Jeremiah 1:1-21:6
Jubilee Bible 2000
1 ¶ The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2 To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the Gentiles.
6 Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I do not know how to speak: for I am a child.
7 But the LORD said unto me, Do not say, I am a child; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Do not be afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
9 Then the LORD put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have placed thee in this day over Gentiles and over kingdoms, to root out, and to destroy, and to throw out, and to cast down, to build, and to plant.
11 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
12 Then the LORD said unto me, Thou hast seen well, for I will hasten my word to perform it.
13 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and its face is toward the north.
14 Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
15 For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and each one shall set his seat at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem and near all its walls round about and near all the cities of Judah.
16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and thou shalt arise and speak unto them all that I shall command thee; do not fear them lest I confound thee before them.
18 For, behold, I have made thee this day as a defenced city and as an iron pillar and as a wall of brass upon all the earth against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.
19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
2 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 Go and cry out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD: I remember thee, the mercy of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou didst go after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel was holiness unto the LORD and the firstfruits of his increase; all that devour him shall be found guilty; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.
4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel;
5 thus hath the LORD said, What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain?
6 Neither did they say, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt?
7 And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, Where is the LORD? and those that handled the law did not know me; the pastors also rebelled against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.
9 ¶ Therefore I will yet enter into judgment with you, saith the LORD, and I will plead with your children’s children.
10 For pass over the isles of Chittim and see; and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed their gods? Even though they are not gods. But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this; and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, said the LORD.
13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters to hew them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14 ¶ Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn slave? Why has he been given over as a prey?
15 The young lions roared upon him and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are deserted without inhabitant.
16 Even the sons of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.
17 Could this not have come upon you peradventure because thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt? to drink the waters of the Nile? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria? to drink the waters of the river Eufrates?
19 Thine own wickedness shall chastise thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see how evil and bitter it is, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God and that my fear is lacking in thee, saith the Lord GOD of the hosts.
20 ¶ For of old time I have broken thy yoke and burst thy bands; and thou didst say, I will not serve sin. With all this, upon every high hill and under every green tree thou dost wander, playing the harlot.
21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, a seed of Truth, all of her; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
22 For though thou wash thee with nitre and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is sealed before me, saith the Lord GOD.
23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
24 a wild ass used to the wilderness that breathes according to the desire of her soul; from her lust, who shall stop her? All those that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod and thy throat from thirst; but thou didst say, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is taken, so shall the house of Israel be ashamed: they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
27 saying to a piece of firewood, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they say, Arise and deliver us.
28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble, for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah.
29 ¶ Why will ye plead with me? Ye have all rebelled against me, saith the LORD.
30 I have smitten your children in vain; they have received no correction; your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? Why do my people say, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
32 Shall the virgin, perchance, forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 Why dost thou trim thy way to seek love? therefore thou hast also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
34 Even in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; thou didst not find them in any trespass, but by all these things.
35 Yet thou didst say, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou hast said, I did not sin.
36 Why dost thou talk so much, changing thy ways? Thou shalt also be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
37 Thou shalt also go forth from him with thine hands upon thine head; for the LORD has rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
3 ¶ They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Is she not a land that is now completely polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, said the LORD.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places and see if there is anywhere thou hast not been ravished. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore the rain has been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and thou dost have a whore’s forehead, thou dost refuse to be ashamed.
4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done as many evil things as thou could.
6 ¶ The LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which rebellious Israel has done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she did not return. And her rebellious sister Judah saw it.
8 And I saw when for all the causes by which rebellious Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce; yet her rebellious sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.
9 And it came to pass through her judging her whoredom to be a light thing that the land became defiled and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 And yet for all this her rebellious sister Judah has never turned unto me with her whole heart, but untruthfully, said the LORD.
11 And the LORD said unto me, The rebellious Israel has justified her soul in comparison to the treacherous Judah.
12 ¶ Go and proclaim these words toward the north wind and say, Return, thou rebellious Israel, said the LORD and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, said the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast rebelled against the LORD thy God and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not heard my voice, said the LORD.
