Bible in 90 Days

¹⁴ Every man is a poor thinker and without learning. Every one who works with gold is put to shame by his false gods. For his objects of worship fool people. There is no breath in them. ¹⁵ They are without worth, and make fun of the truth. In the time of their punishment, they will be destroyed. ¹⁶ He Who is the God of Jacob is not like these, for He has made all things. And Israel is His chosen family. The Lord of All is His name.

People of Jerusalem Will Be Taken Away

¹⁷ Pick up your load from the ground, you who are shut in by armies! ¹⁸ For the Lord says, “See, I am throwing out the people of the land at this time. And I will trouble them, that they may feel it.”

¹⁹ It is bad for me because I am hurt! My sore cannot be healed. But I said, “For sure this sickness is mine, and I must suffer with it.” ²⁰ My tent is destroyed and all my ropes are broken. My sons have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to put up my tent again or to set up my curtains. ²¹ For the shepherds are poor thinkers and have not asked for the Lord’s help. So they have not done well, and all their flock is sent different places. ²² Listen, the sound of news! See, it comes! Much noise of moving is coming out of the land of the north to destroy the cities of Judah, and to make it a place where wild dogs live.

Jeremiah’s Prayer

²³ O Lord, I know that a man’s way is not known by himself. It is not in man to lead his own steps. ²⁴ Punish me when I need it, O Lord, but be fair. Do not punish me in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing. ²⁵ Pour out Your anger on the nations that do not know You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have destroyed Jacob. They have destroyed him and have laid waste his land.

The Agreement Is Broken

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “Hear the words of this agreement, and speak to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. ³ Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Cursed is the man who does not listen to the words of this agreement ⁴ which I told to your fathers before you when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I brought them from the land that was like an iron stove. I said to them, ‘Listen to My voice, and do all that I tell you. Then you will be My people and I will be your God.’ ⁵ And so I will keep the promise I made to your fathers before you, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” Then I answered and said, “Let it be so, O Lord.”

⁶ The Lord said to me, “Make these words known in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this agreement and do them. ⁷ For by My strong words I told your fathers of the danger when I brought them up from the land of Egypt. I kept telling them even to this day, saying, “Listen to My voice.” ⁸ Yet they did not obey or listen. Every one walked in his own strong-will because of his sinful heart. So I brought upon them all the words of this agreement, which I told them to do, but they did not.’”

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Sinful plans have been made by the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They have returned to the sins of their fathers before them who would not listen to My words. And they have gone to serve other gods. The people of Israel and Judah have broken the agreement I made with their fathers.” ¹¹ So the Lord says, “See, I am bringing much trouble on them. They will not be able to get away from it. Even when they cry to Me, I will not listen to them. ¹² Then the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn special perfume. But they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. ¹³ For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah. And your altars you have set up to burn special perfume to the false god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.

¹⁴ “So do not pray for these people. Do not lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not listen when they call to Me because of their trouble. ¹⁵ What right has My loved one to be in My house when she has done many sinful acts? Can animals killed on My altar take your trouble away from you? Can you then find joy?” ¹⁶ The Lord called you, “A green olive tree, beautiful and with good fruit.” But with a noise like thunder He set fire to it, and its branches were destroyed. ¹⁷ The Lord of All, Who planted you, has said that bad will come to you because of the sin of the people of Israel and of the people of Judah. They have done wrong to make Me angry by burning special perfume to the false god Baal.

Men of Anathoth Want to Kill Jeremiah

¹⁸ The Lord made it known to me and I knew it. You showed me the sinful things they did. ¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb led to be killed. I did not know that they had made plans against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” ²⁰ But, O Lord of All, Who is right as He judges, Who tests the heart and the mind, let me see You punish them. For I have put my cause before You.

²¹ So the Lord speaks about the men of Anathoth who want to kill you. These men say, “Do not speak in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand.” ²² So the Lord of All says, “See, I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword. And their sons and daughters will die from hunger. ²³ None of them will be left. For I will bring much trouble to the men of Anathoth, in the year of their punishment.”

