Jeremiah 2:1-22:11
Christian Standard Bible
Israel Accused of Apostasy
2 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:
I remember the loyalty of your youth,(A)
your love as a bride—
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,(B)
the firstfruits of his harvest.(C)
All who ate of it found themselves guilty;(D)
disaster came on them.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.
5 This is what the Lord says:
What fault did your ancestors find in me(E)
that they went so far from me,
followed worthless idols,(F)
and became worthless themselves?(G)
6 They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord(H)
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,(I)
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness,[a]
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived?”
7 I brought you to a fertile land(J)
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled my land;(K)
you made my inheritance(L) detestable.
8 The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law no longer knew me,(M)
and the rulers(N) rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by[b] Baal(O)
and followed useless idols.(P)
9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will bring a case against your children’s children.(Q)
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus[c](R) and take a look.
Send someone to Kedar(S) and consider carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?(T)
(But they were not gods!(U))
Yet my people have exchanged their[d] Glory
for useless idols.(V)
12 Be appalled at this, heavens;(W)
be shocked and utterly desolated!
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13 For my people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned me,(X)
the fountain of living water,(Y)
and dug cisterns for themselves—
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.(Z)
Consequences of Apostasy
14 Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?[e]
Why else has he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared at him;(AA)
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.(AB)
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16 The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes(AC)
have also broken your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself(AD)
by abandoning the Lord your God
while he was leading you along the way?
18 Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt(AE)
to drink the water of the Nile?[f]
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria(AF)
to drink the water of the Euphrates?(AG)
19 Your own evil will discipline you;(AH)
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Recognize[g] how evil and bitter(AI) it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of me.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
20 For long ago I[h] broke your yoke;(AJ)
I[i] tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree(AK)
you lay down like a prostitute.(AL)
21 I planted you, a choice vine(AM)
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?(AN)
22 Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of bleach,[j](AO)
the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me.(AP)
This is the Lord God’s declaration.
23 How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?(AQ)
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.(AR)
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
24 a wild donkey(AS) at home[k] in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become weary;
they will find her in her mating season.[l]
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;(AT)
I love strangers,(AU)
and I will continue to follow them.”
26 Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
so the house of Israel has been put to shame.(AV)
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets(AW)
27 say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to me
and not their face,(AX)
yet in their time of disaster(AY) they beg,
“Rise up and save us!”
28 But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you(AZ)
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.
Judgment Deserved
29 Why do you bring a case against me?(BA)
All of you have rebelled against me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
30 I have struck down your children in vain;
they would not accept discipline.(BB)
Your own sword has devoured your prophets(BC)
like a ravaging lion.
31 Evil generation,(BD)
pay attention to the word of the Lord!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of dense darkness?(BE)
Why do my people claim,
“We will go where we want;[m]
we will no longer come to you”?
32 Can a young woman forget her jewelry(BF)
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet my people have forgotten me(BG)
for countless days.
33 How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.
34 Moreover, your skirts are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor.(BH)
You did not catch them breaking and entering.(BI)
But in spite of all these things
35 you claim, “I am innocent.(BJ)
His anger is sure to turn away from me.”
But I will certainly judge you
because you have said, “I have not sinned.”(BK)
36 How unstable you are,(BL)
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt(BM)
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 Moreover, you will be led out from here
with your hands on your head(BN)
since the Lord has rejected those you trust;(BO)
you will not succeed even with their help.[n]
Wages of Apostasy
3 If[o] a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him to marry another,
can he ever return to her?(BP)
Wouldn’t such a land[p] become totally defiled?
But you!
You have prostituted yourself with many partners(BQ)—
can you return to me?(BR)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
2 Look to the barren heights(BS) and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways(BT)
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.(BU)
3 This is why the showers haven’t come(BV)—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look(BW) of a prostitute[q]
and refuse to be ashamed.(BX)
4 Haven’t you recently called to me, “My Father!(BY)
You were my friend in my youth.(BZ)
5 Will he bear a grudge forever?(CA)
Will he be endlessly infuriated?”
This is what you have said,
but you have done the evil things
you are capable of.
Unfaithful Israel, Treacherous Judah
6 In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there.(CB) 7 I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’(CC) But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah(CD) saw it. 8 I[r] observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce.(CE) Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.(CF) 9 Indifferent to[s] her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones(CG) and trees.(CH) 10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart(CI)—only in pretense.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11 The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.(CJ) 12 Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say,
‘Return, unfaithful Israel.(CK)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,[t]
for I am unfailing in my love.(CL)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not be angry forever.(CM)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt(CN)—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.(CO)
You have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree(CP)
and have not obeyed me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
14 “‘Return, you faithless children(CQ)—this is the Lord’s declaration—for I am your master,[u](CR) and I will take you,(CS) one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds who are loyal to me,[v](CT) and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. 16 When you multiply and increase in the land,(CU) in those days—this is the Lord’s declaration—no one will say again, “The ark of the Lord’s covenant.”(CV) It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made.[w] 17 At that time Jerusalem will be called The Lord’s Throne,(CW) and all the nations will be gathered to it,(CX) to the name of the Lord in Jerusalem.(CY) They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel,(CZ) and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.’”(DA)
True Repentance
19 I thought, “How I long to make you my sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance(DB) of all the nations.”
I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’
and never turn away from me.”
20 However, as a woman may betray her lover,[x]
so you have betrayed(DC) me, house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
21 A sound is heard on the barren heights:
the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,
for they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.(DD)
22 Return, you faithless children.
I will heal your unfaithfulness.(DE)
“Here we are, coming to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,
commotion from the mountains,(DF)
but the salvation of Israel
is only in the Lord our God.(DG)
24 From the time of our youth
the shameful one[y] has consumed
what our ancestors have worked for—
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame;
let our disgrace cover us.(DH)
We have sinned against the Lord our God,(DI)
both we and our ancestors,
from the time of our youth even to this day.(DJ)
We have not obeyed the Lord our God.”
Blessing or Curse
4 If you return,[z] Israel—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will return to me,(DK)
if you remove your abhorrent idols(DL)
from my presence
and do not waver,
2 then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”(DM)
in truth,(DN) justice, and righteousness,(DO)
and then the nations will be blessed[aa] by him(DP)
and will boast in him.(DQ)
3 For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
Break up the unplowed ground;(DR)
do not sow among the thorns.(DS)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,(DT)
men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, my wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it(DU)
because of your evil deeds.