14 Turn, O rebellious sons, said the LORD; for I am your Lord, and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15 And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land; in those days, said the LORD, they shall no longer say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the Gentiles shall congregate unto it in the name of the LORD in Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the hardness of their evil heart.
18 In those times they shall go out from the house of Judah unto the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north wind to the land which I caused your fathers to inherit.
19 But I said, How shall I place thee as sons and give thee the desirable land, the heritage that the hosts of Gentiles desire? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father, and shalt not turn away from following me.
20 ¶ Surely as the woman breaks the faith of her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, said the LORD.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
22 Return, ye rebellious sons, and I will heal your rebellion. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
23 Truly the hills are vanity, the multitude of mountains; truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the LORD our God.
4 ¶ If thou wilt return unto me, O Israel, said the LORD, thou shalt have rest; and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then thou shalt not go into captivity.
2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the Gentiles shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3 ¶ For thus has the LORD said to every man of Judah and of Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings.
5 ¶ Declare ye in Judah and publish in Jerusalem and say, Blow ye the shofar in the land; cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
6 Set up the banner in Zion: come together, do not delay: for I bring evil from the north wind, and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his den, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
8 For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth; lament and howl; for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 (Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; when the sword reaches unto the soul.)
11 At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places of the wilderness came toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse.
12 A wind much more violent than these shall come unto me; for now I will also speak judgments against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us, for we are given over to be spoiled!
14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness that thou may be saved. How long shalt thou entertain the thoughts of thy iniquity within thee?
15 For the voice is heard from him who brings the news from Dan and from him who causes to hear the affliction from Mount Ephraim.
16 Say ye of the Gentiles; behold, cause it to be heard upon Jerusalem, Watchmen come from a far country and shall give out their voice upon the cities of Judah.
17 As the watchmen of the heritages, they were upon her round about because she has been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness because it is bitter, because it reaches unto thine heart.
19 ¶ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is destroyed; suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the banner and hear the voice of the shofar?
22 For my people are foolish; the ignorant sons with no understanding have not known me; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, behold, it was without order, and empty; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills were destroyed.
25 I beheld, and, behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I beheld, and, behold, Carmel was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth be made desolate, and the heavens above be darkened because I spoke; I purposed and did not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city fled from the thunder of the horsemen and bowmen; they went into the thickets of the forests and climbed up upon the rocks; every city was forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.
30 And thou who art destroyed, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with crimson, though thou deck thee with ornaments of gold, though thou paint thy eyes with antimony, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee; they will seek thy life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is faint because of the murderers.
5 ¶ Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and find out and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that execute judgment, that seek the truth; and I will pardon the city.
2 And if they should say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they did not feel it; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive chastisement; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they have become foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will go unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy sons have forsaken me and sworn by them that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? said the LORD; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 ¶ Go ye up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end; take away her battlements for they are not the LORD’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have made a firm decision to rebel against me, saith the LORD.
12 They have denied the LORD and said, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine;
13 but the prophets shall become like wind, and there is no word in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14 Therefore thus hath the LORD God of the hosts said: Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Behold, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, saith the LORD; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou dost not know, neither dost thou understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher; they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees; and thy fenced cities, in which thou dost trust, they shall bring to nothing with the sword.
18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things unto us? Then thou shalt answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 ¶ Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people and without heart, who have eyes and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:
22 Do ye not fear me? saith the LORD; will ye not tremble at my presence, who placed the sand for the bound of the sea by an eternal order, which cannot be broken? Storms shall raise themselves up, yet they shall not prevail; their waves shall roar, yet they shall not pass over it.
23 But this people have a false and rebellious heart; they turned and went.
24 Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; he shall keep us with the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 ¶ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 For among my people were found wicked men: they lay in wait as he that sets snares; they set a trap of perdition to catch men.
27 As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; thus they became great and rich.
28 They are become fat; they shine; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they did not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless; with all this they made themselves prosperous; and they did not judge the cause of the poor.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A horrible and ugly thing is committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bore rule by their hands; and my people love to have it so. What will ye do in the end thereof?