Jeremiah’s Question

12 You are right and good, O Lord, when I complain to You about my trouble. Yet I would like to talk with You about what is fair. Why does the way of the sinful go well? Why do all those who cannot be trusted have it so easy? ² You have planted them, and they have taken root. They grow and have given fruit. You are near on their lips but far from their heart. ³ But You know me, O Lord. You see me. And You test how my heart is with You. Take them off like sheep to be killed. Set them apart for the day of killing. ⁴ How long will the land be filled with sorrow? How long will the grass of every field dry up? For the sin of those who live in it, animals and birds have been taken away, because men have said, “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵ “If you have run with men on foot and they have made you tired, then how can you run as fast as horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do among all the trees beside the Jordan? ⁶ For even your brothers and those of your father’s house have not been faithful to you. They have cried to you in a loud voice. Do not believe them, even if they say pleasing things to you.”

The Lord’s Sorrow for Israel

⁷ “I have left My house. I have left My chosen nation. I have given the loved one of My soul into the hand of those who hate her. ⁸ My chosen nation has become to Me like a lion among the trees. She has raised her voice against Me, so I hate her. ⁹ Is My chosen nation like a spot-covered, flesh-eating bird to Me? Are the flesh-eating birds against her on every side? Go, gather all the wild animals of the field, and bring them to eat. ¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed My grape-field. They have crushed My field under foot. They have turned My good field to an empty desert. ¹¹ It has been laid waste. Destroyed and empty, it cries with sorrow before Me. The whole land has been laid waste, because no one cares. ¹² On all the open hill-tops in the desert, destroyers have come. For the sword of the Lord destroys from one end of the land to the other. There is no peace for anyone. ¹³ They have planted grain and have gathered thorns. They have worked hard, but have nothing. Be ashamed of what you gather because of the burning anger of the Lord.”

Israel’s Neighbors

¹⁴ This is what the Lord says about all My sinful neighbors who take the gift I have given to My people Israel: “See, I am about to pull them up by the roots from their land. And I will pull up the people of Judah by the roots from among them. ¹⁵ But after I have pulled them up by the roots, I will have loving-pity on them again, and will bring them back. I will return each one to what he has been given and to his land. ¹⁶ Then if they will for sure learn the ways of My people, and promise by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught My people to promise by Baal, then they will be built up among My people. ¹⁷ But if they will not listen, then I will pull that nation up by the roots and destroy it,” says the Lord.

The Linen Belt

13 The Lord said to me, “Go and buy a linen belt, and put it around yourself. But do not put it in water.” ² So I bought the belt as the Lord had said and put it around me. ³ Then the Word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the belt that you have bought and are wearing, get up, and go to the Euphrates. Hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had told me. ⁶ After many days the Lord said to me, “Get up and go to the Euphrates and get the belt which I told you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the belt from the place where I had hidden it. And I saw that the belt was worth nothing.

⁸ Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘In this way I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These sinful people would not listen to My words. They walk in the strong-will of their own hearts and have gone to serve and worship other gods. So let them be just like this linen belt, which is good for nothing. ¹¹ For as the belt holds on to a man’s body, so I made the whole family of Israel and the whole family of Judah hold on to Me,’ says the Lord. ‘This was so that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and an honor. But they would not listen.’

The Wine Bottles

¹² “So you are to tell this to them: ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every jar is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not know very well that every jar is to be filled with wine?’ ¹³ then tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I am about to fill all the people of this land, the kings who sit on David’s throne, the religious leaders, the men of God, and all the people of Jerusalem with too much drink. ¹⁴ And I will throw them against each other, both the fathers and sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not let pity or sorrow or loving-kindness keep Me from destroying them.”’”

Pride Comes before Punishment

¹⁵ Listen and hear. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken. ¹⁶ Give honor to the Lord your God before He brings darkness and before you slip and fall on the dark mountains. You hope for light, but He will turn it into darkness and it will be very dark. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen, my soul will cry in secret because of your pride. My eyes will cry with a bitter cry and tears will flow down, because the Lord’s people have been taken away in chains. ¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother, “Come down from your throne. Your beautiful crown has been taken from your head.” ¹⁹ The cities of the Negev have been locked up, and there is no one to open them. All Judah has been taken away. All the people of Judah have been taken to another land.