Judgment from the North
5 Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.(DV)
Cry out loudly and say,
“Assemble yourselves,
and let’s flee to the fortified cities.”
6 Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.(DW)
Run for cover! Don’t stand still!
For I am bringing disaster from the north—
a crushing blow.(DX)
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket;(DY)
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to make your land a waste.
Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.(DZ)
8 Because of this, put on sackcloth;
mourn and wail,(EA)
for the Lord’s burning anger(EB)
has not turned away from us.
9 “On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”
10 I said, “Oh no, Lord God, you have certainly deceived(EC) this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’(ED) while a sword is at[ab] our throats.”
11 “At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind(EE) blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to my dear[ac] people. It comes not to winnow or to sift; 12 a wind too strong for this comes at my call.[ad] Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”(EF)
13 Look, he advances like clouds;(EG)
his chariots are like a storm.(EH)
His horses are swifter than eagles.(EI)
Woe to us, for we are ruined!(EJ)
14 Wash the evil from your heart,(EK) Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts?(EL)
15 For a voice announces from Dan,
proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;(EM)
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.
17 They have her surrounded(EN)
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against me.(EO)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
18 Your way and your actions
have brought this on you.(EP)
This is your punishment. It is very bitter,
because it has reached your heart!
Jeremiah’s Lament
19 My anguish, my anguish![ae] I writhe in agony!
Oh, the pain in[af] my heart!(EQ)
My heart pounds;
I cannot be silent.
For you, my soul,
have heard the sound of the ram’s horn—
the shout of battle.
20 Disaster after disaster(ER) is reported
because the whole land is destroyed.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my tent curtains, in a moment.
21 How long must I see the signal flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?
22 “For my people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are foolish children,
without understanding.(ES)
They are skilled in doing what is evil,
but they do not know how to do what is good.”(ET)
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty.(EU)
I looked to the heavens,
and their light was gone.(EV)
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;(EW)
all the hills shook.
25 I looked, and there was no human being,(EX)
and all the birds of the sky had fled.(EY)
26 I looked, and the fertile field(EZ) was a wilderness.(FA)
All its cities were torn down
because of the Lord
and his burning anger.(FB)
27 For this is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be a desolation,(FC)
but I will not finish it off.(FD)
28 Because of this, the earth will mourn;(FE)
the skies above will grow dark.(FF)
I have spoken; I have planned,
and I will not relent or turn back from it.”(FG)
29 Every city flees(FH)
at the sound of the horseman and the archer.
They enter the thickets
and climb among the rocks.(FI)
Every city is abandoned;
no inhabitant is left.
30 And you, devastated one, what are you doing(FJ)
that you dress yourself in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,
that you enhance your eyes with makeup?(FK)
You beautify yourself for nothing.
Your lovers reject you;(FL)
they intend to take your life.(FM)
31 I hear a cry like a woman in labor,(FN)
a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.
The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:(FO)
“Woe is me, for my life is weary
because of the murderers!”
The Depravity of Jerusalem
5 Roam(FP) through the streets of Jerusalem.
Investigate;[ag]
search in her squares.
If you find one person,(FQ)
any who acts justly,
who pursues faithfulness,
then I will forgive her.(FR)
2 When they say, “As the Lord lives,”(FS)
they are swearing falsely.(FT)
3 Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?(FU)
You have struck them, but they felt no pain.(FV)
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.(FW)
They made their faces harder than rock,(FX)
and they refused to return.(FY)
4 Then I thought:
They are just the poor;
they have been foolish.
For they don’t understand the way of the Lord,(FZ)
the justice of their God.(GA)
5 I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.(GB)
However, these also had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.(GC)
6 Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.(GD)
A wolf from arid plains will ravage them.
A leopard(GE) stalks their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,(GF)
their unfaithful deeds numerous.(GG)
7 Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned me
and sworn by those who are not gods.(GH)
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;(GI)
they gashed themselves(GJ) at the[ah] prostitute’s house.
8 They are well-fed,[ai] eager[aj] stallions,(GK)
each neighing(GL) after someone else’s wife.(GM)
9 Should I not punish them for these things?(GN)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself(GO)
on such a nation as this?
10 Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,(GP)
but do not finish them off.(GQ)
Prune away her shoots,
for they do not belong to the Lord.(GR)
11 They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
have dealt very treacherously with me.(GS)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
12 They have contradicted the Lord
and insisted, “It won’t happen.[ak](GT)
Harm won’t come to us;
we won’t see sword or famine.”
13 The prophets become only wind,
for the Lord’s word is not in them.
This will in fact happen to them.
Coming Judgment
14 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Armies says:
Because you have spoken this word,
I am going to make my words
become fire in your mouth.(GU)
These people are the wood,
and the fire will consume them.(GV)
15 I am about to bring a nation
from far away against you,(GW)
house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know
and whose speech you do not understand.(GX)
16 Their quiver is like an open grave;(GY)
they are all warriors.
17 They will consume your harvest and your food.(GZ)
They will consume your sons and your daughters.
They will consume your flocks and your herds.
They will consume your vines and your fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
your fortified cities(HA) in which you trust.
18 “But even in those days”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will not finish you off.(HB) 19 When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me(HC) and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’(HD)
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 Hear this,
you foolish and senseless[al] people.(HE)
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
They have ears, but they don’t hear.(HF)
22 Do you not fear me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Do you not tremble before me,
the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,
an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?(HG)
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot pass over it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.(HH)
They have turned aside and have gone away.
24 They have not said to themselves,
‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,(HI)
who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring,(HJ)
who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’
25 Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.
Your sins have withheld my bounty from you,(HK)
26 for wicked men live among my people.
They watch like hunters[am] lying in wait.[an](HL)
They set a trap;(HM)
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.(HN)
Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.
28 They have become fat(HO) and sleek.
They have also excelled in evil matters.
They have not taken up cases,
such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,
and they have not defended the rights of the needy.(HP)
29 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself(HQ)
on such a nation as this?
30 “An appalling, horrible thing
has taken place in the land.(HR)
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,(HS)
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it like this.
But what will you do at the end of it?(HT)
Threatened Siege of Jerusalem
6 “Run for cover(HU)
out of Jerusalem, Benjaminites.
