר־יְהֹוָה כׇּל־הַגּוֹלָה אֲשֶׁר־שִׁלַּחְתִּי מִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בָּבֶלָה׃ - And you, hear the word of Hashem, all the exile whom I sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel:
כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־אַחְאָב בֶּן־קוֹלָיָה וְאֶל־צִדְקִיָּהוּ בֶן־מַעֲשֵׂיָה הַנִּבְּאִים לָכֶם בִּשְׁמִי שָׁקֶר הִנְנִי נֹתֵן אֹתָם בְּיַד נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל וְהִכָּם לְעֵינֵיכֶם׃ - Thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Yisrael, concerning Achav son of Kolayah and Tzidkiyahu son of Maaseyah, who prophesy a lie to you in My Name: Behold, I am delivering them into the hand of Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel, and he will strike them down before your eyes.
One of the greatest challenges for a true prophet was contending with the false prophets, who were far more appealing. Here Yirmiyahu delivers a direct message, a sort of explosive envelope, to the two corrupt false prophets in Bavel: Achav son of Kolayah and Tzidkiyahu son of Maaseyah. He tells them: You will receive proof of my words - that they are false prophets and that my words are the word of Hashem - Hashem is delivering them into the hand of Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel, and he will put them to death before your eyes.
וְלֻקַּח מֵהֶם קְלָלָה לְכֹל גָּלוּת יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר בְּבָבֶל לֵאמֹר יְשִׂמְךָ יְהֹוָה כְּצִדְקִיָּהוּ וּכְאֶחָב אֲשֶׁר־קָלָם מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל בָּאֵשׁ׃ - And from them a curse will be taken for the entire exile of Yehudah that is in Bavel, saying: 'May Hashem make you like Tzidkiyahu and like Echav, whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire.'
"And from them a curse will be taken" is the exact opposite of "By you shall Yisrael bless." Just as people say when wishing to bestow a blessing, "May God make you like Efrayim and Menasheh," so too when they wish to curse, they will say: "May Hashem make you like Tzidkiyahu and like Achav." And what does kalam mean? That he made roasted grain out of them in the fire, and we will soon see how he literally tossed them in the frying pan. Notice as well: in verse 21 his name is written "Achav" (אחאב), whereas in verse 22 it is written "Echav" (אחב) - the text shortened his name as a mark of disgrace. Indeed, sometimes modifying a name is done for disgrace, just as we find Avshalom saying to Tamar, "Has Aminon your brother been with you?" - referring to him by a derogatory, diminutive variation.
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ נְבָלָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְנַאֲפוּ אֶת־נְשֵׁי רֵעֵיהֶם וַיְדַבְּרוּ דָבָר בִּשְׁמִי שֶׁקֶר אֲשֶׁר לוֹא צִוִּיתִם וְאָנֹכִי הַיּוֹדֵעַ וָעֵד נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ - Because they committed an outrage in Yisrael and committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and spoke a word in My Name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am the One Who knows and bears witness, says Hashem.
These two offenses are directly connected: they committed adultery with their neighbors' wives by falsely speaking in the Name of Hashem, claiming that they had received a prophecy commanding it. And "I am the One Who knows and bears witness" - I know that their words are lies, and I bear witness to their actions; for even though they committed them in secret, the Holy One, blessed be He, testifies to it.
Midrash Tanchuma on Parashat Vayikra (section 6) expounds the verse, "There are six things Hashem hates... haughty eyes, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil" - these refer to Achav son of Kolayah and Tzidkiyah son of Maaseyah, who would sin while in Yerushalayim. And not only that: once they were exiled to Bavel, they added sin upon sin. They were false prophets, and they did not abandon their craft in Bavel; rather, they continued to fabricate false prophecies, acting as procurers for one another in sin - brokering transgressions for each other.