²⁰ “Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep? ²¹ What will you say when He sets over you those whom you have taught and who were your friends? Will not pain take hold of you, like a woman giving birth? ²² And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ It is because of your many sins that your clothing has been torn off and you suffer punishment. ²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are used to doing wrong. ²⁴ I will cause you to go everywhere like straw blown by the desert wind. ²⁵ This is what you get, the share given to you from Me,” says the Lord, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in lies. ²⁶ So I will pull your clothing up over your face, that your shame may be seen. ²⁷ As for your sex sins and cries of desire, your sinful sex acts on the hills in the field, I have seen your hated sins. It is bad for you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”

No Water—No Food

14 The Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah when there was no water: ² “Judah is full of sorrow and her gates are weak. Her people sit on the ground in sorrow, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. ³ Their men of honor have sent their servants for water. They have come to the wells and found no water, and returned with their jars empty. They have been put to shame and troubled, and covered their heads. ⁴ The ground is dried up because there has been no rain on the land. The farmers have been put to shame and have covered their heads. ⁵ Even the deer in the field leaves her young one which has just been born, because there is no grass. ⁶ The wild donkeys stand on the open hill-tops. They breathe hard for air like wild dogs. Their eyes become weak because there is nothing to eat.

⁷ “Even when our sins speak against us, O Lord, do something for the good of Your name. For we have fallen away from You many times. We have sinned against You. ⁸ You are the Hope of Israel, the One Who saves it in time of trouble. Why are You like a stranger in the land? Why are You like a traveler who has set up his tent for the night? ⁹ Why are You like a man surprised, like a strong man who cannot save? Yet You are among us, O Lord, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us!”

¹⁰ The Lord says this about these people, “They have loved to go their own way. They have not held their feet back. So the Lord is not pleased with them. Now He will remember their wrong-doing and punish their sins.” ¹¹ The Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of these people. ¹² When they go without food, I will not listen to their cry. And when they give burnt gifts and grain gifts, I will not receive them. But I will destroy them by the sword, hunger and disease.”

¹³ Then I said, “O Lord God, the ones who speak in Your name are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword and you will not go hungry. But I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, “Those men are speaking lies in My name. I have not sent them, or told them, or spoken to them. They are telling you a false dream of a false future that means nothing. They are speaking the lies of their own hearts. ¹⁵ So this is what the Lord says about those men who tell what is going to happen in the future using My name. I did not send them, yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or hunger in this land.’ So by the sword and by hunger those false teachers will be destroyed! ¹⁶ And the people they tell these things to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of hunger and the sword. There will be no one to bury them, or their wives, or their sons, or their daughters. For I will pour out their own sin upon them. ¹⁷ You will say to them, ‘Let my eyes flow with tears without stopping night and day. For my people have been crushed with a very hard beating. ¹⁸ If I go out to the country, I see those killed by the sword! Or if I go into the city, I see diseases because of hunger! For both the man who speaks for God and the religious leader have gone around and around in the land they do not know.’”

The People Cry to the Lord

¹⁹ Have You nothing at all to do with Judah any more? Do You hate Zion? Why have You punished us so that we cannot be healed? We waited for peace, but nothing good came. We waited for a time of healing, but there is much trouble. ²⁰ We know that we are sinful, O Lord, and we know the sin of our fathers. For we have sinned against You. ²¹ For the good of Your name do not hate us. Do not put to shame the throne of Your shining-greatness. Remember and do not break Your agreement with us. ²² Are there any among the false gods of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens give rain? Is it not You, O Lord our God? So we hope in You. For You are the One Who has done all these things.

