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Jeremiah 1:1-21:6
Modern English Version

The Commission of Jeremiah

1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who 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, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
    and before you were born I sanctified you,
    and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth.’ For you shall go everywhere that I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces. For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.

9 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Now, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

The Almond Rod and Boiling Pot

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well. For I will hasten My word to perform it.”

13 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?”

And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.”

14 Then the Lord said to me: Out of the north calamity will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord.

And they will come and they will set each one his throne
    at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
and against all the walls all around,
    and against all the cities of Judah.
16 I will utter My judgments against them
    concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me
and have burned incense to other gods,
    and have worshipped the works of their own hands.

17 You therefore gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them. 18 For indeed, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the officials, against the priests, and against the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.

God Pleads With Israel to Repent

2 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,

Thus says the Lord:

I remember you, the kindness of your youth,
    the love of your espousals,
when you followed Me in the wilderness,
    in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel is holy to the Lord,
    and the first fruits of His harvest.
All who eat of it will become guilty;
    disaster will come upon them,
    says the Lord.

4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob
    and all the families of the house of Israel.

5 Thus says the Lord:

What iniquity have your fathers found in Me,
    that they have gone far from Me,
and have walked after vanity
    and have become vain?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord
    who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
who 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 lived?”
7 And I brought you into a plentiful country
    to eat its fruit and its goodness.
But when you entered, you defiled My land
    and made My heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say,
    “Where is the Lord?”
And those who handle the law did not know Me;
    the shepherds also transgressed against Me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and walked after things that do not profit.

9 Therefore I will yet contend with you,
    says the Lord,
    and with your sons’ sons I will contend.
10 For pass over the coastlands of Cyprus and see,
    and send to Kedar and consider diligently,
    and see if there is such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed their gods,
    though they are not gods?
But My people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.
12 Be astonished at this, O heavens,
    and be horribly afraid, be very desolate,
    says the Lord.
13 For My people have committed two evils.
They have forsaken Me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out for themselves cisterns,
    broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave?
    Why has he been plundered?
15 The young lions roared at him
    and roared loudly,
and they made his land a waste;
    his cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.
16 Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have shaved the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself,
    in that you have forsaken the Lord your God
    when He led you in the way?
18 And now what are you doing in the way of Egypt,
    to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what are you doing in the way of Assyria,
    to drink the waters of the River?
19 Your own wickedness will correct you,
    and your backslidings will reprove you.
Know therefore and see
    that it is an evil thing and bitter for you
to have forsaken the Lord your God,
    and the fear of Me is not in you,
    says the Lord God of Hosts.

20 For long ago I have broken your yoke
    and burst your bonds;
    and you said, “I will not serve.”
For upon every high hill
    and under every green tree
    you wander, playing the harlot.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine,
    a wholly faithful seed.
How then have you turned
    into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to Me?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye,
    and take much soap,
    yet your iniquity is marked before Me,
    says the Lord God.
23 How can you say, “I am not polluted,
    I have not gone after the Baals”?
See your way in the valley.
    Know what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
    entangling her ways,
24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness
    that sniffs the wind in her passion.
    In the time of her heat, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves;
    in her month they shall find her.
25 Withhold your foot from being unshod
    and your throat from thirst.
But you said, “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 found,
    so is the house of Israel ashamed.
They, their kings, their officials,
    and their priests, and their prophets
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.
But in the time of their trouble they will say,
    “Arise and save us.”
28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourself?
    Let them arise, if they can save you
    in the time of your trouble;
for according to the number of your cities
    are your gods, O Judah.

29 Why will you plead with Me?
    You all have transgressed against Me,
    says the Lord.
30 In vain I have smitten your children;
    they received no correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets
    like a destroying lion.

31 O generation, consider the word of the Lord:

Have I been a wilderness to Israel?
    A land of darkness?
Why do My people say, “We are free to roam.
    We will come no more to You”?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
    or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me
    for days without number.
33 You prepare your way very well to seek love.
    Therefore you have also taught the wicked women your ways.
34 Also in your skirts is found
    the blood of the souls of the innocent poor.
    I have not found it by breaking in,
but in spite of all these things.
35     Yet you say, “Because I am innocent,
    surely His anger shall turn away from me.”
Now I will plead with you,
    because you say, “I have not sinned.”
36 Why do you go about so much
    to change your way?
You also shall be ashamed of Egypt,
    as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 Indeed, you shall go forth from him
    with your hands upon your head;
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
    and you shall not prosper in them.

Unfaithful Israel

3 If a man divorces his wife,
    and she goes from him and becomes another man’s,
shall he return to her again?
    Shall not that land be greatly polluted?
But you have played the harlot with many lovers;
    yet return again to Me,
    says the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to the high places,
    and see! Where have you not been ravished?
In the roads you have sat for them
    as the Arabian in the wilderness.
And you have polluted the land
    with your harlotry and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and there has been no latter rain.
And you had a harlot’s forehead;
    you refused to be ashamed.
4 Shall you not from this time cry to Me,
    “My Father, You are the guide of my youth?
5 Shall He reserve His anger forever?
    Shall He keep it to the end?”
Indeed, you have spoken
    and done evil things as you could.