Sound the ram’s horn(HV) in Tekoa;(HW)
raise a smoke signal(HX) over Beth-haccherem,[ao]
for disaster threatens from the north,(HY)
even a crushing blow.
2 Though she is beautiful and delicate,
I will destroy[ap] Daughter Zion.
3 Shepherds and their flocks will come against her;
they will pitch their tents all around her.(HZ)
Each will pasture his own portion.
4 Set them apart for war(IA) against her;
rise up, let’s attack at noon.
Woe to us, for the day is passing;
the evening shadows grow long.
5 Rise up, let’s attack by night.
Let’s destroy her fortresses.”
6 For this is what the Lord of Armies says:
Cut down the trees;(IB)
raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished.
There is nothing but oppression within her.(IC)
7 As a well gushes out its water,
so she pours out her evil.[aq]
Violence and destruction(ID) resound in her.
Sickness and wounds keep coming to my attention.
8 Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you;(IE)
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitants.(IF)
Wrath on Israel
9 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Glean the remnant of Israel(IG)
as thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer
over the branches.
10 Who can I speak to and give such a warning[ar]
that they will listen?
Look, their ear is uncircumcised,[as](IH)
so they cannot pay attention.
See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them—
they find no pleasure in it.(II)
11 But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;
I am tired of holding it back.(IJ)
Pour it out on the children in the street,(IK)
on the gathering of young men as well.
For both husband and wife will be captured,
the old with the very old.[at]
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,(IL)
their fields and wives as well,
for I will stretch out my hand(IM)
against the inhabitants of the land.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13 For from the least to the greatest of them,(IN)
everyone is making profit dishonestly.(IO)
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(IP)
14 They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially,
claiming, “Peace, peace,”(IQ)
when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.(IR)
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,(IS)
says the Lord.
Disaster because of Disobedience
16 This is what the Lord says:
Stand by the roadways and look.
Ask about the ancient paths,(IT)
“Which is the way to what is good?”
Then take it
and find rest for yourselves.(IU)
But they protested, “We won’t!”
17 I appointed watchmen over you(IV)
and said, “Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.”
But they protested, “We won’t listen!”
18 Therefore listen, you nations
and you witnesses,
learn what the charge is against them.
19 Listen, earth!
I am about to bring disaster on these people,
the fruit of their own plotting,(IW)
for they have paid no attention to my words.
They have rejected my instruction.(IX)
20 What use to me is frankincense from Sheba(IY)
or sweet cane(IZ) from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please me.(JA)
21 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;
fathers and sons together will stumble over them;(JB)
friends and neighbors will also perish.
A Cruel Nation from the North
22 This is what the Lord says:
Look,(JC) an army is coming from a northern land;(JD)
a great nation will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(JE)
23 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.(JF)
Their voice roars like the sea,(JG)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Zion.
24 We have heard about it,
and our hands have become weak.
Distress has seized us—
pain, like a woman in labor.(JH)
25 Don’t go out to the fields;
don’t walk on the road.
For the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side.(JI)
26 My dear[au] people, dress yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the dust.(JJ)
Mourn as you would for an only son,(JK)
a bitter lament,
for suddenly the destroyer(JL) will come on us.(JM)
Jeremiah Appointed as an Examiner
27 I have appointed you to be an assayer among my people—
a refiner[av]—
so you may know and assay their way of life.(JN)
28 All are stubborn rebels
spreading slander.(JO)
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt.(JP)
29 The bellows blow,
blasting the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain;
the evil ones are not separated out.
30 They are called rejected silver,
for the Lord has rejected them.(JQ)
False Trust in the Temple
7 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord(JR) and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.
3 “‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions,(JS) and I will allow you to live in this place. 4 Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” 5 Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,[aw](JT) 6 if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow(JU) and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, 7 I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors(JV) long ago and forever. 8 But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.
9 “‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?(JW) 10 Then do you come and stand before me in this house(JX) that bears my name and say, “We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”? 11 Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers(JY) in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.(JZ)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Shiloh as a Warning
12 “‘But return to my place that was at Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first.(KA) See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 Now, because you have done all these things—this is the Lord’s declaration—and because I have spoken to you time and time again[ax] but you wouldn’t listen,(KB) and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,(KC) 14 what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that bears my name,(KD) the house in which you trust, the place that I gave you and your ancestors. 15 I will banish you from my presence, just as I banished all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’(KE)
Do Not Pray for Judah
16 “As for you, do not pray for these people.(KF) Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me,(KG) for I will not listen to you.(KH) 17 Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,[ay](KI) and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. 19 But are they really provoking me?” (KJ) This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”
20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, my anger—my burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place,(KK) on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”(KL)
Obedience over Sacrifice
21 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,(KM) 22 for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them(KN) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. 23 However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’(KO) 24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention(KP) but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.(KQ) 25 Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets(KR) to you time and time again.[az](KS) 26 However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;(KT) they did more evil than their ancestors.(KU)
A Lament for Disobedient Judah
27 “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth[ba] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. 29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow[bb](KV) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,(KW) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.’(KX)
30 “For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their abhorrent things(KY) in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.(KZ) 31 They have built the high places of Topheth[bc](LA) in Ben Hinnom Valley[bd](LB) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,(LC) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.
32 “Therefore, look, the days are coming”(LD)—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.(LE) Topheth will become a cemetery,[be] because there will be no other burial place. 33 The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.(LF) 34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,(LG) for the land will become a desolate waste.(LH)
Death over Life
8 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.(LI) 2 They will be exposed(LJ) to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky,(LK) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.(LL) 3 Death will be chosen over life(LM) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.”(LN) This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
4 “You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?(LO)
If they turn away, do they not return?
5 Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;(LP)
they refuse to return.(LQ)
6 I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.(LR)
7 Even storks in the sky
know their seasons.
Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes[bf]
are aware of their migration,
but my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.(LS)
Punishment for Judah’s Leaders
8 “How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the Lord is with us’?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes(LT)
has produced falsehood.
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord,(LU)
so what wisdom do they really have?
10 Therefore, I will give(LV) their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,(LW)
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have treated the brokenness
of my dear[bg] people superficially,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”(LX)
says the Lord.