And how did the scheme operate? Achav son of Kolayah would enter the home of one of the Babylonian nobles and say, "The Holy One, blessed be He, has sent me to convey a message to your wife." The husband would say, "She is right here before you; go in." He would be alone with her and say, "The Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to raise up prophets from you; go and consort with Tzidkiyah son of Maaseyah the prophet, and bear prophets from him." Notice the cunning: had he told her to consort with himself, she would have replied, "Why should I believe you? You are self-interested, and a person does not sin unless he gains from it." Therefore, he projected absolute credibility: Heaven forbid, it is not for me; this is a command from Hashem! She would listen to him and send for Tzidkiyah, who would come and consort with her. And Tzidkiyah son of Maaseyah would do the exact same thing, procuring for Achav. This was their craft - they procured women for one another in adulterous promiscuity.
Nor did they content themselves with ordinary people; they set their sights on prominent women, on the wives of rulers. And come and see how wicked they were: they built a name for themselves in Bavel as great prophets. You can see they did not reinvent the wheel - all the techniques were already well-known back then. In those days they could not promote themselves on the internet; there were other methods, much like certain "kabbalists" today with glossy business cards, official stationery, and an organized office. This was their method: A pregnant woman would see one of them and ask, "If you are a prophet, what am I carrying, a boy or a girl?" A prophet is expected to know everything and provide answers to every question. He would tell her, "A boy." Afterward, he would go out to her neighbors and whisper, "So-and-so will give birth to a girl - keep it between us, in secret." If she gave birth to a boy, she would proclaim, "The words of the prophet came true!" If she gave birth to a girl, the neighbors would say to her, "That is exactly what the prophet told us beforehand; he only did not want to cause you distress - he saw you were pregnant and struggling, so he told you a boy." And should you ask what he would do if the reverse occurred, he would simply claim: "I did not want anyone to cast an evil eye on her, so I told the neighbors a girl so they would leave her alone."
The Midrash continues: They carried on this way until they reached Semiramis, the wife of Nevuchadnezzar. Nothing less: they set their sights on the highest-ranking woman in the empire. Tzidkiyahu entered and said to her, "The Holy One, blessed be He, has sent me to you: go and consort with Achav, and you will give birth to prophets."
The continuation of the episode appears in the Gemara in Sanhedrin 93a, and there the version is slightly different: not the wife of Nevuchadnetzar, but his daughter. The Gemara cites the pesukim: "unto Achav the son of Kolayah, and to Tzidkiyahu the son of Ma'aseyah, who prophesy falsely to you in My name," and "whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire," and expounds: It does not say "whom he burned," but rather "whom he roasted" [kalom]. Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: This teaches that he made them like roasted grain [kalyot] - like popcorn popping in a pot.
They went to Nevuchadnetzar's daughter. Achav said to her: So said Hashem, listen to Tzidkiyah. And Tzidkiyah was unwilling to forgo his share, and said: So said Hashem, listen to Achav. She went and reported this to her father. He said to her: The God of these people detests promiscuity; when they come to you, send them to me. When they came, she sent them to her father. He asked them: What did Hashem say to you? They replied: Thus and thus. He said to them: But I questioned Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah about this matter, and they told me it is strictly forbidden! They answered him: They were not commanded, but we were commanded; we too are prophets like them, are we any less than they are?
Nevuchadnetzar said to them: The words of Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah are more acceptable to me than yours, because they passed my crucible of testing, whereas you have not. And what was that crucible? The trial by fire. Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah were in the midst of the burning fiery furnace and danced there, and the angel Gavriel joined them. He said to them: Let us see if you too know how to dance inside the fire. At this point, the prospect no longer appealed to them. They said to him: That is not a fair comparison; they were three, whereas we are only two, and the merit of three is far greater. He said to them: You are right; choose a third for yourselves. And whom would they choose? Someone who had an insurance policy, a third-party liability policy that would cover all three. They chose Yehoshua the Kohen Gadol, thinking: Let Yehoshua come, whose merit is immense, and protect us; if he turns on the air conditioning inside the fiery furnace, we too will be saved.