A Call to Repentance

6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot. 7 I said after she had done all these things, “Turn to Me.” But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 I saw that for all the adulteries of backsliding Israel, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 Through the lightness of her harlotry she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with trees. 10 Yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says the Lord.

God Invites Repentance

11 The Lord said to me: Backsliding Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:

Return, backsliding Israel, says the Lord,
    and I will not cause My anger to fall on you.
For I am merciful, says the Lord,
    and I will not keep anger forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity,
    that you have transgressed against the Lord your God
and have scattered your ways to the strangers
    under every green tree,
    and you have not obeyed My voice,
    says the Lord.

14 Return, O backsliding sons, says the Lord. For I am married to you. And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 It shall come to pass when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they will say no more, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they call for it, nor will it be made any more. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem, the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given to your fathers for an inheritance.

19 But I said:

How can I put you among My sons
    and give you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful heritage of the nations?
And I said: You shall call Me, My Father,
    and shall not turn away from Me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband,
    so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,
    says the Lord.

21 A voice was heard upon the high places,
    the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel,
because they have perverted their way,
    they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 Return, O backsliding sons,
    and I will heal your backslidings.

“We come to You;
    for You are the Lord our God.
23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,
    and from the multitude of mountains.
Truly, in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor
    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 humiliation covers us.
For we have sinned against the Lord our God,
    we and our fathers,
from our youth even to this day,
    and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Judah Threatened With Invasion

4 If you will return, O Israel,
    says the Lord,
    return to Me.
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
    then you shall not be moved.
2 You shall swear, “As the Lord lives,”
    in truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
then the nations shall bless themselves in Him,
    and in Him they shall glory.

3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and 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,
    you 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 deeds.

5 Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem, and say:
    Blow the trumpet in the land.
Cry aloud and say,
    “Assemble yourselves,
    and let us go into the fortified cities.”
6 Set up the standard toward Zion.
    Seek refuge, do not delay.
For I will bring disaster from the north,
    and a great destruction.

7 The lion has come up from his thicket,
    and the destroyer of the nations is on his way.
He has gone forth from his place
    to make your land desolate.
And your cities shall be laid waste
    without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird yourself with sackcloth,
    lament and howl.
For the fierce anger of the Lord
    is not turned back from us.

9 It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord,
    that the heart of the king will fail and the heart of the officials;
and the priests will be astonished
    and the prophets will wonder.

10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches the throat.”

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan or to cleanse, 12 even a full wind from those places, will come to Me. Now also I will pronounce judgments against them.

13 Look! He shall come up as clouds,
    and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
    Woe to us, for we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved.
    How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan,
    and publishes wickedness from Mount Ephraim:
16 “Report it to the nations, now!”
    Indeed, proclaim against Jerusalem:
“Besiegers come from a far country,
    and lift their voices against the cities of Judah.
17 As watchmen of a field, they are against her all around,
    because she has been rebellious against Me,
    says the Lord.
18 Your way and your deeds
    have procured these things to you.
This is your wickedness.
    How bitter it is!
    How it touches your heart!”

Sorrow for a Doomed Nation

19 My soul, my soul!
    I am pained at my very heart.
My heart makes a noise in me.
    I cannot hold my peace,
because you have heard, O my soul,
    the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed,
    for the whole land is devastated.
Suddenly are my tents devastated,
    and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 “For My people are foolish,
    they have not known Me.
They are foolish children,
    and they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
    but to do good they have no knowledge.”

23 I looked on the earth,
    and it was without form and void.
And to the heavens,
    and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains,
    and they trembled,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and there was no man,
    and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I looked, and the fruitful place was a wilderness,
    and all the cities were broken down
    at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.

27 For thus says the Lord:

The whole land shall be desolate.
    Yet I will not make a full end.
28 For this the earth shall mourn,
    and the heavens above be black,
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it,
    and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.

29 The whole city shall flee
    for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.
They shall go into thickets
    and climb up upon the rocks.
Every city shall be forsaken,
    and not a man dwell in it.

30 When you are devastated, what will you do?
    Though you clothe yourself with crimson,
    though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
though you enlarge your eyes with paint,
    in vain you will make yourself fair.
Your lovers will despise you;
    they will seek your life.

31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor,
    and the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion,
    that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying,
“Ah, woe is me,
    for my soul is wearied because of murderers.”

The Justice of God’s Judgment

5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
    see now and know;
    seek in the open places
if you can find a man,
    if there is any who executes justice, who seeks the truth,
    that I may pardon her.
2 Though they say, “The Lord lives,”
    surely they swear falsely.