Troubles for Judah

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with these people. Send them away from Me and let them go! ² And when they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ then tell them, ‘The Lord says, “Those who are to die, to death, and those who are to be killed by the sword, to the sword. Those who are to go hungry, to hunger, and those who are to be taken away as prisoners, to be taken away.’ ³ I will set over them four kinds of destroyers,” says the Lord: “The sword to kill, the dogs to take away, and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth to eat and destroy. ⁴ I will make them an object of much fear and hate among all the nations of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵ “Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will have sorrow for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your well-being? ⁶ You have turned away from Me,” says the Lord. “You keep going back into sin. So I will put out My hand against you and destroy you. I am tired of having pity on you! ⁷ I will throw them to the wind like straw at the gates of the land. I will take their children from them. I will destroy My people. For they did not turn from their ways. ⁸ Their women whose husbands have died will be as many as the sand of the seas. At noon I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of young men. I will bring suffering and fear to them all at once. ⁹ She who gave birth to seven sons will become weak and die. Her sun will set while it is still day, and she will be put to shame. I will give the rest of them to the sword in front of those who hate them,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah Complains

¹⁰ It is bad for me, my mother, that you have given birth to me! I am a man of trouble and fighting to all the land. No one owes money to me, and I do not owe money to others, yet every one curses me. ¹¹ The Lord said, “For sure I will set you free for a good reason. For sure I will make those who hate you ask of you in times of trouble and suffering.

¹² “Can anyone crush iron, iron from the north, or brass? ¹³ I will give your money and riches to those who fight against you, without a price, because of all your sins in all your land. ¹⁴ I will make those who hate you bring your riches into a land you do not know. For My anger has started a fire that will burn you.”

¹⁵ O Lord, You understand. Remember me and visit me. And punish those who make it hard for me. Do not take me away, for You are slow to be angry. Know that because of You I suffer and am put to shame. ¹⁶ Your words were found and I ate them. And Your words became a joy to me and the happiness of my heart. For I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of All. ¹⁷ I did not sit with those who were having fun, and I was not full of joy. I sat alone because Your hand was upon me. For You had filled me with hate for their sin. ¹⁸ Why is there no end to my pain? And why will my hurt not be healed? Will You be to me like a river that flows with water some of the time and is dry at other times?

The Lord’s Answer

¹⁹ So the Lord says, “If you return, then I will let you take your place again, standing before Me. And if you take out what is of worth from what is of no worth, then you will speak for Me. Let these people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. ²⁰ Then I will make you like a strong wall of brass to these people. Even if they fight against you, they will not get power over you. For I am with you to save you and bring you out of trouble,” says the Lord. ²¹ “I will take you from the hand of the sinful. And I will free you from the hand of those who would hurt you.”

16 The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Do not get married or have sons or daughters in this place.” ³ For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land, and about their mothers who give birth to them, and their fathers who gave them life in this land: ⁴ “They will die of bad diseases. No one will cry for them or bury them. They will be as animal waste on the ground, destroyed by sword and hunger. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the earth.”

⁵ For the Lord says, “Do not go into a house where the people have lost a loved one. Do not go to cry or to comfort them. For I have taken My peace, My loving-kindness and My pity from these people,” says the Lord. ⁶ “Both great men and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. No one will cry for them. And no one will cut himself or cut off his hair for them. ⁷ No one will give food to comfort those who sorrow for the dead. And no one will give them the cup of comfort to drink even for the death of their father or mother. ⁸ Do not go into a house where they are eating much and sit with them to eat and drink.” ⁹ For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “Before your eyes and in your time, I am going to bring an end to the voice of joy, the voice of happiness, the voice of the man to be married and the voice of the bride in this place.

¹⁰ “When you tell these people all these words, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord said all these bad things will happen to us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹ Then you tell them, ‘It is because your fathers before you have turned away from Me,’ says the Lord. ‘They have followed other gods and served them and worshiped them. But they have left Me and have not kept My Law. ¹² And you have sinned even more than your fathers before you. For see, each one of you is following the strong-will of his own sinful heart instead of listening to Me. ¹³ So I will throw you out of this land into a land which you and your fathers have not known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

God Will Bring Israel Back

¹⁴ “So the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when 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 it will be said, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had sent them.’ For I will return them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

The Punishment That Is Coming

¹⁶ “See, I am going to send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they will fish for them. After this I will send for many men who hunt. And they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes in the rocks. ¹⁷ For I see all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their sin is not hidden from My eyes. ¹⁸ And I will pay them back twice as much for their wrong-doing and their sin, because they have made My land unclean. They have filled My land with the bodies of their hated false gods and with sinful things offered to them.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer

¹⁹ O Lord, my strength and my strong-place, my safe place in the day of trouble, nations will come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have received nothing but lies, only things that have no worth and do not help them.” ²⁰ Can man make his own gods? What man makes is not gods!