6 ¶ O ye sons of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem and blow the shofar in Tekoa and set up as a sign smoke in Bethhaccerem; for evil appears out of the north wind and great destruction.
2 I shall liken the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed each one his portion.
4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up towards the south. Woe unto us! for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
6 For thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Hew ye down trees and cast a mount against Jerusalem; this is the city that all of her is to be visited; there is violence in the midst of her.
7 As the waters never cease to flow from a fountain, so her wickedness never ceases to flow; injustice and robbery is heard in her; in my presence continually, sickness and wounds.
8 Chastise Jerusalem lest peradventure my soul be disjointed from thee, lest peradventure I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
9 ¶ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine; turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.
10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning that they may hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken, behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I have worked hard to hold myself in from pouring it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for the husband with the wife shall also be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them each one is given to greed; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely.
14 They treat also the destruction of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush; therefore, they shall fall among those that shall fall: at the time that I visit them they shall fall, saith the LORD.
16 Thus hath the LORD said, Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where the good way is and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the shofar. But they said, We will not hearken.
18 ¶ Therefore hear, ye Gentiles, and know, O congregation of Gentiles.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkened unto my words, and they hated my law.
20 To what purpose does this incense come to me from Sheba and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not according to my will, nor are your sacrifices sweet unto me.
21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.
22 Thus hath the LORD said, Behold, a people come from the land of the north wind, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.
23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and they shall have no mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea; and they shall ride upon horses set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.
24 We have heard the fame thereof; our hands wax feeble; anguish has taken hold of us, and pain as of a woman in travail.
25 Do not go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes; make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people; thou shalt know and examine their way.
28 They are all rebellious princes; they walk with deception: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
29 The bellows are burned; the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melts in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Reprobate silver shall men call them because the LORD has rejected them.
7 ¶ The word that was sent to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
3 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD are these.
5 For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly do right between a man and his neighbour,
6 if ye do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt,
7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for ever and ever.
8 Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit.
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not,
10 and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are free to do all these abominations?
11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, said the LORD.
12 But go now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now because ye have done all these works, said the LORD and I spoke well unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye did not hear; and I called you, but ye did not answer;
14 therefore I will do unto this house, which is called by my name, in which ye trust, and unto this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 ¶ Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
17 Dost thou not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Shall they provoke me to anger? said the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast and upon the trees of the field and upon the fruit of the ground, and it shall burn and shall not be quenched.
21 ¶ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: Add your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices and eat flesh.
22 For I did not speak unto your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
23 But this thing I commanded them, saying, Hear my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you that it may be well unto you.
24 But they did not hearken, nor incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels in the imagination of their evil heart and went backward, and not forward
25 since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day. I have even sent unto you all my slaves, the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them;
26 yet they did not hearken unto me, nor incline their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt even call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
28 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, This is the nation that did not hear the voice of the LORD their God, nor receive chastisement; the faith is lost and was cut off from their mouth.
29 ¶ Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD has cast off and forsaken the nation of his wrath.
30 For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, said the LORD; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it.
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command them, neither did it come into my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no longer be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Tophet, for there shall be no other place.
33 And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one to chase them away.
34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
8 ¶ At that time, said the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of his princes and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;
2 and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved and whom they have served and after whom they have walked and whom they have sought and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those that remain of this evil generation, in all the places where I have driven those that remain, said the LORD of the hosts.
4 ¶ Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD said: The one who falls, does he never arise? he who turns away, does he never return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem rebellious with a perpetual rebellion? They hold fast deceit; they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright: there was no man that repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? each one returned to his course as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Even the stork in the heaven knows her appointed time; and the turtle dove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people did not know the judgment of the LORD.
8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Behold, certainly in vain did he make the pen; the scribes were in vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives unto others and their fields unto those that shall inherit them: for each one from the least even unto the greatest is given to greed; from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely.
11 For they have treated the destruction of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those that should fall: when I visit them, they shall fall, saith the LORD.
13 ¶ I will surely cut them off completely, said the LORD: there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fall; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Upon what shall we secure ourselves? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole earth trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, said the LORD.