They took them down and threw them into the fire. The two were consumed, whereas Yehoshua the Kohen Gadol was saved, except that the hems of his garments were singed, as it is stated: "And he showed me Yehoshua the Kohen Gadol standing before the angel of Hashem," and it is written there: "Remove the filthy garments from upon him," and it is written: "And Hashem said to Satan: Hashem rebuke you, Satan."
Nevuchadnetzar said to Yehoshua after he emerged unscathed: I know that you are a tzaddik, but I have a difficulty regarding you - why did the fire take hold slightly of the hems of your garments? Regarding Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, it is written: "nor had the smell of fire passed on them"; they did not even have the scent of burning on them! A person who enters an apartment that has fire smoke inside comes out smelling strongly of smoke, yet they entered the fiery furnace and had no smell of fire at all, but rather the fragrance of Gan Eden, from the angel who danced with them! Yehoshua answered him: There is an immense difference - they were three, whereas I was a solitary tzaddik, and a solitary tzaddik does not possess enough merit to ensure that the fire will not take hold of his garments at all. Nevuchadnetzar questioned: But Avraham was solitary, and the fire did not take hold of him at all! And how did Nevuchadnetzar know this? Because Nevuchadnetzar was the reincarnation of Nimrod, who threw Avraham into the fiery furnace; would he not know what happened there?
Yehoshua gave him an astute reply: It is not comparable - there, no wicked men were cast in with him, but here, wicked men were with me. With Avraham, there was no one to feed the flames, whereas in my case, these two wicked men caused the fire to burn more intensely, until it affected me as well. This is similar to what Chazal said regarding Yaakov Avinu, that whenever he would pass by houses of study, he would struggle to come out. Seemingly, what was he lacking in the womb? He was sitting with the angel, learning Torah, a candle burning over his head, and gazing from one end of the world to the other! Esav, who possessed an inclination for idolatry in the womb, understandably wanted to get out; but Yaakov? Rather, it is preferable to emerge and learn Torah alone than to learn Torah from an angel with a chavruta like Esav. So too here: it is better to be alone in the fiery furnace than with a chavruta like these two scoffers, who only cause the fire to catch hold. And this is what people say: Two dry logs and one wet one - the dry ones ignite the wet one.
However, the Gemara asks: For what reason was he actually punished? It is clear to the Gemara that Yehoshua merely deflected Nevuchadnetzar with a clever retort, wishing to depart from him in peace, and therefore answered him as he did. In truth, the fire should not have taken hold of him at all; what difference does it make who was with him? If the fire seized him, there is an element of punishment here. Rav Pappa said: His sons had married women who were unfit for the priesthood, and he did not protest against them. This is what is written: "Now Yehoshua was clothed with filthy garments" - was it Yehoshua's manner to wear filthy garments? Rather, this teaches that his sons had married women unfit for the priesthood, and he did not protest against them.
And what is the significance of the garments? Garments signify the soul, like the chaluka de-Rabbanan, which is the spiritual attire that the soul wears in the World of Truth, the physical counterpart of which is clothing. When Chazal wish to describe a soul in Heaven that is devoid of mitzvot, they define it as naked, stripped bare. Thus, the mitzvot are the celestial chaluka de-Rabbanan. When it is said of Yehoshua the Kohen Gadol that his garments were filthy, the meaning is that there was some spiritual blemish in him.
This is also what Chazal meant when they said: "At all times let your garments be white," meaning clean. This does not refer merely to physical clothes - although a person should certainly not walk around in soiled garments - but primarily to the soul, that there should be no blemish in it. If only people were as meticulous about their souls as they are about their clothes! You see someone whose appearance is top-notch, his shoes shining like a mirror, his trousers tailored to perfection, the crease falling precisely down to the tip of his shoe - everything immaculate, while spiritually, may Hashem have mercy. A person must know: "let your garments be white" is a parable for the soul, that it be clean, refined, and without blemish. And here, the hint was conveyed to Yehoshua specifically through his garments, which symbolize the soul.