13 “I will gather them and bring them to an end.”[bh](LY)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
“There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”
God’s People Unrepentant
14 Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let’s enter the fortified cities
and perish there,[bi]
for the Lord our God has destroyed[bj] us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,(LZ)
because we have sinned against the Lord.(MA)
15 We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.(MB)
16 From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,(MC)
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17 Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers(MD) that cannot be charmed.(ME)
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Lament over Judah
18 My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick.(MF)
19 Listen—the cry of my dear people
from a faraway land,
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,(MG)
her King not within her?”
Why have they angered me
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols?(MH)
20 Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.
21 I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear people.(MI)
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?(MJ)
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?
9 If my head were a flowing spring,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night(MK)
over the slain of my dear[bk] people.
2 If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,(ML)
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,(MM)
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.(MN)
3 They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take me into account.(MO)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,(MP)
and every friend spread slander.(MQ)
5 Each one betrays his friend;(MR)
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 You live in a world of deception.[bl](MS)
In their deception they refuse to know me.(MT)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says:
I am about to refine them and test them,(MU)
for what else can I do
because of my dear[bm] people?[bn]
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows—
they speak deception.(MV)
With his mouth
one speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself(MW)
on such a nation as this?
10 I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,(MX)
everything has fled—they have gone away.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,(MY)
a jackals’ den.(MZ)
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
12 Who is the person wise enough to understand this?(NA) Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned my instruction,(NB) which I set before them, and did not obey my voice or walk according to it. 14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts(NC) and followed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.”(ND) 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood(NE) and give them poisonous water to drink.(NF) 16 I will scatter them among the nations(NG) that they and their ancestors have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn;(NH)
send for the skillful women.
18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids be soaked with weeping.
19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,(NI)
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to[bo] the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
21 for Death(NJ) has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22 “Speak as follows: ‘This is what the Lord declares: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field,(NK) like newly cut grain(NL) after the reaper with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23 “‘This is what the Lord says:
The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
24 But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that he understands and knows me(NM)—
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 “‘Look, the days are coming—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:(NN) 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples.[bp] All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.’”(NO)
False Gods Contrasted with the Creator
10 Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to[bq] you, house of Israel. 2 This is what the Lord says:
Do not learn the way of the nations(NP)
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
although the nations are terrified by them,
3 for the customs of the peoples are worthless.
Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;
it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
4 He decorates it with silver and gold.(NQ)
It is fastened with hammer and nails,(NR)
so it won’t totter.
5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,
their idols cannot speak.(NS)
They must be carried(NT) because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them for they can do no harm(NU)—
and they cannot do any good.(NV)
6 Lord, there is no one like you.(NW)
You are great;
your name is great in power.(NX)
7 Who should not fear you,
King of the nations?(NY)
It is what you deserve.
For among all the wise people of the nations
and among all their kingdoms,
there is no one like you.
8 They are both stupid and foolish,
instructed by worthless idols
made of wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish(NZ)
and gold from Uphaz.[br](OA)
The work of a craftsman
and of a goldsmith’s hands
is clothed in blue and purple,
all the work of skilled artisans.
10 But the Lord is the true God;(OB)
he is the living God(OC) and eternal King.(OD)
The earth quakes at his wrath,(OE)
and the nations cannot endure his fury.
11 You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens(OF) and the earth will perish from the earth(OG) and from under these heavens.”[bs]
12 He made the earth by his power,
established the world(OH) by his wisdom,(OI)
and spread out the heavens by his understanding.(OJ)
13 When he thunders,[bt]
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,(OK)
and he causes the clouds to rise
from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from his storehouses.(OL)
14 Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by his carved image,(OM)
for his cast images are a lie;(ON)
there is no breath in them.(OO)
15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment
they will be destroyed.(OP)
16 Jacob’s Portion[bu] is not like these
because he is the one who formed all things.(OQ)
Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;(OR)
the Lord of Armies is his name.(OS)
Exile after the Siege
18 For this is what the Lord says:
Look, I am flinging away(OU)
the land’s residents at this time
and bringing them such distress
that they will feel it.
Jeremiah Grieves
19 Woe to me because of my brokenness—
I am severely wounded!(OV)
I exclaimed, “This is my intense suffering,
but I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed;(OW)
all my tent cords are snapped.
My sons have departed from me and are no more.
I have no one to pitch my tent again
or to hang up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid:
They don’t seek the Lord.(OX)
Therefore they have not prospered,
and their whole flock is scattered.
22 Listen! A noise—it is coming—
a great commotion(OY) from the land to the north.
The cities of Judah will be made desolate,
a jackals’ den.(OZ)
23 I know, Lord,
that a person’s way of life is not his own;
no one who walks determines his own steps.(PA)
24 Discipline me, Lord, but with justice—
not in your anger,(PB)
or you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don’t recognize you
and on the families
that don’t call on your name,
for they have consumed Jacob;
they have consumed him and finished him off
and made his homeland desolate.(PC)
Reminder of the Covenant
11 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the words of this covenant(PD) and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,(PE) 4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,(PF) out of the iron furnace.”(PG) I declared, “Obey me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God,”(PH) 5 in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors,(PI) to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’”
I answered, “Amen, Lord.”(PJ)
6 The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.’ 7 For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again,[bw](PK) ‘Obey me.’ 8 Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart.(PL) So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.”
9 The Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah(PM) and the residents of Jerusalem. 10 They have returned to the iniquities of their ancestors(PN) who refused to obey my words and have followed other gods to worship them.(PO) The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant I made with their ancestors.
11 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape.(PP) They will cry out to me, but I will not hear them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.(PQ) 13 Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah,(PR) and the altars you have set up to Shame[bx](PS)—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.
14 “As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf,(PT) for I will not be listening when they call out to me at the time of their disaster.
15 What right does my beloved have
to be in my house,(PU)
having carried out so many evil schemes?
Can holy meat[by](PV) prevent your disaster[bz]
so you can celebrate?
16 The Lord named you
a flourishing olive tree,(PW)
beautiful with well-formed fruit.
He has set fire to it,
and its branches are consumed[ca](PX)
with the sound of a mighty tumult.(PY)
17 “The Lord of Armies who planted you(PZ) has decreed disaster against you, because of the disaster[cb] the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves when they angered me by burning incense to Baal.”
18 The Lord informed me, so I knew.
Then you helped me to see their deeds,
19 for I was like a docile[cc] lamb led to slaughter.(QA)
I didn’t know that they had devised plots against me:
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit;[cd]
let’s cut him off from the land of the living(QB)
so that his name will no longer be remembered.”