18 Because of my strong sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people that comes from a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images and with vanities of a strange god?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the destruction of the daughter of my people I am devastated; I am in darkness; astonishment has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then was there no medicine for the daughter of my people?
9 ¶ Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people and go from them! for they are all adulterers, a congregation of rebels.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth for they proceed from evil to evil, and they did not recognize me, said the LORD.
4 Take heed each one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive each one his neighbour and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
7 Therefore thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Behold, I will melt them and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is as a sharp arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth but in heart he lays in wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Upon the mountains I will lift up weeping and wailing and lamentation upon the habitations of the wilderness because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and even the beasts of the earth are fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 ¶ Who is the wise man that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken that he may declare for what cause the land perishes and is burned up like a wilderness that no one passes through?
13 And the LORD said, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not heard my voice, neither walked therein,
14 but have walked after the imagination of their own heart and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them,
15 Therefore thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among Gentiles whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.
17 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Consider ye and call for the mourning women that they may come and send for cunning women that they may come,
18 and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we destroyed! We are greatly confounded. Why have we forsaken the land? Why have our dwellings cast us out?
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth and teach your daughters wailing and each one her neighbour lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus hath the LORD said, Even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field and as the handful after the harvestman, and there shall be none to gather them.
23 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches;
24 but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands me and knows me, that I am the LORD who does mercy, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, said the LORD.
25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will visit all those who are circumcised with the uncircumcised:
26 Egypt and Judah and Edom and the sons of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all the Gentiles are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
10 ¶ Hear ye the word which the LORD has spoken over you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus hath the LORD said, Do not learn the way of the Gentiles, and do not fear the signs of heaven, even though the Gentiles fear them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails, that it not move.
5 They compare them to the palm tree, and they do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither do they have power to do good.
6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear thee, O King of the Gentiles? for unto thee does it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the Gentiles and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
8 But they shall become altogether carnal and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates shall be brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, shall the workman work and the hands of the founder: they shall dress them in blue and purple: they are all the work of cunning men.
10 But the LORD God is the Truth, he himself is Living God and Everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the Gentiles shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens or the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
12 He that makes the earth by his power, he that orders the world with his wisdom and extends the heavens with his intelligence:
13 at his voice, there is given a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes the lightnings with the rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.
14 Every man is carnal in his knowledge: let every founder be ashamed of his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no spirit in them.
15 They are vanity and the work of scorn: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the Former of all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of the hosts is his name.
17 ¶ Gather up thy wares out of the lands, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus hath the LORD said, Behold, that this time I will throw out the inhabitants of the land with a sling and will afflict them, that they may find it.
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous, but I said, Truly this is my sickness, and I must bear it.
20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my sons were taken from me, and they are lost; there is no one to stretch forth my tent any more and to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors are become carnal and have not sought the LORD; therefore they did not understand, and all their flocks scattered.
22 Behold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.
23 O LORD, I know that man is not the lord of his own way: it is not in man that walks to order his steps.
24 O LORD, chastise me, but with judgment; not with thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out thy fury upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the nations that do not call on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have destroyed his habitation.
11 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto every man of Judah and to every inhabitant of Jerusalem;
3 and thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said: Cursed be the man that does not hear the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying unto them, hear my voice and comply with my words according to all which I command you; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God
5 that I may confirm the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, that I would give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then I answered, and said, Amen, O LORD.
6 And the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them.
7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Hear my voice.
8 Yet they did not hear, nor did they incline their ear, but walked each one in the imagination of their evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.
9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have returned to the iniquities of their first fathers, who refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11 ¶ Therefore thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense, who shall not be able to save them in the time of their trouble.
13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of thy streets, O Jerusalem, have ye set up altars of confusion, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me in their trouble.
15 What part has my beloved in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness with many? The holy flesh shall pass from upon thee, for in thy evil thou didst glory.
16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and in appearance. At the voice of a great word he caused fire to be kindled upon it, and they broke her branches.