3 O Lord, are not Your eyes upon the truth?
    You have stricken them, but they have not grieved.
    You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than a rock;
    they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely these are the poor.
    They are foolish;
for they know not the way of the Lord
    or the judgment of their God.
5 I will go to the great men
    and will speak to 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 will slay them,
    and a wolf from the deserts will destroy them;
a leopard will watch over their cities.
    Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many
    and their backslidings have increased.

7 How shall I pardon you for this?
    Your children have forsaken Me
    and sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
    then they committed adultery
    and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning;
    everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not punish for these things? says the Lord,
    and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 Go 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 dealt very treacherously against Me,
    says the Lord.

12 They have lied about the Lord,
    and said, “Not He.
Neither shall evil come upon us,
    nor shall we see sword or famine.”
13 And the prophets shall become wind,
    and the word is not in them.
    Thus it shall be done to them!

14 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Hosts:

Because you speak this word,
    indeed I will make My words in your mouth fire
    and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Truly, I will bring a nation upon you from far,
    O house of Israel, says the Lord.
It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation,
    a nation whose language you do not know,
    nor do you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher,
    they all are mighty men.
17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread
    which your sons and your daughters should eat.
They will eat up your flocks and your herds;
    they will eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they will impoverish your fenced cities,
    in which you trusted, with the sword.

18 Nevertheless in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. 19 It shall come to pass when they say, “Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?” then you shall answer them, “As you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will 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 this now, O foolish people and without understanding,
    who have eyes but do not see,
    who have ears but do not hear.
22 Do you not fear Me? says the Lord.
    Will you not tremble at My presence?
For I have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea
    by a perpetual decree so that it cannot pass over it.
And though the waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail;
    though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart;
    they have revolted and gone aside.
24 They do not say in their heart,
    “Let us now fear the Lord our God,
who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
    He reserves for us 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 are found wicked men.
    They lie in wait, as he who sets snares;
    they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds,
    so are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28     They are fat, they are sleek.
Indeed, they excel in deeds of wickedness.
    They do not judge the cause of the fatherless,
so that they may prosper;
    and the right of the needy they do not defend.
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
    says the Lord.
Shall not My soul be avenged
    on such a nation as this?

30 An appalling and horrible thing
    has been committed in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule by their own authority;
and My people love to have it so.
    Yet what will you do in the end?

Siege of Jerusalem

6 O sons of Benjamin, gather yourselves
    to flee from the midst of Jerusalem,
and blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
    and set up a sign of fire in Beth Hakkerem;
for disaster appears out of the north,
    and great destruction.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion
    to a comely and delicate woman.
3 The shepherds with their flocks will come to her.
    They will pitch their tents against her all around.
    They will pasture each in his place.

4 “Prepare war against her;
    arise, and let us go up at noon.”
“Woe to us, for the day declines,
    for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.”
5 “Arise, and let us go by night
    and let us destroy her palaces.”

6 For thus says the Lord of Hosts:

Hew down trees
    and build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished.
    She is full of oppression in her midst.
7 As a fountain casts out her waters,
    so she casts out her wickedness.
Violence and devastation are heard in her;
    before Me continually are grief and wounds.
8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem,
    lest My soul depart from you;
lest I make you desolate,
    a land not inhabited.

9 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:

They will thoroughly glean
    the remnant of Israel as a vine.
Turn back your hand
    as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning
    that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed,
    and they cannot listen.
Indeed, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;
    they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord;
    I am weary with holding in.

I will pour it out upon the children in the street
    and upon the assembly of young men together;
for even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
    the aged with him who is full of days.
12 Their houses shall be turned to others,
    with their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out My hand
    upon the inhabitants of the land,
    says the Lord.
13 For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
    everyone is given to covetousness.
And from the prophet even to the priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed also the brokenness
    of the daughter of My people superficially,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
    when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
    They were not at all ashamed,
    nor could they blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time that I punish them they shall be cast down,
    says the Lord.

16 Thus says the Lord

Stand in the ways and see,
    and ask for the old paths
where the good way is and walk in it,
    and you shall find rest for your souls.
    But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying,
    “Listen to the sound of the trumpet.”
    But they said, “We will not listen.”
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation,
    what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth.
    I will bring calamity on this people,
    even the fruit of their thoughts,
because they have not listened to My words,
    nor to My law, but rejected it.
20 To what purpose does incense from Sheba come to Me,
    and the sweet cane from a far country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor are your sacrifices sweet to Me.

21 Therefore thus says the Lord:

See, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people,
    and the fathers and the sons together will fall upon them.
    The neighbor and his friend will perish.

22 Thus says the Lord:

See, a people comes
    from the north country,
and a great nation will be raised
    from the remote parts of the earth.
23 They will lay hold on bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,
    and they ride upon horses,
set in array as men for war
    against you, O daughter of Zion.