וְאֶל־שְׁמַעְיָהוּ הַנֶּחֱלָמִי תֹּאמַר לֵאמֹר׃ - And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying:
"HaNechelami" (the Nehelamite) - some explain that this refers to his place of origin, a place named Nechlam or Cholem, where he lived. The Radak explains that he used to fabricate dreams for them - pseudo-prophecies - asserting that all the exiles were destined to return shortly to Jerusalem.
כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר יַעַן אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה שָׁלַחְתָּ בְשִׁמְכָה סְפָרִים אֶל־כׇּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וְאֶל־צְפַנְיָה בֶן־מַעֲשֵׂיָה הַכֹּהֵן וְאֶל כׇּל־הַכֹּהֲנִים לֵאמֹר׃ - Thus said Hashem, God of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Because you sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying:
Consider the sheer brazenness and audacity of Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Not satisfied with the false prophecies he delivered to the exiles in Babylonia, he sent scrolls and letters back to Jerusalem as well - to all the people, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests.
יְהֹוָה נְתָנְךָ כֹהֵן תַּחַת יְהוֹיָדָע הַכֹּהֵן לִהְיוֹת פְּקִדִים בֵּית יְהֹוָה לְכׇל־אִישׁ מְשֻׁגָּע וּמִתְנַבֵּא וְנָתַתָּה אֹתוֹ אֶל־הַמַּהְפֶּכֶת וְאֶל־הַצִּינֹק׃ - Hashem made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be overseers in the House of Hashem for any madman who prophesies, that you should put him into the stocks and into the collar.
Shemaiah writes to him: Hashem appointed you to the priesthood in place of Jehoiada the priest, placing you in charge of the House of Hashem and making you responsible for every madman who prophesies. Why is a prophet called a "madman"? Because when a prophet experienced a vision, it was like someone receiving a high-voltage shock: he would fall to the ground, his entire body trembling, his conscious faculties entirely overwhelmed, so that he appeared mad, like someone suffering from epilepsy. "Mahpechet" - some explain this as a type of prison, like a vaulted dungeon, while others explain that it was an instrument of torture used against those whom the authorities wished to punish, a kind of wheel on which a person was turned and inverted, causing intense agony. And "tzinok" is the pillory or stocks: the hands and head are locked inside a wooden board so that the person cannot move at all, just like the scenes once depicted on old tobacco boxes, and reminiscent of the Inquisition.
וְעַתָּה לָמָּה לֹא גָעַרְתָּ בְּיִרְמְיָהוּ הָעַנְּתֹתִי הַמִּתְנַבֵּא לָכֶם׃ - And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?
A false prophet in Babylonia sends letters to the Land of Israel to Zephaniah the priest and demands: You are appointed over every madman who prophesies, and it is your role to silence those who prophesy falsely - how can you allow Jeremiah to come and deliver fabrications from his own heart? It is not enough that he is a false prophet; he even has the gall to dispatch letters to the Land of Israel to silence the true prophet of Hashem.
כִּי עַל־כֵּן שָׁלַח אֵלֵינוּ בָּבֶל לֵאמֹר אֲרֻכָּה הִיא בְּנוּ בָתִּים וְשֵׁבוּ וְנִטְעוּ גַנּוֹת וְאִכְלוּ אֶת־פְּרִיהֶן׃ - For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is long! Build houses and settle down, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.
Here the true motive behind his grievance comes to light: a rival has stepped onto his turf. He complains that Jeremiah is not satisfied with the prophecies he delivers locally in Jerusalem, but also sends letters to us in Babylon to demoralize the people, telling them to build houses, settle down, and plant roots. Babylon is our territory, and it is not enough that he wreaks havoc in Jerusalem - now he comes to undermine us here as well!