17 For the LORD of the hosts, that planted thee, has pronounced evil against thee for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
18 ¶ And the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I experienced it: then thou didst show me their doings.
19 But I was like a ram or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; for I did not understand that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name may no longer be remembered.
20 But, O LORD of the hosts, that judges righteously, that tries the kidneys and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them, for unto thee I have uncovered my cause.
21 Therefore, thus hath the LORD said regarding the men of Anathoth that seek thy life, saying, Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD that thou not die by our hand;
22 therefore, thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Behold, I visit: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:
23 and there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
12 ¶ Righteous art thou, O LORD, even though I dispute with thee: even so, I will speak judgments with thee; Why does the way of the wicked prosper? All those that completely rebel against thee have peace.
2 Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they grow, and they bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth and far from their kidneys.
3 But thou, O LORD, dost know me; thou hast seen me and tried my heart toward thee; pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and mark them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land be desolate, and the grass of all the field wither, for the wickedness of those that dwell therein? The cattle are lacking, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, in which thou didst trust, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have raised their voice after thee, O congregation; do not believe them, when they speak fair words unto thee.
7 ¶ I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage was unto me as a lion in the forest; it cried out against me, therefore I have hated it.
9 My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird; the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour her.
10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard; they have trodden my heritage under foot; they have made my precious heritage a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it desolate; it cries against me, desolate; the whole land was made desolate because there was no man that would see.
12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land; there is no peace for any flesh.
13 They have sown bread, but shall reap thorns; they had the heritage, but they did not profit; and they shall be ashamed because of your fruits, by the fierce anger of the LORD.
14 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said against all my evil neighbours that touch the heritage which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15 And it shall come to pass that after I have plucked them out, I will return and have mercy on them, and will cause them to return, each one to his heritage, and each one to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear in my name, saying, The LORD lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal then they shall be prospered in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
13 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said unto me, Go and buy thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins, and thou shalt not put it in water.
2 And I bought the girdle according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins.
3 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
4 Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise; go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
5 So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
6 And it came to pass after many days that the LORD said unto me, Arise; go to the Euphrates and take from there the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Thus hath the LORD said, After this manner I will cause the pride of Judah to rot and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people that refuses to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and went after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
11 For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people and for fame, and for a praise, and for honour; but they did not hear.
12 ¶ Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said, Every bottle shall be filled with wine; and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13 Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
14 And I will break them one against another, even the fathers with the sons together, saith the LORD; I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy to not destroy them.
15 Hear ye and give ear; do not be proud: for the LORD has spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God before he causes darkness and before your feet stumble in mountains of darkness, and while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death and makes it gross darkness.
17 But if ye will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride; and weeping bitterly, my eyes shall be undone in tears because the LORD’s flock was carried away captive.
18 Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down in the dust because the crown of your glory has come down off your heads.
19 The cities of the south were shut up, and no one could open them: Judah was carried away captive; all of it, it was completely carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes, and behold those that come from the north wind: where is the flock that was given thee, the cattle of thy beauty?
21 What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? For thou hast taught them to be princes and as head over thee; shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail?
22 ¶ When thou shalt say in thine heart, Why do these things come upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Likewise ye also cannot do good, being taught to do evil.
24 Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This shall be thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me said the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I uncovered thy skirts before thy face, and thy shame was manifested.
27 I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom upon the hills; in the same field I saw thine abominations. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean at last? How long then shall it be?
14 ¶ The word of the LORD that was given to Jeremiah concerning the famine.
2 Judah mourns, and its gates languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
5 Even the hind calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6 And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed because there was no grass.
7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for thy name’s sake; for our rebellions have multiplied; we have sinned against thee.
8 O the hope of Israel, the Keeper thereof in time of trouble, why should thou be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should thou be as a speechless man as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; do not leave us.
10 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said unto this people, Thus have they loved to move, nor have they refrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not have them in his will; he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.
11 Then the LORD said unto me, Do not pray for this people for their good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by sword and by famine and by pestilence.
13 Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you true peace in this place.
14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision, divination, vanity, and the deceit of their heart.