²¹ “So I am going to make them know. This time I will make them know My power and My strength. And they will know that My name is the Lord.”

Judah’s Sin and the Punishment

17 The sin of Judah is written down with pen of iron and with a sharp diamond. It is written on their hearts and on the horns of their altars. ² Even their children remember their altars and their wooden female goddesses of Asherah by green trees and on the high hills. ³ O My mountain in the country, I will give your money and all your riches to those who fight against you. I will give your high places as the price of your sin through all your land. ⁴ And you yourself will let your land go that I gave you. I will make you serve those who hate you in a land which you do not know. For you have made My an-ger start a fire which will burn forever.

⁵ The Lord says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who trusts in the flesh for his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. ⁶ For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when good comes. He will live in dry wastes in the desert, in a land of salt where no other people live. ⁷ Good will come to the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. ⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the river. It will not be afraid when the heat comes but its leaves will be green. It will not be troubled in a dry year, or stop giving fruit.

⁹ “The heart is fooled more than anything else, and is very sinful. Who can know how bad it is? ¹⁰ I the Lord look into the heart, and test the mind. I give to each man what he should have because of his ways and because of the fruit that comes from his works. ¹¹ As a bird that sits on eggs which it has not laid, so is he who gets rich by doing wrong. When his life is half over, they will leave him, and in the end he will be a fool.”

¹² A beautiful throne on high from the beginning is our holy place. ¹³ O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who leave You will be put to shame. Those who turn away from You will be written in the earth, because they have left the Lord, the well of living water.

Jeremiah Prays for Help

¹⁴ Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed. Save me and I will be saved. For You are my praise. ¹⁵ They say to me, “Where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come now!” ¹⁶ But as for me, I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows You. And I have not been hoping for the day of trouble. You know what I said was spoken in front of You. ¹⁷ Do not make me afraid of You. You are my safe place in the day of trouble. ¹⁸ Let those who make it hard for me be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be afraid, but do not let me be afraid. Bring on them a day of trouble, and destroy them with twice as much!

Keeping the Day of Rest Holy

¹⁹ The Lord said to me, “Go and stand in the people’s gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, and also in all the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And say to them, ‘Listen to the Word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all people of Jerusalem who come in through these gates. ²¹ The Lord says, “Be careful for your lives. Do not carry any load on the Day of Rest or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. ²² Do not bring a load out of your houses on the Day of Rest or do any work. But keep the Day of Rest holy, as I told your fathers before you. ²³ Yet they did not listen or hear, but made their necks hard and would not change their ways.

²⁴ “Listen to Me,” says the Lord, “and bring no load through the city gates on the Day of Rest. Keep the Day of Rest holy by doing no work on it. ²⁵ Then kings and their sons will come through the city gates who will sit on the throne of David. They will come in war-wagons and on horses, with the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. And people will live in this city forever. ²⁶ People will come in from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem. They will come from the land of Benjamin, from the valleys, from the hill country, and from the Negev. They will bring burnt gifts, animals to kill on the altar in worship, grain gifts, special perfume, and gifts of thanks to the house of the Lord. ²⁷ But if you do not listen to Me, to keep the Day of Rest holy by not carrying a load when coming through the gates of Jerusalem on the Day of Rest, then I will start a fire in its gates. And it will burn up the beautiful houses of the kings of Jerusalem and will not be stopped.”’”

The Pot-Maker and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, ² “Go down to the pot-maker’s house, and there I will let you hear My words.” ³ So I went down to the pot-maker’s house, and saw him making one on the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was making of clay did not come out like he wanted it. So the pot-maker used the clay to make another pot that pleased him.

