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JER McFadyen’s Jeremiah in Modern Speech

The Call

1 The messages of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, a member of the priestly order resident in Anathoth in the district of Benjamin.

2 A message came to him from Jehovah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah; 3 and (such messages) continued to come to him in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and up to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, when in the fifth month the people of Jerusalem were swept into exile.

4 This is the message that came to me from Jehovah:

5 "My thoughts were upon thee before I created thee,

And before thou wast born I had set thee apart,

And appointed thee unto the nations a prophet."

6 And thus I made answer:

"Alas! O Lord Jehovah, Behold!

I have no skill of speech, I am only a child."

7 Then Jehovah made answer to me:

"Do not plead thou art still but a child,

Thou must go wheresoever I send thee,

And say whatsoever I bid thee.

8 Be not afraid at the sight of them,

2 For I will be with thee to save thee."

9 Thus spoke Jehovah; then with His outstretched hand

He touched my mouth and said to me:

"Herewith do I put My words in thy mouth,

10 Behold this day do I give thee authority

Over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To uproot and demolish, destroy and tear down,

To upbuild and to plant."

The Reassuring Vision of the Almond Tree

11 This further message came to me from Jehovah: "What seest thou there, Jeremiah?" (said the Voice). 12 "A branch of an almond tree," I answered. "Thou hast seen truly," said Jehovah," for I am watching over My purpose, to perform it."

The Vision of the Caldron of War

13 Then there came to me a second message from Jehovah. "What seest thou now?" (said the Voice). "A boiling pot," I answered, "facing the north." 14 Then Jehovah said to me:

From the north shall disaster break forth

Over all that inhabit the land.

15 For I, saith Jehovah, do summon

The northern kingdoms all;

Each king shall come and set his throne

At the gates that lead into Jerusalem,

And against her encircling walls,

And against all the cities of Judah.

16 I will utter My judgments against them

Because of their wickedness;

For Me they have forsaken,

And to to other gods offered sacrifice,

And bowed to the work of their hands.

The Divine Summons and the Divine Assurance

17 As for thee, gird up thy loins,

Arise and declare unto them

Whatsoever I command thee.

Let the sight of them not dismay thee,

Else I will dismay thee before them.

18 As for Me, behold! This day

As a fortified city I make thee,

A pillar of iron, a wall of bronze,

Against the whole of the land–

The kings and the courtiers of Judah,

The priests and the folk of the land.

19 They will fight thee, but thou shalt be victor:

For I – saith Jehovah most solemnly–

I will be with thee to save thee.

Israel’s Ancient Fidelity and Happiness

2 There came to me this message from Jehovah:

2 Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

Thus saith Jehovah:

I remember the love of thy youth–

An affectionate bride wast thou–

When thou followedst Me in the desert,

A land that was all unsown;

3 Then Israel belonged to Jehovah,

His first-fruits, sacred to Him.

Whosoever devoured her was punished,

On such did disaster fall.

Israel’s Long Record of Infidelity with its Bitter Consequences

Judah’s Infidelity more Awful than Israel’s

6 In the days of the King Josiah Jehovah said to me: "Hast thou seem what backsliding Israel did? She went up on every high mountain and under every green tree and there she played the harlot. 7 I had hoped that, after all this, she would return to Me. But no! she did not return. Her faithless sister Judah 8 saw that I had put backsliding Israel away because of her adultery, and that I had given her a bill of divorce; nevertheless faithless Judah was not at all afraid, but she too went and played the harlot, 9 defiling the land by her wanton whoredom, and committing adultery with stones and stocks. 10 Nevertheless, when faithless Judah turned to Me, it was not with her whole heart, but only in pretence."

Offer of Pardon and Promise of Glory

11 Then Jehovah said to me, "Backsliding Israel has justified herself more than faithless Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words towards the north and say:

O backsliding Israel, turn,

I will not look in anger upon thee;

For I am kind, saith Jehovah,

I keep not Mine anger for ever.

13 But only acknowledge thy guilt–

That, disloyal to Jehovah thy God,

Thou hast lavished thy love upon strangers

Beneath every spreading tree,

And unto My voice, saith Jehovah,

Thou hast not inclined thine ear.

14 Return, ye backsliding children, saith Jehovah, for I am your husband and lord; and I will take one of you from each city and two from each clan, and I will bring you to Zion, 15 and give you rulers after My own mind, who shall tend you with wisdom and skill. 16 And when in those days you have grown numerous and fruitful in the land, saith Jehovah, men shall speak no more of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah; it shall never enter their minds, they will neither think of it nor miss it, nor will they ever again make another.

17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the Throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall gather thereto; they shall follow no more the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the household of Judah shall join the household of Israel, and together they shall come from the north land to the land that I gave your forefathers for an inheritance.