15 Therefore thus hath the LORD said concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name which I did not send and that say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have no one to bury them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
17 ¶ Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest walked around in circles in the land, and they did not know it.
19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul loathed Zion? Why didst thou cause us to be smitten when no healing remains for us? We waited for peace, and there was no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against thee.
21 Do not cast us away; for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, do not break thy covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause it to rain? or can the heavens give rain? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee, for thou hast made all these things.
15 ¶ Then the LORD said unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my will would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Where shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus hath the LORD said: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 And I will visit over them four kinds of evil, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4 And I will give them over to be sifted by all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who is to come to ask regarding thy peace?
6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD; thou art gone backward: therefore, I stretched out my hand over thee and cast thee away; I am tired of repenting.
7 And I fanned them with a fan unto the gates of the land; I bereaved them of children, I wasted my people; they did not turn from their ways.
8 Their widows are multiplied unto me more than the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them a destroyer at noonday against the young; I have caused him to fall upon her suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 She that has borne seven languishes; her soul is filled with sorrow; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
10 ¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them curses me.
11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12 Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north wind and the bronze?
13 Thy riches and thy treasures I will give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I will make thee to serve thine enemies in a land which thou dost not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.
15 ¶ O LORD, thou knowest: remember me and visit me and revenge me of my enemies; do not take me away in the prolongation of thy anger, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Thy words were found, and I ate them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for thy name was called upon me, O LORD God of the hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I become puffed up by reason of thy prophecy; I sat alone because thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why was my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus hath the LORD said, If thou wilt return, then I will bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me; and if thou wilt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth; let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.
20 And I will give thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to keep thee and to defend thee, said the LORD.
21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will ransom thee out of the hand of the strong.
16 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3 For thus hath the LORD said concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that would be born in this place and concerning their mothers that would bare them and concerning their fathers that would beget them in this land
4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their carcasses shall be food for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus hath the LORD said, Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor comfort them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, said the LORD, even mercy and compassion.
6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
7 neither shall they break the bread of mourning for them, to comfort themselves for their death; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 In the same manner thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9 For thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: Behold, I will cause to cease in this place before your eyes and in your days, every voice of mirth and every voice of gladness, every voice of the bridegroom, and every voice of the bride.
10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these things, they shall say unto thee, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?
11 Then thou shalt say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law;
12 and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk each one after the imagination of his evil heart, not hearkening unto me:
13 Therefore I will cause you to be cast out of this land into a land that ye do not know, neither ye nor your fathers; and there ye shall serve other gods day and night; for I will not grant you mercy.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that it shall no longer be said, The LORD lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of Egypt;
15 but, The LORD lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of the north wind, and from all the lands where he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I send many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after, will I send many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 For my eyes are upon all their ways, which they have not hid from me, neither does their iniquity hide from the presence of my eyes.
18 But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their abominations, and they have filled my inheritance with abominable things.
19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the time of the affliction; Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods unto himself? But they shall not be gods.
21 Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know this time; I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
17 ¶ The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is graven upon the table of their heart and upon the horns of your altars
2 that their sons might remember their altars and their groves, by the green trees and upon the high hills.
3 My mountain dweller! In the field are thy riches; all thy treasures I will give to the spoil, because of the sin of thy high places throughout all thy borders.
4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou dost not know: for ye have kindled a fire in my anger, which shall burn for ever.
5 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said; Cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the LORD.
6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man that is steadfast in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green and shall not be fatigued in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who shall know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart; I try the kidneys, even to give each man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge that steals that which she did not hatch, is he that gets riches and not with righteousness; in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and at his end shall be a fool.
12 ¶ The throne of glory, height from the beginning, is the place of our sanctification.
13 O hope of Israel! LORD, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed; and those that depart from me shall be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
16 For I did not take it upon myself to be a pastor following thee; neither have I desired the woeful day; thou dost know: that which came out of my lips has come forth in thy presence.
17 Do not be a terror unto me; thou art my hope in the day of evil.
18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but do not let me be confounded; let them be dismayed; but do not let me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction.