20 But, Lord of Armies, who judges righteously,
who tests(QC) heart[ce] and mind,(QD)
let me see your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to you.(QE)
21 Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth(QF) who intend to take your life. They warn, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord,(QG) or you will certainly die at our hand.” 22 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.(QH) 23 They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth(QI) in the year of their punishment.”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
12 You will be righteous, Lord,(QJ)
even if I bring a case against you.
Yet, I wish to contend with you:(QK)
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?(QL)
Why do all the treacherous live at ease?
2 You planted them,(QM) and they have taken root.
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,[cf]
but far from their conscience.[cg](QN)
3 As for you, Lord, you know me; you see me.(QO)
You test whether my heart is with you.(QP)
Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter(QQ)
and set them apart for the day of killing.
4 How long will the land mourn(QR)
and the grass of every field wither?
Because of the evil of its residents,
animals and birds have been swept away,(QS)
for the people have said,
“He cannot see what our end will be.”[ch](QT)
The Lord’s Response
5 If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[ci] in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?(QU)
6 Even your brothers—your own father’s family—
even they were treacherous to you;(QV)
even they have cried out loudly after you.(QW)
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.
7 I have abandoned my house;(QX)
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have handed the love of my life
over to her enemies.
8 My inheritance has behaved toward me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against me.
Therefore, I hate her.(QY)
9 Is my inheritance like a hyena[cj] to me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;(QZ)
bring them to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled my plot of land.(RA)
They have turned my desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.
11 They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.(RB)
12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the Lord has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.(RC)
13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.(RD)
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.(RE)
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the Lord’s burning anger.(RF)
14 This is what the Lord says: “Concerning all my evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to my people, Israel, I am about to uproot them(RG) from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them. 15 After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion(RH) on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. 16 If they will diligently learn the ways of my people(RI)—to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among my people. 17 However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.”(RJ)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Linen Underwear
13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment(RK) and put it on.[ck] But do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4 “Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing,[cl] and go at once to the Euphrates[cm] and hide it in a rocky crevice.”(RL) 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 A long time later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.(RM) 10 These evil people, who refuse to listen to me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts,(RN) and who have followed other gods to serve and bow in worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all. 11 Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to me”(RO)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so that they might be my people for my fame, praise, and glory,(RP) but they would not obey.
The Wine Jars
12 “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine.’ Then they will respond to you, ‘Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ 13 And you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land—the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike—this is the Lord’s declaration. I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”(RQ)
The Lord’s Warning
15 Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God(RR)
before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the mountains at dusk.
You wait for light,
but he brings darkest gloom[cn]
and makes total darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
my innermost being will weep in secret
because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
for the Lord’s flock(RS) has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:(RT)
Take a humble seat,
for your glorious crowns
have fallen from your heads.
19 The cities of the Negev are under siege;
no one can help them.
All of Judah has been taken into exile,
taken completely into exile.
20 Look up and see
those coming from the north.(RU)
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
The Destiny of Jerusalem
21 What will you say when he appoints
close friends as leaders over you,
ones you yourself trained?
Won’t labor pains seize you,(RV)
as they do a woman in labor?
22 And when you ask yourself,
“Why have these things happened to me?”
it is because of your great guilt(RW)
that your skirts have been stripped off,(RX)
your body exposed.[co]
23 Can the Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,(RY)
you who are instructed in evil.
24 I will scatter you[cp] like drifting chaff(RZ)
before the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
what I have decreed for you—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
because you have forgotten me(SA)
and trusted in lies.(SB)
26 I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.(SC)
27 Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,(SD)
your depraved prostitution
on the hills, in the fields—
I have seen your abhorrent acts.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
You are unclean—
for how long yet?(SE)
The Drought
14 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:(SF)
2 Judah mourns;
her city gates languish.(SG)
Her people are on the ground in mourning;
Jerusalem’s cry rises up.(SH)
3 Their nobles send their servants[cq] for water.
They go to the cisterns;
they find no water;
their containers return empty.
They are ashamed and humiliated;
they cover their heads.(SI)
4 The ground is cracked
since no rain has fallen on the land.
The farmers are ashamed;(SJ)
they cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field
gives birth and abandons her fawn
since there is no grass.
6 Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights(SK)
panting for air like jackals.
Their eyes fail
because there are no green plants.
7 Though our iniquities testify against us,
Lord, act for your name’s sake.
Indeed, our rebellions(SL) are many;
we have sinned against you.(SM)
8 Hope of Israel,(SN)
its Savior in time of distress,
why are you like a resident alien in the land,
like a traveler stopping only for the night?
9 Why are you like a helpless man,
like a warrior unable to save?(SO)
Yet you are among us, Lord,(SP)
and we bear your name.
Don’t leave us!
10 This is what the Lord says concerning these people:
Truly they love to wander;(SQ)
they never rest their feet.
So the Lord does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.(SR)
False Prophets to Be Punished
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of these people.(SS) 12 If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague.”(ST)
13 And I replied, “Oh no, Lord God! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you lasting peace in this place.’”(SU)
14 But the Lord said to me, “These prophets are prophesying a lie in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit(SV) of their own minds.(SW)
15 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them, and who say, ‘There will never be sword or famine in this land.’ By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end. 16 The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them(SX)—they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them.”
Jeremiah’s Request
17 You are to speak this word to them:
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
day and night may they not stop,(SY)
for my dearest people[cr]
have been destroyed by a crushing blow,(SZ)
an extremely severe wound.(TA)
18 If I go out to the field,
look—those slain by the sword!
If I enter the city,
look—those ill(TB) from famine!
For both prophet and priest
travel to a land they do not know.
19 Have you completely rejected Judah?
Do you detest(TC) Zion?
Why do you strike us
with no hope of healing for us?
We hoped for peace,
but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing,
but there was only terror.(TD)
20 We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord,
the iniquity of our ancestors;(TE)
indeed, we have sinned against you.
21 For your name’s sake, don’t despise us.
Don’t disdain your glorious throne.(TF)
Remember your covenant(TG) with us;
do not break it.
22 Can any of the worthless idols of the nations(TH) bring rain?
Or can the skies alone give showers?
Are you not the Lord our God?