⁵ Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁶ “O people of Israel, can I not do with you as this potmaker has done?” says the Lord. “Like the clay in the pot-maker’s hand, so are you in My hand, O people of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I speak about a nation, to pull up, and to break down and to destroy, ⁸ and if that nation I spoke against turns from its sin, then I will change My mind about the trouble I planned to bring upon it. ⁹ If at another time I speak about a nation, that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ and if it does what is sinful in My eyes by not obeying My voice, then I will change My mind about the good I had promised to bring to it. ¹¹ So now speak to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘The Lord says, “See, I am making trouble for you and making a plan against you. So each of you turn from your sinful way. Change your ways and your works.”’ ¹² But they will say, ‘There is no hope! For we are going to follow our own plans. Each of us will act in the strong-will of his sinful heart.’

The People Turn from the Lord

¹³ “So the Lord says, ‘Ask now among the nations: Who has heard such things? Pure Israel has done a very sinful thing. ¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky mountains? Does the cold flowing water of other lands ever dry up? ¹⁵ But My people have forgotten Me. They burn special perfume to false gods of no worth. They have fallen in their ways, from the old paths, and have gone on side roads, not on the straight road. ¹⁶ They make their land a waste, a thing that is spoken against forever. Everyone who passes by it will be surprised and shake his head. ¹⁷ I will send them out everywhere like an east wind in front of those who hate them. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their trouble.’”

Plans to Kill Jeremiah

¹⁸ They said, “Come and let us make plans against Jeremiah. For the Law is not going to be lost to the religious leader, or wise words to the wise man, or the Word of God to the man of God! Come and let us hurt him with our tongue, and let us not listen to any of his words.”

¹⁹ Think of me, O Lord, and listen to what those who hate me are saying! ²⁰ Should bad be given in return for good? Yet they have dug a deep hole for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn Your anger away from them. ²¹ So give their children over to hunger. Give them up to the power of the sword. Let their wives lose their children and husbands. Let their men be put to death. And let their young men be killed by the sword in battle. ²² May a cry be heard from their houses when You bring an army upon them by surprise. For they have dug a deep hole to take me, and have hidden traps for my feet. ²³ Yet You, O Lord, know all their plans to kill me. Do not forgive their wrong-doing or cover their sin from Your eyes. Let them be taken down before You. Punish them in the time of Your anger.

The Broken Jar

19 The Lord says, “Go and buy a pot-maker’s clay jar, and take some of the leaders of the people and some of the older religious leaders. ² Then go out to the valley of BenHinnom, by the Potsherd Gate, and there say the words that I will tell you. ³ Say, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “See, I am about to bring much trouble to this place. The ears of everyone that hears of it will hurt. ⁴ The people have left Me and have made this a strange place. They have burned special perfume in it to other gods that they and their fathers and the kings of Judah had never known. They have filled this place with the blood of those who were not guilty. ⁵ They have built the high places of the false god Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt gifts to Baal. This is a thing which I never told them to do or spoke of. It did not even come to My mind. ⁶ So see, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of BenHinnom. Instead it will be called the Valley of Killing. ⁷ I will make the plans of Judah and Jerusalem come to nothing in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword in front of those who hate them and by the hand of those who want to kill them. And I will feed their dead bodies to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth. ⁸ I will make this city a waste place, and people will make sounds of hate. Everyone who passes by it will be surprised and make strange noises because of all its troubles. ⁹ I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. And they will eat each other’s flesh when the armies shut them in, and when those who want to kill them bring much trouble to them.”’

¹⁰ “Then you are to break the jar in front of the men who go with you. ¹¹ And say to them, ‘The Lord of All says, “In this way I will break these people and this city, even as one breaks a pot-maker’s jar, which cannot be put back together. Men will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no place left to bury. ¹² This is what I will do to this place and its people,” says the Lord. “I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be made unclean like Topheth. This will be because of all the houses on whose roofs they burned special perfume to all the false gods of the heavens and poured out drink gifts to other gods.”’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to tell what would happen. And he stood in the open space of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘See, I am about to bring to this city and to all its towns all the trouble that I have spoken about, because they have made their necks hard and would not listen to My Words.’”