24 “We have heard the report of it;
    our hands grow feeble.
Anguish has taken hold of us,
    and pain as of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out into the field,
    nor walk on the road.
For the sword of the enemy
    and terror is on every side.”
26 O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth
    and wallow in ashes.
Mourn as for an only son,
    a most bitter lamentation;
for the destroyer
    shall suddenly come upon us.

27 I have set you as an assayer
    and fortress among My people
that you may know
    and try their way.
28 They all are stubborn rebels
    walking about practicing slander.
They are bronze and iron;
    they all are corrupters.
29 The bellows blow fiercely,
    the lead is consumed by the fire;
the founder melts in vain,
    for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Men will call them rejected silver,
    because the Lord has rejected them.

False Trust in the Temple

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim there this word:

Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter at these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, 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.” 5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your harm, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. 8 Indeed, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.

9 Shall you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, “We are delivered,” so that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Certainly, even I have seen it, says the Lord.

12 But go now to 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 you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of My sight as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

16 As for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children 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 to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they provoke Me to anger? says the Lord. Do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces?

20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: My anger and My fury will 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 says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. 22 For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded 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, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” 24 But they did not listen, nor incline their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me, nor incline their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

27 Therefore you will speak all these words to them. But they will not listen to you. You will also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them: This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive correction. Truth has perished, and has been cut off from their mouth.

29 Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.

30 For the sons of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My heart. 32 Therefore, truly the days are coming, says the Lord, that it will no more be called Topheth, nor the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. 33 The corpses of this people shall be food for the fowl of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of laughter and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become desolate.

8 At that time, says the Lord, they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his officials, 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 will 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 will not be gathered, nor be buried. They will be as dung upon the face of the earth. 3 Death will be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, which remains in all the places wherever I have driven them, says the Lord of Hosts.

Sin and Judgment

4 Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:

Do men fall and not arise?
    Do they turn away and not repent?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem
    turned away by a perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard,
    but they did not speak what is right.
No man repented of his wickedness,
    saying, “What have I done?”
Everyone turned to his course,
    as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Indeed, the stork in the sky
    knows her appointed times.
And the turtledove and the crane and the swallow
    observe the time of their coming.
But My people do not know
    the judgment of the Lord.

8 How do you say, “We are wise,
    and the law of the Lord is with us”?
Certainly the lying pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men are ashamed;
    they are dismayed and caught.
Indeed, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    and what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others,
    and their fields to those who shall inherit them.
For everyone from the least even to the greatest
    is given to covetousness;
from the prophet even to the priest
    everyone deals falsely.
11 For they have healed the brokenness
    of the daughter of My people superficially,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
    when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
    They were not at all ashamed,
    nor could they blush.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall;
    in the time of their punishment they will be cast down,
    says the Lord.

13 I will surely consume them,
    says the Lord.
    There will be no grapes on the vine
nor figs on the fig tree,
    and the leaf shall fade;
and the things that I have given them
    will pass away from them.

14 Why do we sit still?
    Assemble yourselves,
and let us enter the fortified cities
    and let us perish there.
For the Lord our God has doomed us
    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,
    but there was trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses
    was heard from Dan;
the whole land trembled
    at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones.
For they have come and have devoured
    the land and all that is in it,
    the city, and those who dwell in it.

17 See, I will send serpents against you,
    adders, which will not be charmed,
    and they will bite you,
    declares the Lord.

Jeremiah Mourns for His People

18 My sorrow is beyond healing;
    my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen! The cry of the daughter of my people
    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,
    with foreign vanities?”

20 “The harvest is past,
    the summer is ended,
    and we are not saved.”

21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people am I broken;
    I mourn; dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health
    of the daughter of my people recovered?

Failures of Judah

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 all are adulterers,
    an assembly of treacherous men.

3 They bend their tongues like their bow;
    lies and not truth prevail upon the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    and they do not know Me,
    says the Lord.
4 Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor,
    and do not trust in any brother;
for every brother supplants,
    and every neighbor walks about with slanders.
5 Everyone deceives his neighbor
    and does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
    they weary themselves in committing iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit;
    through deceit they refuse to know Me,
    says the Lord.

7 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts:

Now, I will refine them and assay them;
    for what else shall I do
    for the daughter of My people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceit.
One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
    but in his heart he lies in wait.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
    says the Lord.
Shall not My soul be avenged
    on such a nation as this?

10 For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
    and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation,
because they are burned up so that no one can pass through them;
    nor can men hear the lowing of the cattle.
Both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled;
    they are gone.

11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins
    and a den of jackals;
and I will make the cities of Judah desolate,
    without an inhabitant.

12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

13 And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked in it, 14 but have walked after the imagination of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.