A Penitent Return will be met by the Divine Acceptance

19 How glad, methought, shall I be

To give thee a place among sons,

To give thee a pleasant land,

An inheritance passing fair!

Me thought ye would call Me Father,

And follow Me evermore;

20 But ye have been false unto Me,

As a woman is false to her lover.

21 Hark! weeping is heard on the heights–

It is suppliant Israel crying,

Because they have walked perversely,

Forgetting Jehovah their God.

22 "Return, ye backsliding I will heal."

"Behold, we are come unto Thee,

For Thou art Jehovah our God.

23 The hills are but a delusion,

And the orgies upon the mountains;

In Jehovah our God alone

Is Israel’s salvation.

24 The Baal hath devoured the toil

Of our fathers from our youth–

Their sheep and their oxen together,

Their sons and their daughters together

25 We would lay us down in our shame,

All covered with confusion;

For before our God we have sinned,

We and our fathers from youth

Even unto this very day;

And we have not hearkened at all

To the voice of Jehovah our God."

4 "O Israel, if thou wilt return," saith Jehovah,

If thou but return unto Me,

And put out of My sight those things that I loathe;

If thou roam not hither and thither;

2 If sincerely and justly and truly

Thou swear, ’As Jehovah liveth,’

Then nations shall pray for a blessing like thine,

And in thee shall they make their boast.

3 For thus saith Jehovah to the citizens of Judah,

And to them that dwell in Jerusalem:

Break up the ground that lies fallow,

And sow ye not among thorns;

4 Circumcise ye your own selves to Jehovah,

Remove from your hearts the foreskin,

Ye citizens of Judah

And ye that dwell in Jerusalem;

Lest My fury go forth like fire

And blaze beyond all quenching,

Because of your evil doings."

The Impending Judgment to be Executed by a Foreign Invader

5 Declare ye this message in Judah,

And publish it in Jerusalem;

Blow the trumpet throughout the land,

Cry aloud and say,

"Gather and let us betake ourselves

Into the fortified cities."

6 Lift towards Zion a signal,

Flee ye for safety and stay out;

For disaster and fell destruction

I soon will bring out the north.

7 A lion hath gone from his thicket;

The Devastator of nations

Hath left and gone forth from his place

To desolate the earth.

8 Gird yourselves therefore with sackcloth,

Make ye lament and wail;

For the fierce glowing wrath of Jehovah

Doth turn not away nor leave us.

9 The heart of the king and the princes

Shall fail int that day, saith Jehovah;

The priests shall be seized with horror,

And the prophets with amazement.

10 They shall say "Ah, Lord Jehovah!

Ah! Surely Thou hast deluded

This people and Jerusalem,

Assuring us all would be well,

While the doth pierce to the soul."

11 This message shall then be declared

To Jerusalem and this people:

A glowing wind from the desert

Cometh straight upon My people,

But not to winnow or cleanse–

12 Too keen is the blast for that.

So now I will utter My judgment upon them.

13 Behold! he mounteth as clouds,

His chariots are like to the whirlwind,

His horses are swifter than eagles:

"Woe unto us! we are spoiled."

14 Wash thy heart of wickedness,

Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved:

How long wilt thou harbour within thee

Thine evil imaginations?

15 Hark! a message from Dan,

From Mount Ephraim, evil tidings;

16 Proclaim it among the nations,

And publish it over Jerusalem.

Behold! leopards are coming

From a land that is far away,

They are raising loud their roar

Against the cities of Judah.

17 Lying in wait in the fields,

They beset her round and round–

"Because," declareth Jehovah,

"She hath rebelled against Me."

18 Thy doings and thy behaviour

Have brought these things upon thee;

This is the fruit of thy wickedness–

Bitter indeed it is,

It pierceth thy very heart.

The Prophet’s Anguish

19 O the pain, the pain in my bosom,

The walls of my heart are athrob:

My heart is a tumult within me,

I cannot hold my peace;

For the sound of the trumpet I hear,

The din and alarum of battle.

20 Ruin doth break upon ruin,

For all the land is laid waste;

My tents of a sudden are spoiled,

Yea, all in a moment my curtains.

21 How long must I look on the standard

And hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 For foolish is my people,

And me they do not know;

Sottish children they are,

Devoid of understanding:

Wise are they to do evil,

But they know not how to do good.

23 I looked at the earth, and behold! it was empty.

I looked at the heavens, and their light was gone,

24 I looked at the mountains, and lo! they were trembling,

And all the hills moved to and fro.

25 I looked and looked, but behold, there was no man,

And all the birds of the heaven had fled.