Jeremiah and the Religious Leader Pashhur

20 Now Pashhur the religious leader, the son of Immer, was the head leader in the house of the Lord. When he heard Jeremiah saying these things, ² Pashhur had Jeremiah the man of God beaten. Then he put him in chains at the upper Benjamin Gate by the house of the Lord. ³ On the next day, when Pashhur set Jeremiah free from the chains, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Fear Everywhere. ⁴ For the Lord says, ‘See, I am going to make you a fear to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of those who hate them while you look on. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. And he will carry them away in chains to Babylon and will kill them with the sword. ⁵ I will give over all the riches of this city, all that its people have worked for, and all its things of much worth. Even all the riches of the kings of Judah I will give to those who hate them. They will take their things, and take hold of them, and carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will be taken away in chains. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have told lies.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint to the Lord

⁷ O Lord, You have lied to me and I was fooled. You are stronger than I, and have had power over me. I have been laughed at all day. Everyone makes fun of me. ⁸ For whenever I speak, I cry out. I tell of fighters and destroyers. For the Word of the Lord has become a shame and a cause of laughing at me all day long. ⁹ But if I say, “I will not remember Him or speak any more in His name,” then in my heart it is like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am tired of holding it in, and I cannot do that. ¹⁰ For I have heard many speaking in secret, saying, “Fear and trouble is on every side! Speak against him! Yes, let us speak against him!” All my trusted friends, watching for my fall, say, “It may be that he will be fooled. Then we can get power over him and punish him.” ¹¹ But the Lord is with me like a powerful one who causes fear. So those who make it hard for me will fall and not have power over me. They will be put to much shame, because their plans have not gone well. Their shame will last forever and will not be forgotten. ¹² O Lord of All, You test those who are right and good. You see the mind and the heart. Let me see You punish them, for I have given my cause to You. ¹³ Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has taken the soul of the one in need from the hand of the sinful.

¹⁴ Cursed is the day when I was born! Let the day not be honored when my mother gave birth to me! ¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!” and made him very happy. ¹⁶ Let that man be like the cities which the Lord destroyed without pity. Let him hear a cry in the morning and a call of danger at noon. ¹⁷ For he did not kill me before I was born, so that my mother’s body would have been my grave. ¹⁸ Why was I ever born to see trouble and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

Jerusalem to Be Taken

21 This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the religious leader, the son of Maaseiah, saying, ² “Will you speak to the Lord about us? For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is making war against us. It may be that the Lord will do something for us like He did in times past, and make him leave us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them, “Say this to Zedekiah: ⁴ ‘The Lord God of Israel says, “See, I will turn against you the objects of war you are using to fight with against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are gathered outside the wall to shut you in. And I will bring them into the center of this city. ⁵ I Myself will fight against you with My hand out and with a strong arm, in much anger. ⁶ I will kill both man and animal in this city. They will die of a bad disease. ⁷ After this,” says the Lord, “I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people who were not killed in this city by the disease, the sword, and hunger. I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of those who hate them, and into the hand of those who want to kill them. And he will kill them with the sword. He will not let them live or have pity for them.”’

⁸ “Also tell the people, ‘The Lord says, “See, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who lives in this city will die by the sword and by hunger and by disease. But he who goes out and gives himself up to the Babylonians whose armies shut you in will live, he will at least have his life. ¹⁰ For I have set My face against this city for trouble and not for good,” says the Lord. “It will be given to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”’

Words against Judah

¹¹ “Then say to those of the house of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David, the Lord says, “Do what is right every morning. Take the person who has been robbed away from the one who has made it hard for him. So My anger will not go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of the sinful things you have done.

¹³ “See, I am against you, O you who live in the valley, O rock of the plain,” says the Lord, “you who say, ‘Who will come down against us? Or who will come into our houses?’ ¹⁴ I will punish you for what has come of what you have done,” says the Lord. “I will start a fire among your trees, and it will destroy all that is around it.”’”