We therefore put our hope in you,(TI)
for you have done all these things.
The Lord’s Negative Response
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel(TJ) should stand before me,(TK) my compassions would not reach out to these people. Send them from my presence, and let them go.(TL) 2 If they ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ tell them: This is what the Lord says:
Those destined for death,(TM) to death;
those destined for the sword, to the sword.
Those destined for famine, to famine;
those destined for captivity, to captivity.
3 “I will ordain four kinds[cs] of judgment for them”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away,(TN) and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land(TO) to devour and destroy. 4 I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh(TP) son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5 Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?(TQ)
Who will show sympathy toward you?(TR)
Who will turn aside
to ask about your well-being?
6 You have left me.”(TS)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
“You have turned your back,
so I have stretched out my hand against you
and destroyed you.
I am tired(TT) of showing compassion.
7 I scattered them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I made them childless; I destroyed my people.
They would not turn from their ways.(TU)
8 I made their widows more numerous
than the sand of the seas.(TV)
I brought a destroyer at noon
against the mother of young men.
I suddenly released on her
agitation and terrors.
9 The mother of seven grew faint;(TW)
she breathed her last breath.
Her sun set while it was still day;
she was ashamed and humiliated.
The rest of them I will give over to the sword
in the presence of their enemies.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Jeremiah’s Complaint
10 Woe is me, my mother,
that you gave birth to me,(TX)
a man who incites dispute and conflict
in all the land.
I did not lend or borrow,
yet everyone curses me.(TY)
The Lord’s Response
11 The Lord said:
Haven’t I set you loose for your good?
Haven’t I punished you
in a time of trouble,
in a time of distress with the enemy?[ct]
12 Can anyone smash iron,
iron from the north, or bronze?
13 I will give up your wealth
and your treasures as plunder,
without cost,(TZ) for all your sins
in all your borders.
14 Then I will make you serve your enemies[cu]
in a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
that will burn against you.(UA)
Jeremiah’s Prayer for Vengeance
15 You know,(UB) Lord;
remember me and take note of me.(UC)
Avenge me against my persecutors.(UD)
In your patience,[cv] don’t take me away.
Know that I suffer disgrace for your honor.(UE)
16 Your words were found, and I ate them.(UF)
Your words became a delight to me
and the joy of my heart,
for I bear your name,(UG)
Lord God of Armies.
17 I never sat with the band of revelers,
and I did not celebrate with them.
Because your hand was on me, I sat alone,(UH)
for you filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain become unending,
my wound incurable,(UI)
refusing to be healed?
You truly have become like a mirage to me—
water that is not reliable.
Jeremiah Told to Repent
19 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
If you return, I will take you back;
you will stand in my presence.
And if you speak noble words,
rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.(UJ)
It is they who must return to you;
you must not return to them.
20 Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze
to this people.
They will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to save you and rescue you.(UK)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
21 I will rescue you from the power of evil people
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
No Marriage for Jeremiah
16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Do not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land: 4 They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the soil’s surface.(UL) They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.(UM)
5 “For this is what the Lord says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place.[cw] Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed my peace from these people as well as my faithful love and compassion.” This is the Lord’s declaration.(UN) 6 “Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or(UO) shave his head for them.[cx] 7 Food won’t be provided for the mourner(UP) to comfort him because of the dead. A consoling drink won’t be given him for the loss of his father or mother. 8 Do not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink. 9 For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride.(UQ)
Abandoning the Lord and His Law
10 “When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this terrible disaster against us?(UR) What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 Then you will answer them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me(US)—this is the Lord’s declaration—and followed other gods, served them, and bowed in worship to them.(UT) Indeed, they abandoned me and did not keep my instruction. 12 You did more evil than your ancestors.(UU) Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying me. 13 So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your ancestors have not known.(UV) There you will worship other gods(UW) both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.’[cy]
14 “However, look, the days are coming”(UX)—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’(UY) 15 but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north(UZ) and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.(VA)
Punishment of Exile
16 “I am about to send for many fishermen”(VB)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, 17 for my gaze takes in all their ways.(VC) They are not concealed from me, and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight. 18 I will first repay them double for their iniquity(VD) and sin because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their abhorrent and detestable idols.”
19 Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of distress,(VE)
the nations will come to you
from the ends of the earth, and they will say,
“Our ancestors inherited only lies,
worthless idols(VF) of no benefit at all.”
20 Can one make gods for himself?
But they are not gods.(VG)
21 “Therefore, I am about to inform them,
and this time I will make them know
my power and my might;
then they will know that my name is the Lord.”(VH)
The Persistent Sin of Judah
17 The sin of Judah is inscribed
with an iron stylus.(VI)
With a diamond point
it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts(VJ)
and on the horns of their[cz] altars,
2 while their children remember their altars
and their Asherah poles, by the green trees
on the high hills(VK)—
3 my mountains in the countryside.
I will give up your wealth
and all your treasures as plunder(VL)
because of the sin of your high places[da]
in all your borders.(VM)
4 You will, on your own, relinquish your inheritance
that I gave you.
I will make you serve your enemies
in a land you do not know,(VN)
for you have set my anger on fire;(VO)
it will burn forever.
Curse and Blessing
5 This is what the Lord says:
Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind.(VP)
He makes human flesh his strength,(VQ)
and his heart turns from the Lord.
6 He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;(VR)
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.(VS)
7 The person who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.(VT)
8 He will be like a tree planted by water:(VU)
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.
The Deceitful Heart
10 I, the Lord, examine the mind,
I test the heart[db](VX)
to give to each according to his way,
according to what his actions deserve.(VY)
11 He who makes a fortune unjustly
is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.
In the middle of his life
his riches will abandon him,
so in the end he will be a fool.(VZ)
12 A glorious throne(WA)
on high(WB) from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.(WC)
13 Lord, the hope of Israel,(WD)
all who abandon you
will be put to shame.
All who turn away from me
will be written in the dirt,
for they have abandoned
the Lord, the fountain of living water.(WE)
Jeremiah’s Plea
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for you are my praise.(WF)
15 Hear how they keep challenging me,(WG)
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!”
16 But I have not run away from being your shepherd,
and I have not longed for the fatal day.(WH)
You know my words were spoken in your presence.
17 Don’t become a terror to me.
You are my refuge(WI) in the day of disaster.
18 Let my persecutors be put to shame,(WJ)
but don’t let me be put to shame.