19 ¶ Thus said the LORD unto me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21 Thus hath the LORD said: Take heed for your lives, and bring no burden on the sabbath day to bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do any work, but sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers,
23 who did not hear, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive correction.
24 And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day but sanctify the sabbath day to do no work therein,
25 then shall there enter in by the gates of this city, the kings and the princes, who sit upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.
26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the fields and from the mountain and from the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and presents and incense, and bringing the sacrifice of praise unto the house of the LORD.
27 But if ye will not hearken unto me to sanctify the sabbath day, and not to bring burdens nor bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
18 ¶ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house; and, behold, he wrought a work upon a wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was broken in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.
7 In an instant I shall speak against Gentiles and against kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy.
8 But if these Gentiles shall turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9 And in an instant I shall speak concerning the nation and concerning the kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 but if it should do evil in my sight, not hearing my voice, then I will repent of the good that I had determined to do unto them.
11 ¶ Now therefore, speak to every man of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus hath the LORD said: Behold, I ordain evil against you and devise plans against you; return ye now each one from his evil way, and better your ways and your doings.
12 And they said, This is useless, for we must walk after our own devices, and we must each one do the imagination of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus hath the LORD said; Ask now among the Gentiles, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Will anyone leave the snow of the rock of the field that flows from Lebanon? or shall they forsake the singular, cold, flowing waters?
15 Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not trodden;
16 to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and wag his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition.
18 ¶ Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not consider any of his words.
19 Consider me, O LORD, and hear the voice of those that contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, LORD, thou dost know all their counsel against me to slay me; do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
19 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;
2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry by the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.
3 Therefore thou shalt say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I bring evil upon this place, such that whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle.
4 Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place; and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5 and have built high places unto Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto this same Baal, which I did not command, nor speak, neither did it come into my mind.
6 Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of the slaughter.
7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those that seek their souls and I will give their carcasses to be food for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will make this city desolate and a hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, with which their enemies and those that seek their souls shall straiten them.
10 ¶ Then thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11 and shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Even so will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be restored again; and they shall bury them in Tophet, for there shall be no other place to bury.
12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to its inhabitants and even make this city as Tophet:
13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet, defiled, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heaven and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
14 Then Jeremiah returned from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’s house and said to all the people,
15 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel said: Behold, I bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have spoken against her because they have hardened their necks that they might not hear my words.
20 ¶ And Pashur the priest, the son of Immer, who presided as prince in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah who prophesied these things.
2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the gate of Benjamin on the high place, which is in the house of the LORD.
3 And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said unto him: The LORD has not called thy name Pashur, {Heb. Prosperity all around} but Magormissabib. {Heb. Fear from every side}
4 For thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all those that love thee well; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall smite them with the sword.
5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all its labours and all its precious things and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon.
6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die and shalt be buried there, thou and all those who love thee well, unto whom thou hast prophesied with lies.
7 ¶ O LORD, thou hast seduced me, and I was seduced; thou wert stronger than I and hast overcome me; I am in derision daily; every one mocks me.
8 For since I spoke out, I raised my voice crying, Violence and destruction; because the word of the LORD has been a reproach unto me and a derision, daily.
9 And I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But he was in my heart as a burning fire and within my bones; I tried to forbear, and I could not.
10 For I heard the murmuring of many, fear on every side, Report, and we will report it. All my friends watched to see if I would stumble. Peradventure he will deceive himself, they said, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
11 But the LORD is with me as a powerful giant; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper; they shall have everlasting confusion which shall never be forgotten.
12 O LORD of the hosts, who examines that which is just, who seest the kidneys and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee I have opened my cause.
13 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD; for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
14 ¶ Cursed be the day in which I was born; do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
16 And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew and did not repent; and let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noontide
17 because he did not slay me in the womb, and my mother would have been my grave, and her womb perpetual conception.
18 Why did I come forth out of the womb? To see labour and sorrow that my days should be consumed with shame?
21 ¶ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,
2 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; peradventure the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, and he will go up from upon us.
3 And said Jeremiah unto them: Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah
4 Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said: Behold, I turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which ye fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International
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