וַיִּקְרָא צְפַנְיָה הַכֹּהֵן אֶת־הַסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה בְּאׇזְנֵי יִרְמְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא׃ - And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
Zephaniah the priest reads the letter directly to Jeremiah himself, which was an act of extreme impudence. Rather than handling the matter discreetly, he read it aloud in public to the prophet himself - an insolence that surpassed even the audacity of sending the letter in the first place.
וַיְהִי דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה אֶל־יִרְמְיָהוּ לֵאמֹר׃ - And the word of Hashem came to Yirmiyahu, saying:
שְׁלַח עַל־כׇּל־הַגּוֹלָה לֵאמֹר כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֶל־שְׁמַעְיָה הַנֶּחֱלָמִי יַעַן אֲשֶׁר נִבָּא לָכֶם שְׁמַעְיָה וַאֲנִי לֹא שְׁלַחְתִּיו וַיַּבְטַח אֶתְכֶם עַל־שָׁקֶר׃ - Send to all the exile, saying: Thus said Hashem concerning Shemaiah the Nechlamite: Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and caused you to trust in a falsehood;
Hashem says to Yirmiyahu: Send word to all the people of the exile and announce that since Shemaiah is prophesying falsehood to them and I did not send him, and he caused them to put their trust in a lie -
לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה הִנְנִי פֹקֵד עַל־שְׁמַעְיָה הַנֶּחֱלָמִי וְעַל־זַרְעוֹ לֹא־יִהְיֶה לוֹ אִישׁ יוֹשֵׁב בְּתוֹךְ־הָעָם הַזֶּה וְלֹא־יִרְאֶה בַטּוֹב אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה־לְעַמִּי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה כִּי־סָרָה דִבֶּר עַל־יְהֹוָה׃ - Therefore, thus said Hashem: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nechlamite and his offspring; he shall not have a man dwelling among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says Hashem, for he has spoken rebellion against Hashem.
On the one hand, we see how difficult it was for Yirmiyahu. To go and constantly prophesy harsh prophecies to the people, to be the prophet of wrath, the one who brings tidings of doom, and ultimately to write Megillat Eichah as well - this is by no means an easy role, and no one likes the bearer of such news. But on the other hand, we see that the Holy One, Blessed be He, made sure to clear the false prophets from the field: we saw Chananyah ben Azzur, who came to contradict Hashem's prophecy and was told, "This year you shall die"; we saw Achav ben Kolayah and Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseiah, whom the king of Babylonia roasted in fire; and now Shemaiah the Nechlamite, who opposed Yirmiyahu's prophecy, and for him too, the Holy One, Blessed be He, promises a curse.
All of these were in fact promises meant to help Yirmiyahu's prophecy be accepted by the hearts of the people. For his prophecy, on its own, suffered from a major disadvantage - it was a grim prophecy, and hard to accept. But when the people see how the false prophets fall one by one, two things are accomplished: first, no one has any incentive to become a false prophet anymore, because of fear; and second, the people see that Yirmiyahu is a true prophet whose words must be accepted unconditionally, while all the others are false prophets whose words should be disregarded.
In this section of the chapter, Yirmiyahu puts an end to any hope of a quick return: not only will the exiles not return, but those remaining in Jerusalem with King Tzidkiyahu are destined for sword, famine, and pestilence, and to be like the bad figs that cannot be eaten. Afterward, he delivers personal prophecies of punishment to the false prophets: Achav ben Kolayah and Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseiah, who acted as procurers for one another in sin under the guise of prophecy, and were roasted in fire like parched grain by Nevuchadnezzar; and Shemaiah the Nechlamite, who dared to send letters to Jerusalem to silence Yirmiyahu, and it was decreed upon him and his offspring that he shall have no one dwelling among the people, nor shall he see the good that Hashem will do for His people. From these accounts, we also learned about the responsibility of Yehoshua the Kohen Gadol, who did not protest against his sons, and that "garments" are an allegory for the soul - that a person should be as meticulous about the purity of his soul as he is about the cleanliness of his clothes.