17 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:

Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;
    and send for wailing 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 devastated we are!
    We are greatly humiliated,
because we have forsaken the land,
    because our dwellings have cast us out.”

20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O you women,
    and let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
and teach your daughters wailing,
    and everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21 “For death has come up into our windows;
    and has entered our palaces,
to cut off the children from the streets,
    and the young men from the squares.”

22 Speak, Thus says the Lord:

“The carcasses of men shall fall
    as dung upon the open field,
and as the sheaf after the harvester,
    and no one shall gather them.”

23 Thus says the Lord:

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
    and let not the mighty man glory in his might,
    let not the rich man glory in his riches;
24 but let him who glories glory in this,
    that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness,
    justice, and righteousness in the earth.
    For in these things I delight,
    says the Lord.

25 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the wilderness who clip the hair on their temples; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.

The True God and Idols(A)

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:

Do not learn the way of the nations;
    do not be terrified at the signs of heaven,
    although the nations are terrified at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain;
    for with the axe one cuts a tree out of the forest,
    the work of the hands of the workman.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold;
    they fasten it with nails and with hammers
    so that it may not move.
5 They are as a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    but do not speak;
they must be carried,
    because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    nor can they do good.

6 There is no one like You, O Lord.
    You are great,
    and Your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear You,
    O King of the nations?
    Indeed, it is Your due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like You.

8 But they are altogether unthinking and foolish;
    the tree is a doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish,
    and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the workman and of the hands of the founder;
    blue and purple are their clothing;
    they all are the work of skilled men.
10 But the Lord is the true God;
    He is the living God and an everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth trembles,
    and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

11 Thus you shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

12 He has made the earth by His power.
    He has established the world by His wisdom
    and has stretched out the heavens by His discretion.
13 When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,
    and He causes the vapors to ascend from the remote parts of the earth;
He makes lightning with rain,
    and brings out the wind from His storehouses.

14 Every man is stupid, without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by an idol;
for his molded image is false,
    and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vain and a work of mockery;
    in the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them,
    for He is the Maker of all things,
and Israel is the rod of His inheritance.
    The Lord of Hosts is His name.

The Exile Prophesied

17 Gather up your wares out of the land,
    O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus says the Lord:
    I will sling out
    the inhabitants of the land at this time,
and will distress them
    that they may be found.

19 Woe is me because of my brokenness!
    My wound is grievous.
But I said,
    “Truly this is an illness, and I must bear it.”
20 My tabernacle is devastated,
    and all my cords are broken.
My sons have gone from me and are no more.
    There is no one to spread my tent anymore,
    and to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become unthinking
    and have not sought the Lord.
Therefore they have not prospered,
    and all their flocks are scattered.
22 Listen! The sound of the report has come,
    and a great commotion out of the north country,
to make the cities of Judah desolate
    and a den of jackals.

The Prayer of Jeremiah

23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself;
    it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24 O Lord, correct me, but with justice,
    not in Your anger,
    lest You bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your fury upon the nations
    that do not know You
    and upon the families that do not call on Your name;
for they have eaten up Jacob
    and devoured him, and consumed him,
    and have made his habitation desolate.

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 And say you to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice, and do according to all which I command you. So you shall be My people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.

Then I answered and said, “So be it, O Lord.”

6 Then the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and warning, saying, Obey My voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked 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 which they did not do.

9 The Lord said to me: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words. And they have gone 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 says the Lord, Surely, I will bring calamity upon them which they will not be able to escape. And though they cry to Me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.

14 Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time that they cry to Me because of their trouble.

15 What right has My beloved in My house,
    seeing that she has done many lewd deeds?
    Can the sacrificial meat take away from you your disaster,
    so that you can rejoice while doing evil?

16 The Lord called your name,
    “A green olive tree, fair in fruit and form.”
With the noise of a great tumult
    He has kindled fire upon it,
    and its branches are broken.

17 For the Lord of Hosts, who planted you, has pronounced disaster against you, because of 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 to Baal.

Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

18 The Lord has made it known to me and I knew it; then You showed me their deeds. 19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree with the fruit,
    and let us cut him off from the land of the living
    so that his name may be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously,
    who tries the feelings and the heart,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
    for to You I have revealed my cause.

21 Therefore thus says the Lord of the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord so that you not die by our hand.” 22 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts: I will punish them. 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 calamity upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.

Jeremiah’s Plea

12 Righteous are You, O Lord,
    that I plead with You.
Indeed, let me talk with You about matters of justice.
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why are all those happy who deal very treacherously?
2 You have planted them; indeed, they have taken root;
    they grow; indeed, they bring forth fruit.
You are near in their mouth,
    but far from their mind.
3 But You, O Lord, know me;
    You have seen me and tested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
    and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn
    and the herbs of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
    the beasts and the birds have been snatched away,
because they said,
    “He will not see our latter end.”