26 I looked at the fruit-land: behold! it was desert,

And all the cities were fallen in ruins,

Laid waste by the fierce hot wrath of Jehovah.

The Irrevocable Doom

27 For thus Jehovah hath said,

The land shall be all desolation.

28 For this the earth shall mourn,

And the heavens above be black;

For I have not repented My words,

And I will not turn back from My purpose.

29 At the noise of the horsemen and bowmen

The whole land taketh to flight;

They enter the thickets and caves,

They climb up on to the rocks.

Abandoned is very city,

And not a man dwelleth therein.

30 Why, then, dost thou robe thee in scarlet,

And deck thee with jewels of gold,

And paintest thine eyes to enlarge them?

In vain dost thou make thyself fair.

They that doted on thee despite thee;

It is thy life that they seek.

31 For a cry have I heard as of woman in travail,

A scream as of one bringing forth her first child.

Hark! ’tis the daughter of Zion

That gaspeth and spreadeth her hands,

Saying, "Ah! woe is me! I am faint,

I am sinking – the victim of murderers."

The Universal Corruption of the Nation

5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,

Look ye around and examine;

Search in her open spaces

If ye can find a man–

Any that acteth justly,

And seeketh after truth;

Then I – Jehovah declareth–

Will grant her My forgiveness.

2 But even when they say, "By Jehovah,"

They are ready to swear to a lie.

3 Dost Thou look then, Jehovah, on falsehood,

And not upon the truth?

To all Thy blows they were callous,

They refused to accept correction;

Their faces were harder than stone,

They refused to turn (and repent).

4 "But these," thought I, "are the poor,

The people without understanding,

Who know not the way of Jehovah,

The ordinance of their God.

5 I will get me unto the great men,

And unto them will I speak;

For they know the way of Jehovah,

The ordinance of their God."

But these very men have all broken the yoke,

And snapped the bonds asunder.

6 Soon therefore shall they be slain

By a lion out of the forest;

A wolf from the steppes shall despoil them.

A leopard shall lurk by their cities,

And rend all that issue therefrom.

For many are their their transgressions,

And far they have turned away.

7 How then for this can I pardon thee?

Thy children have forsaken Me,

Swearing by gods that are no gods;

And, when to the full I had fed them,

Adultery they committed,

They lodge in the houses of harlots.

8 Well fed stallions were they,

Neighing each for his neighbour’s wife.

9 And crimes like these, saith Jehovah,

Am I to leave unpunished?

Shall not My soul be avenged

On a nation such as this?

The Implacable Doom

10 Get ye up to her vines and destroy them,

Make an utter end of them;

Take away her branches,

For they are not Jehovah’s.

11 For utterly faithless to Me

Are the households of Israel and Judah;

12 They have denied Jehovah,

And said, "He will never do it;

No evil shall come upon us,

We shall see neither sword nor famine.

13 The prophets are only wind,

The word is not in them:

So be it done unto them."

14 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Hosts:

Behold, MY word in thy mouth

I will make like a flaming fire,

And this people shall be as the fuel,

And it shall clean devour them.

15 Behold, I am bringing against you,

O household of Israel, saith Jehovah,

A nation from afar,

An imperishable nation,

A very ancient nation,

A nation whose language thou knowest not,

Whose speech is strange unto thee.

16 Like an open grave is their quiver,

And giants are they all:

17 They shall eat up thy bread and thy harvest,

They shall eat up thy sons thy daughters,

They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds,

They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees,

They shall beat down the fortified cities,

Wherein thou didst trust, with the sword.

18 But in those days, saith Jehovah,

I will not make a clean end of you.

19 And in time to come, when ye say to Me,

"Why hath Jehovah our God

Done all these things unto us?"

Then shalt thou say unto them,

"As ye have forsaken Me,

And served foreign gods in your land,

So ye shall be servants to strangers

In a land that is not your own."

The Utter Depravity of the People and their Religious Leaders

20 Declare ye this in the household of Jacob,

And publish this message in Judah;

21 Hear this, ye foolish and senseless people,

With eyes that see not, and ears that hear not.

22 Fear ye not Me? saith Jehovah,

Tremble ye not at My presence,

Who hath set the sand as a bound for the sea,

As a barrier eternal which cannot be passed?

Its waters may toss, but they cannot prevail;

Its waves may roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

23 But these people are stubborn, defiant in heart,

They are turned aside and gone.

24 For they do not say in their hearts,

"Let us fear Jehovah, our God,

Who giveth the rain in its season,

The early and latter rain,

And into us reserveth

the weeks appointed for harvest."

25 This order your sins have disturbed,

Your crimes have withheld from you blessing.

26 For among My people are knaves,

Who set snares and with traps catch men.