Let them be terrified, but don’t let me be terrified.
Bring on them the day of disaster;(WK)
shatter them with total[dc] destruction.
Observing the Sabbath
19 This is what the Lord said to me, “Go and stand at the People’s Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Announce to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.(WL) 22 Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work,(WM) but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your ancestors.(WN) 23 They wouldn’t listen or pay attention but became obstinate,(WO) not listening or accepting discipline.
24 “‘However, if you listen to me—this is the Lord’s declaration—and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25 kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David;(WP) they will ride in chariots and on horses(WQ) with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever. 26 Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev(WR) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thanksgiving sacrifices to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates,(WS) and it will consume the citadels(WT) of Jerusalem(WU) and not be extinguished.’”(WV)
Parable of the Potter
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house;(WW) there I will reveal my words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.[dd] 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.(WX)
5 The word of the Lord came to me: 6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.(WY) 7 At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.(WZ) 8 However, if that nation about which I have made the announcement turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.(XA) 9 At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.(XB) 10 However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening to me, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.(XC) 11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.’(XD) 12 But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless.(XE) We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
Deluded Israel
13 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
Ask among the nations,
who has heard things like these?
Virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing.(XF)
14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?
Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me.(XG)
They burn incense to worthless idols
that make them stumble in their ways(XH)
on the ancient roads,(XI)
and make them walk on new paths, not the highway.
16 They have made their land a horror,(XJ)
a perpetual object of scorn;[de](XK)
all who pass by it will be appalled(XL)
and shake their heads.(XM)
17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind.(XN)
I will show them[df] my back and not my face(XO)
on the day of their calamity.
Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah,(XP) for instruction will never be lost from the priest,(XQ) or counsel from the wise, or a word from the prophet.(XR) Come, let’s denounce him[dg] and pay no attention to all his words.”
19 Pay attention to me, Lord.
Hear what my opponents are saying!(XS)
20 Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.(XT)
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn your anger from them.
21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine,(XU)
and give them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives become childless and widowed,
their husbands slain by deadly disease,[dh]
their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring raiders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden snares for my feet.(XV)
23 But you, Lord, know
all their deadly plots against me.
Do not wipe out their iniquity;(XW)
do not blot out their sin before you.
Let them be forced to stumble before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.
The Clay Jar
19 This is what the Lord says: “Go, buy a potter’s clay(XX) jar. Take[di] some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests(XY) 2 and go out to Ben Hinnom Valley(XZ) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. 3 Say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.(YA) This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder[dj](YB) 4 because they have abandoned me(YC) and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.(YD) 5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.[dk](YE)
6 “‘Therefore, look, the days are coming(YF)—this is the Lord’s declaration—when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.(YG) 7 I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who intend to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.(YH) 8 I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and scoff because of all its wounds.(YI) 9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other’s flesh in the distressing siege inflicted on them by their enemies who intend to take their life.’(YJ)
10 “Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people going with you, 11 and you are to proclaim to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.(YK) 12 That is what I will do to this place—this is the declaration of the Lord—and to its residents, making this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the stars in the sky(YL) and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”
14 Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple,(YM) and proclaimed to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city—and on all its cities—every disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying my words.’”(YN)
Jeremiah Beaten by Pashhur
20 Pashhur the priest,(YO) the son of Immer(YP) and chief official in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks(YQ) at the Upper Benjamin Gate(YR) in the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Terror Is on Every Side,[dl] 4 for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love.(YS) They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes.(YT) I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword. 5 I will give away all the wealth(YU) of this city, all its products(YV) and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.(YW) 6 As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon.(YX) There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies.’”(YY)
Jeremiah Compelled to Preach
7 You deceived(YZ) me, Lord, and I was deceived.
You seized me and prevailed.
I am a laughingstock all the time;(ZA)
everyone ridicules me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” (ZB)
so the word of the Lord has become my
constant disgrace and derision.
9 I say, “I won’t mention him
or speak any longer in his name.”(ZC)
But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart,(ZD)
shut up in my bones.
I become tired of holding it in,(ZE)
and I cannot prevail.
10 For I have heard the gossip of many people,
“Terror is on every side!(ZF)
Report him; let’s report him!”
Everyone I trusted[dm] watches for my fall.(ZG)
“Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we might prevail against him
and take our vengeance on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior.(ZH)
Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed,
an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.(ZI)
12 Lord of Armies, testing the righteous
and seeing the heart[dn] and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to you.(ZJ)
13 Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord,
for he rescues the life of the needy
from evil people.
Jeremiah’s Lament
14 May the day I was born
be cursed.(ZK)
May the day my mother bore me
never be blessed.
15 May the man be cursed
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A male child is born to you,”
bringing him great joy.
16 Let that man be like the cities
the Lord demolished without compassion.(ZL)
Let him hear an outcry in the morning(ZM)
and a war cry at noontime
17 because he didn’t kill me in the womb(ZN)
so that my mother might have been my grave,
her womb eternally pregnant.
18 Why did I come out of the womb
to see only struggle and sorrow,(ZO)
to end my life in shame?
Zedekiah’s Request Denied
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur(ZP) son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah(ZQ) son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking, 2 “Inquire of the Lord on our behalf, since King Nebuchadnezzar[do](ZR) of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all his past wondrous works so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”
3 But Jeremiah answered, “This is what you are to say to Zedekiah: 4 ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am about to repel the weapons of war in your hands,(ZS) those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans[dp] who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.(ZT) 5 I myself will fight against you(ZU) with an outstretched hand and a strong arm,(ZV) with anger, fury, and intense wrath. 6 I will strike the residents of this city, both people and animals. They will die in a severe plague. 7 Afterward—this is the Lord’s declaration—King Zedekiah of Judah, his officers, and the people—those in this city who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine—I will hand over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,(ZW) to their enemies, yes, to those who intend to take their lives. He will put them to the sword; he won’t spare them or show pity or compassion.’(ZX)
A Warning for the People
8 “But tell this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.(ZY) 9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils of war.(ZZ) 10 For I have set my face against this city to bring disaster and not good(AAA)—this is the Lord’s declaration. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it.’(AAB)
11 “And to the house of the king of Judah say this: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 12 House of David, this is what the Lord says:
Administer justice every morning,
and rescue the victim of robbery
from his oppressor,(AAC)
or my anger will flare up like fire
and burn unquenchably
because of your evil deeds.