God Answers Jeremiah

5 If you have run with the footmen,
    and they have wearied you,
    then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they wearied you,
    then how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers and the household of your father,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you.
    Indeed, they have cried aloud after you.
Do not believe them
    though they speak fair words to you.

7 I have forsaken My house,
    I have abandoned My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul
    into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is to Me
    as a lion in the forest.
She cries out against Me;
    therefore I have hated her.
9 My heritage is to Me
    as a speckled vulture;
    the vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
    bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;
    they have trodden My portion under foot;
they have made My pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it desolate,
    and being desolate, it mourns to Me.
The whole land has been made desolate,
    because no man lays it to heart.
12 The destroyers have 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.
    No one shall have peace.
13 They have sown wheat, but reap thorns;
    they have strained themselves, but shall not profit.
And they shall be ashamed of your harvest
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

14 Thus says the Lord: Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 15 It shall come to pass that after I have plucked them out, I will again have compassion on them, and will bring them back, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16 It shall come to pass if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, “As the Lord lives,” as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord.

A Linen Sash

13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it upon your loins, and do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought a waistband according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.

3 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the waistband that you have, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.

6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the waistband from there, which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But the waistband was destroyed. It was profitable for nothing.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 Thus says the Lord: After this manner I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the imagination of their hearts, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall be even as this waistband which is good for nothing. 11 For as the waistband cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cleave to Me, says the Lord, so that they might be to Me a people for renown, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not listen.

The Metaphor of Wine Bottles

12 Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And when they say to you, “Do we not certainly know that every bottle should be filled with wine?” 13 then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings that sit on the throne of David, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 I will dash them against one another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not show pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.

Exile Threatened

15 Hear and give heed;
    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
    on the dark mountains,
and while you look for light,
    He turns it into the shadow of death
    and makes it gross darkness.
17 But if you will not listen to it,
    my soul will weep in secret places
    for your pride;
and my eyes will weep sorely
    and run down with tears,
    because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.

18 Say to the king and to the queen mother:
    “Humble yourselves, sit down,
for your beautiful crown
    shall come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negev will be shut up,
    and no one will open them;
all Judah will be carried away into captivity;
    it will be wholly carried away captive.

20 Lift up your eyes and see
    those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
    your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when He appoints over you
    those you yourself had taught to be companions to you?
Shall not sorrows take hold of you,
    as a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
    “Why have these things come upon me?”
for the greatness of your iniquity
    your skirts have been removed
    and your heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
    or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good,
    who are accustomed to doing evil.

24 Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble
    that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is your lot,
    the portion of your measures from Me,
    says the Lord,
because you have forgotten Me
    and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I Myself have uncovered your skirts over your face
    so that your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighings,
    the lewdness of your harlotry,
and your abominations
    on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
    How long will you remain unclean?

Drought, Famine, and Sword

14 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

2 Judah mourns,
    and the gates languish;
they sit on the ground while mourning,
    and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 Their nobles have sent their servants for water;
    they came to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
    they were ashamed and humiliated,
    and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is chapped,
    for there was no rain in the earth,
the plowmen were ashamed;
    they have covered their heads.
5 Indeed, the hind also calved in the field
    and abandoned her young
    because there was no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand in the high places;
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no grass.

7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
    do it for Your name’s sake.
Indeed, our backslidings are many;
    we have sinned against You.
8 O the Hope of Israel,
    its Savior in time of trouble,
why should You be as a stranger in the land,
    and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to pitch his tent for a night?
9 Why should You be as a man dismayed,
    as a mighty man who cannot save?
Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst,
    and we are called by Your name.
    Do not forsake us!

10 Thus says the Lord to this people:

Even so they have loved to wander;
    they have not restrained their feet.
Therefore, the Lord does not accept them;
    He will now remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.

11 Then the Lord said to me: Do not pray for the good of this people. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer a burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

False Prophets

13 Yet I said, “Ah, Lord God! Here the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”

14 Then the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them nor have I commanded them nor have I spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and emptiness, and the deceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name though I did not send them, yet they say, “Sword and famine will not be in this land.” By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed. 16 The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. And they will have no one to bury them, not them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.

17 Therefore you will say this word to them:

Let my eyes run down with tears
    night and day, and let them not cease;
for the virgin daughter of my people
    has been broken with a great blow,
    with a very infected wound.
18 If I go out into the field,
    I see those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
    I see those who are sick with famine!
Indeed, both the prophet and the priest
    go about into a land that they do not know.

The People Ask for Mercy

19 Have You utterly rejected Judah?
    Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us
    so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace,
    but there was nothing good;
and for the time of healing,
    but there is trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
    and the iniquity of our fathers,
    for we have sinned against You.
21 Do not abhor us. For Your name’s sake,
    do not disgrace Your glorious throne.
Remember and do not break
    Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain?
    Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not You, O Lord our God?
    Therefore, we will wait upon You,
    for You have done all these things.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me: Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, yet My heart would not be with this people. Cast them out of My sight and let them go! 2 It shall come to pass if they say to you, “Where should we go?” then you shall tell them: Thus says the Lord:

Those destined for death, to death;
and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
and those destined for the famine, to the famine;
and those destined for the captivity, to the captivity.