Jeremiah’s Words to the Kings of Judah

22 The Lord says, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there. ² Say, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who come through these gates. ³ The Lord says, “Do what is right and fair and good, and take the one who has been robbed away from the power of the one who has made it hard for him. Do not hurt or do wrong to the stranger, the one whose parents have died, or the woman whose husband has died. And do not kill those who are not guilty in this place. ⁴ For if you will obey this word, then kings will come through the gates of this house and sit on the throne of David. They will be in war-wagons and on horses, together with their servants and their people. ⁵ But if you will not obey these words, I promise by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house will be destroyed.”’” ⁶ For the Lord says about the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, or like the top of Lebanon. Yet I will be sure to make you like a desert, like cities without people. ⁷ I will send destroyers against you, each with his things for fighting. And they will cut down your best cedar trees and throw them on the fire. ⁸ Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ And they will answer, ‘Because they did not keep the agreement of the Lord their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.’”

Words about Shallum

¹⁰ Do not cry for the one who is dead or have sorrow for him. But cry all the time for the one who goes away, for he will never return or see the land of his birth again. ¹¹ For the Lord says about Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who ruled in the place of Josiah his father, and who left this place: “He will never return. ¹² He will die in the place where they took him, and he will not see this land again.”

Words about Jehoiakim

¹³ “It is bad for him who builds his house by wrong-doing, and his upper rooms by not being fair, who has his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not pay him, ¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a big house with large upper rooms. I will cut out its windows, cover it with cedar and color it bright red.’ ¹⁵ Do you become a king by trying to build better houses of cedar? Did not your father eat and drink? He did what was right and fair and good, so all went well with him. ¹⁶ He spoke strong words in the cause of the poor and those in need, and so all went well. Is not that what it means to know Me?” says the Lord. ¹⁷ “But your eyes and heart are set only on what you can get by wrong-doing, and on killing those who are not guilty, and on making it hard for people and on hurting others.” ¹⁸ So the Lord says about Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, “They will not cry in sorrow for him, saying, ‘It is bad, my brother!’ or, ‘It is bad, my sister!’ They will not cry in sorrow for him, saying, ‘O lord!’ or, ‘O, how great he was!’ ¹⁹ He will be buried like they bury a donkey, pulled away and thrown out on the other side of the gates of Jerusalem.

The Future of Jerusalem

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry out. And let your voice be heard in Bashan. Cry out from Abarim also. For all your lovers have been destroyed. ²¹ I spoke to you when things were going well for you, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way since you were young. You have not obeyed My voice. ²² The wind will take away all your shepherds, and your lovers will be taken away in chains. Then you will be ashamed and troubled because of all your sin. ²³ O you people of Lebanon, who make your nest among the cedars, how you will cry inside yourselves when pain comes upon you! It will be pain like a woman giving birth.”

Words against Coniah

²⁴ “As I live,” says the Lord, “even if Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a marking ring on My right hand, I would still pull you off. ²⁵ I will give you over to those who want to kill you, to those whom you fear. I will give you to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and to the Babylonians. ²⁶ I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. ²⁷ You will want to return to this land again but you will not return.” ²⁸ Is this man Coniah a hated, broken jar? Is he a pot that no one cares for? Why have he and his children been thrown out into a land that they had not known? ²⁹ O land, land, land, hear the Word of the Lord! ³⁰ The Lord says, “Write this man down as one who has no children, a man who will not do well in his days. For none of his children or children’s children will do well sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.”

The Right and Good Branch

23 “It is bad for the shepherds who are destroying and dividing the sheep of My field!” says the Lord. ² The Lord God of Israel says this about the shepherds who are caring for My people, “You have made My flock go everywhere and have driven them away, and have not cared for them. See, I am about to punish you for your sinful things you have done,” says the Lord. ³ “Then I Myself will gather those who are left of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them back to their field. And they will have many children. ⁴ I will have shepherds over them who will care for them. And they will not be afraid any longer, or filled with fear, and none of them will be missing,” says the Lord.

⁵ “See, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a right and good Branch. He will rule as king and be wise and do what is right and fair and good in the land. ⁶ In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will be safe. And this is the name He will be called by: ‘The Lord Who makes us right and good.’ ⁷ So see, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt.’ ⁸ But they will say, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought up and led the children of the people of Israel back from the north country and from all the countries where He had driven them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”