13 Beware! I am against you,(AAD)
you who sit above the valley,
you atop the rocky plateau—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you who say, “Who can come down against us?(AAE)
Who can enter our hiding places?”
14 I will punish you according to what you have done(AAF)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will kindle a fire in your forest(AAG)
that will consume everything around it.’”(AAH)
Judgment against Sinful Kings
22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there. 2 You are to say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David(AAI)—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates. 3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.(AAJ) Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor.(AAK) Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow.(AAL) Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace(AAM) riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people. 5 But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by myself(AAN)—this is the Lord’s declaration—that this house will become a ruin.’”(AAO)
6 For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“You are like Gilead(AAP) to me,
or the summit of Lebanon,
but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,
uninhabited cities.
7 I will set apart destroyers(AAQ) against you,
each with his weapons.
They will cut down the choicest of your cedars
and throw them into the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?’ 9 They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant(AAR) of the Lord their God and bowed in worship to other gods and served them.’”(AAS)
A Message concerning Shallum
10 Do not weep for the dead;
do not mourn for him.
Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away,
for he will never return again
and see his native land.(AAT)
11 For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum(AAU) son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah, and who has left this place: “He will never return here again,
Footnotes
- 2:6 Or shadow of death
- 2:8 = in the name of
- 2:10 Lit to the islands of Kittim
- 2:11 Alt Hb tradition reads my
- 2:14 Lit born of a house
- 2:18 Lit of Shihor
- 2:19 Lit Know and see
- 2:20 LXX reads you
- 2:20 LXX reads you
- 2:22 Lit cleansing agent
- 2:24 Lit donkey taught
- 2:24 Lit her month
- 2:31 Or “We have taken control, or “We can roam
- 2:37 Lit with them
- 3:1 One Hb ms, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read Saying: If
- 3:1 LXX reads woman
- 3:3 Lit have a prostitute’s forehead
- 3:8 One Hb ms, Syr read She
- 3:9 Lit From the lightness of
- 3:12 Lit not cause my face to fall on you
- 3:14 Or husband
- 3:15 Lit shepherds according to my heart
- 3:16 Or It will no longer be done
- 3:20 Lit friend
- 3:24 = Baal
- 4:1 Or Repent
- 4:2 Or will bless one another
- 4:10 Lit sword touches
- 4:11 Lit to the daughter of my
- 4:12 Lit comes for me
- 4:19 Lit My inner parts, my inner parts
- 4:19 Lit the walls of
- 5:1 Lit See and know
- 5:7 Or adultery and trooped to the, or adultery and lodged at the; Hb obscure
- 5:8 Lit well-equipped; Hb obscure
- 5:8 Lit early-rising; Hb obscure
- 5:12 Lit “He does not exist
- 5:21 Lit without heart
- 5:26 Lit hunters of birds
- 5:26 Hb obscure
- 6:1 = House of the Vineyard
- 6:2 Or silence
- 6:7 Or well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her evil fresh
- 6:10 Or and bear witness
- 6:10 They are unresponsive to God.
- 6:11 Lit with fullness of days
- 6:26 Lit Daughter of my
- 6:27 Text emended; MT reads fortress
- 7:5 Lit justly between a man and his neighbor
- 7:13 Lit you rising early and speaking
- 7:18 = a pagan goddess
- 7:25 Lit you, each day rising early and sending
- 7:28 Or Faithfulness
- 7:29 Lit off your consecration
- 7:31 Lit of the fireplace
- 7:31 A valley south of Jerusalem
- 7:32 Lit They will bury in Topheth
- 8:7 Hb obscure
- 8:11 Lit of the daughter of my, also in vv. 19,21,22
- 8:13 Lit Gathering I will end them
- 8:14 Or there be silenced
- 8:14 Or silenced
- 9:1 Lit slain among the daughter of my
- 9:6 LXX reads Oppression on oppression, deceit on deceit
- 9:7 Lit of the daughter of my
- 9:7 LXX, Tg read because of their evils
- 9:20 Lit Your ears must receive
- 9:26 Or who live in distant places
- 10:1 Or against
- 10:9 Or Ophir
- 10:11 This is the only Aramaic v. in Jr.
- 10:13 Lit At his giving of the voice
- 10:16 = the Lord
- 10:17 Lit bundle
- 11:7 Lit today, rising early and warning
- 11:13 = Baal
- 11:15 = sacrificial meat
- 11:15 LXX; MT reads meat pass from you
- 11:16 Vg; MT reads broken
- 11:17 Or evil
- 11:19 Or pet
- 11:19 Lit bread
- 11:20 Lit kidneys
- 12:2 Lit are near in their mouth
- 12:2 Lit kidneys
- 12:4 LXX reads see our ways
- 12:5 Or you are secure
- 12:9 Hb obscure
- 13:1 Lit around your waist
- 13:4 Lit wearing around your waist
- 13:4–7 Perhaps a place near Anathoth with the same spelling as the river
- 13:16 Or brings a shadow of death
- 13:22 Lit your heels have suffered violence
- 13:24 Lit them
- 14:3 Lit little ones
- 14:17 Lit for the virgin daughter of my people
- 15:3 Lit families
- 15:11 Hb obscure
- 15:14 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Tg; other Hb mss read you pass through
- 15:15 Lit In the slowness of your anger
- 16:5 Lit house of mourning
- 16:6 This custom demonstrated pagan mourning rituals.
- 16:13 Or compassion
- 17:1 Some Hb mss, Syr, Vg; other Hb mss read your
- 17:3 Lit plunder, your high places because of sin
- 17:10 Lit kidneys
- 17:18 Lit double
- 18:3 Lit pair of stones
- 18:16 Lit hissing
- 18:17 LXX, Lat, Syr, Tg; MT reads will look at them
- 18:18 Lit let’s strike him with the tongue
- 18:21 Lit by death
- 19:1 Syr, Tg; MT omits Take
- 19:3 Lit about it, his ears will tingle; Hb obscure
- 19:5 Lit mentioned, and it did not arise on my heart
- 20:3 = Magor-missabib
- 20:10 Lit Every man of my peace
- 20:12 Lit kidneys
- 21:2 Lit Nebuchadrezzar
- 21:4 = Babylonians
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