3 I will appoint over them four kinds of disaster, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, the birds of the heaven, the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will cause them to be removed into all 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 on you, O Jerusalem?
    Or who shall bemoan you?
    Or who shall go aside to ask how you are doing?
6 You who have forsaken Me, says the Lord,
    you keep going backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you.
    I am weary of relenting!
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children. I will destroy My people,
    since they did not repent from their ways.
8 Their widows will increase before Me
    more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
    a destroyer at noonday;
I will suddenly bring down on her
    sorrow and terrors.
9 She who has borne seven sons languishes;
    she has given up the spirit;
her sun has gone down while it was yet day;
    she has been ashamed and humiliated.
And the rest of them I will deliver to the sword
    before their enemies,
    says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Sorrow

10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me
    as a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
I have not lent with usury, nor have men lent to me on usury,
    yet every one of them curses me!

11 The Lord said:

Truly I will set you free for good purposes.
    Truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you
    in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

12 Can anyone break the northern iron
    or the bronze?

13 Your wealth and your treasures
    I will give to the destroyer without price,
and that for all your sins,
    even within all your borders.
14 I will make you to pass with your enemies
    into a land which you do not know;
for a fire is kindled in My anger,
    which shall burn upon you.

15 O Lord, You who know, remember me,
    and take notice of me,
    and take vengeance on my persecutors.
Because of your longsuffering, do not take me away.
    Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found and I ate them.
    And Your word became to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart,
for I am called by Your name,
    O Lord God of Hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of mockers,
    nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
    for You have filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual
    and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?
Shall You be altogether to me as a deceptive stream
    and as waters that fail?

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

19 Therefore thus says the Lord:

If you return, then I will bring you back,
    and you shall stand before Me;
and if you take out the precious from the worthless,
    you will be My spokesman.
Let them return to you,
    but do not return to them.
20 I will make you to this people
    a fortified bronze wall;
and they shall fight against you,
    but they shall not prevail against you;
for I am with you
    to save you and to deliver you,
    says the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
    and I will redeem you out of the hand of the violent.

The Day of Disaster

16 The word of the Lord came also to me, saying: 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. But they will be as dung upon the face of the ground. And they will be consumed by the sword and by famine. And their carcasses will be food for the fowl of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

5 For thus says the Lord: Do not enter a house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, says the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercy. 6 Both the great and the small will die in this land. They will not be buried; neither will men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7 Neither will men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; nor will men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9 For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of laughter and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” 11 then you shall say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshipped them, but have forsaken Me and have not kept My law. 12 And you have done worse than your fathers, for here you are, each one walking after the imaginations of his evil heart so that they do not listen to Me. 13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night because I will not show you favor.

God Will Restore Israel

14 Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, that it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” 15 but, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands wherever He had driven them.” And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

16 Now, I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will 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; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 First I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.

19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
    and my refuge in the day of affliction,
the nations will come to You
    from the remote parts of the earth, and will say:
Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity,
    and things in which there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods for himself,
    which are not gods?

21 “Therefore, surely I will this once cause them to know,
    I will cause them to know
    My hand and My might;
and they shall know
    that My name is the Lord.”

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

17 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen
    and with a diamond point;
it is engraved on the tablet of their heart
    and on the horns of their altars;
2 as they remember their children,
    so they remember their altars
and their groves by the green trees
    on the high hills.
3 O My mountain in the field,
    I will give your wealth
and all your treasures to the destroyer,
    and your high places
    for sin throughout all your borders.
4 You, even yourself, will discontinue
    from your heritage that I gave you;
and I will cause you to serve your enemies
    in the land which you do not know;
for you have kindled a fire in My anger
    which will burn forever.

5 Thus says the Lord:

Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    and whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert
    and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
    in a salt land and not inhabited.

7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    and whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
    and that spreads out its roots by the river,
and shall not fear when heat comes,
    but its leaf shall be green,
and it shall not be anxious in the year of drought,
    neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

9 The heart is more deceitful than all things
    and desperately wicked;
    who can understand it?

10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
    I test the mind,
even to give to every man according to his ways,
    and according to the fruit of his deeds.

11 As the partridge sits on eggs which it has not laid,
    so is he who gets riches, but not justly;
it will forsake him in the midst of his days,
    and in the end he will be a fool.

12 A glorious high throne from the beginning
    is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel,
    all who forsake You will be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me in the earth will be written down,
    because they have forsaken the Lord,
    the fountain of living waters.”

Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance

14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
    save me, and I will be saved,
    for You are my praise.
15 See how they say to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it come now!”
16 As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,
    nor have I desired the woeful day;
    You Yourself know that which came out of my lips was in Your presence.
17 Do not be a terror to me;
    You are my hope in the day of disaster.
18 Let those who persecute me be humiliated,
    but let me not be humiliated;
let them be dismayed,
    but let me not be dismayed.
Bring upon them the day of evil,
    and destroy them with double destruction.

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

19 Thus the Lord said to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people whereby the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 And say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates. 21 Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and do not bear any load on the Sabbath day nor bring anything in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they did not obey or incline their ears, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. 24 It shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to Me, says the Lord, to bring in no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but sanctify the Sabbath day to do no work in it, 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever. 26 They will come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you will not listen to Me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a load, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it will not be quenched.

The Potter and the Clay

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 you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was making something on the wheel. 4 Yet the vessel that he made of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into 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? says the Lord. As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it. 8 If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to do to it. 9 Or at another moment I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it. 10 If it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would bless it.

11 Now therefore speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Repent now, everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your deeds good. 12 But they say, “There is no hope! But we will walk after our own devices, and each of us will do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.”

13 Therefore thus says the Lord:

Ask now among the nations,
    who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel
    has done a very horrible thing.
14 Shall a man leave the snow of Lebanon,
    which comes from the rock of the field?
Shall the cold flowing water that comes from another place
    be forsaken?
15 Because My people have forgotten Me,
    they have burned incense to vain gods
and they have stumbled in their ways
    from the ancient paths,
to walk in bypaths,
    not on a highway,
16 to make their land desolate,
    and a perpetual hissing;
everyone who passes by shall be astonished
    and shake his head.
17 I will scatter them before the enemy
    as with an east wind;
I will show them the back and not the face
    in the day of their calamity.

Jeremiah Persecuted

18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. For the law will not be lost from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
    and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good?
    For they have dug a pit for my soul.
Remember that I stood before You
    to speak good for them,
    and to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, deliver up their children to the famine
    and pour out their blood by the power of the sword;
and let their wives be bereaved of their children and become 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 You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
for they have dug a pit to take me
    and hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know
    all their counsel against me to slay me.
Do not forgive their iniquity
    nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
but let them be overthrown before You;
    deal thus with them in the time of Your anger.

The Broken Jar

19 Thus says the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. 2 Then go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, 3 and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring such disaster upon this place, at which whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken Me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into My mind— 6 therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 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 who seek their lives. And their corpses I will give to be food for the fowl of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. 8 I will make this city desolate and a hissing. Everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss because of all the wounds. 9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone will eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will distress them.

10 Then you will break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with you, 11 and say to them: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be made whole again; and they will bury them in Topheth until there is no other place to bury. 12 Thus I will do to this place and to the inhabitants, says the Lord, and even make this city as Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled as the place of Topheth, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of the house of the Lord and said to all the people: 15 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am about to bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks so that they might not heed My words.

Pashhur Strikes Jeremiah

20 Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. 3 On the next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but “Magor-missabib.”[a] 4 For thus says the Lord: I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. And they will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes will see it. Thus I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive into Babylon and will slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, and all its produce, and all the precious things; and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies who will destroy them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity; and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die and will be buried there, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.

Jeremiah Dejected

7 O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
    You are stronger than I and have prevailed.
I am held in derision daily;
    everyone mocks me.
8 For each time I speak, I cry out;
    I cry out, “Violence and devastation,”
because to me the word of the Lord has resulted
    in reproach and derision daily.
9 But if I say, “I will not make mention of Him
    nor speak any more in His name,”
then His word was in my heart
    as a burning fire shut up in my bones;
and I was weary of forbearing it,
    and I could not endure it.
10 For I heard the defaming of many,
    “Terror on every side!
    Denounce him. Yes, denounce him!”
All my familiar friends
    who watch for my fall, say,
“Perhaps he will be enticed
    so that we can prevail against him,
    and we will take our revenge on him.”

11 But the Lord is with me as a dread mighty One.
    Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
    Their everlasting shame will never be forgotten.
12 But, O Lord of Hosts, who tests the righteous
    and sees the mind and the heart,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
    for to You I have presented my cause.

13 Sing to the Lord,
    praise 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.
    Let not the day be blessed in which my mother bore me.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father,
    saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!”
    and made him very glad.
16 Let that man be as the cities
    which the Lord overthrew and did not relent,
and let him hear the cry in the morning
    and the shout of alarm at noon,
17 because he did not kill me from the womb,
    so that my mother might have been my grave,
    and her womb be always pregnant.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
    to see trouble and sorrow,
    so that my days are spent in shame?

Zedekiah’s Request Denied

21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malkijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 “Please inquire of the Lord for us. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, so that the enemy withdraws from us.”

3 Then Jeremiah said to them: Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4 Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5 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 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:3 Or Terror on Every Side.
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.