27 Like a cage full of birds, so their houses

Are full of (the gains of) deceit;

And so they grow great and rich,

28 They are waxen fat, they are sleek:

They run riot in deeds of wickedness.

They defend not the rights of the orphan,

Nor champion the cause of the needy.

29 And things like these, saith Jehovah,

Am I to leave unpunished?

Shall not My soul be avenged

On a nation such as this?

30 An appailing, a horrible thing

Is come to pass in the land.

31 The prophets prophesy falsely,

And from them do the priests take their teaching,

And My people love it so;

But what will ye do in the end?

The Approach of the Invader

6 Flee ye for safety, ye Benjamites,

Forth from the midst of Jerusalem;

Blow ye the trump in Tekoa,

Raise a beacon on Beth-haccherem:

For out of the north there peereth

Disaster and fell destruction.

2 As a fair and luxurious mead

Is the height of the daughter of Zion;

3 But shepherds shall come to assail her,

They and their flocks together;

They shall pitch their tents around about her,

And graze on her, each where he camps.

4 "Prepare ye war against her;

Up! let us storm her at noon-day."

"Alas! for the day declineth,

The shadows of evening are lengthening."

5 "Then up! let us storm her by night,

And her palaces let us destroy."

6 For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:

Hew ye down her trees,

And cast up a mound against her.

Woe to thee, City of Falsehood,

Within thee is nothing but tyranny.

7 As a well keepeth fresh her waters,

She keepeth her wickedness fresh;

Within her are rapine and violence heard,

Sickness and wounds are for ever before Me.

8 O Jerusalem, be admonished,

Lest My soul from thee be severed,

Lest I make thee a desolation,

An uninhabited land.

9 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts;

"Glean like a vine full thoroughly

Those that are left of Israel;

Set thy hand once more

As a vintager unto the branches."

10 "But to whom shall I speak and bear witness

In such wise that they listen?

For see! their ear is uncircumcised,

Helpless are they to hearken.

To them is the word of Jehovah

Become an utter scorn;

They have no pleasure in it.

11 I am filled with the wrath of Jehovah,

I am weary of holding it back:

On the child in the street I will pour it,

On youths, too, where’er they assemble;

It shall smite men and women alike,

And the aged, whose days are many.

12 Their homes shall be turned unto others,

Their fields and their wives together;

For against those that dwell in the land

I will stretch out My hand, saith Jehovah."

The National Materialism and its Doom

13 For great and small alike,

They are all of them greedy of gain;

Prophet and priest alike–

Every man of them practiseth falsehood.

14 They would heal the hurt of My people,

As though it were but slight;

"It is well, it is well," they say,

"When it is anything but well."

15 Are they at all abashed

At their deeds abominable?

Nay, they are unabashed,

They know not how to blush.

They shall therefore fall with the fallen;

In the hour of their visitation

They shall stumble, saith Jehovah.

16 Thus did Jehovah say:

Stand in the ways and see,

And ask for the ancient paths;

Mark that which leadeth to happiness,

See that ye walk therein–

And ye shall find rest to your souls.

But they said, " We refuse to walk in it."

17 And over you I set watchmen.

Saying "Hark for the sound of the trumpet."

But they said, "We refuse to hearken."

18 Wherefore hearken, ye nations, and hear, O earth,

Take knowledge of that which is coming.

19 Behold, I will bring on this people

Disaster, the fruits of their backsliding;

For they heeded not My words,

My instruction they rejected.

20 Of what avail to Me

Is the incense that cometh from Sheba,

And sweet cane from a distant land?

I accept not your burnt-offerings,

Your sacrifice pleaseth Me not.

21 Therefore, thus saith Jehovah: Behold,

I will set on the way of this people

Stones over which they may stumble,

And over them stumble they shall,

Fathers and sons together–

And neighbour and friend shall perish.

22 Thus saith Jehovah, Behold!

A people doth come from the north land,

A mighty nation is stirring

At the uttermost ends of the earth

23 Bow they wield and javelin–

Cruel and pitiless they,

With a voice like the roar of the sea,

And they ride upon horses and chariots,

Arrayed, like one man, for the battle,

Against thee, O daughter of Zion.

24 The rumour thereof we have heard,

And all unnerved are we:

Anguish hath seized upon us,

And pangs as of women in travail.

25 Venture not forth to the open,

Go not abroad on the highway;

For there is the sword of the enemy–

Terror on every side.

26 O daughter of My people,

Gird thee about with sackcloth

And sprinkle thee with ashes;

Make mourning and bitter lament,

As for an only son;

For suddenly shall come

The Devastator upon us.

Jeremiah as Assayer of the National Character

27 I have set thee to test My people,

To discover and test their way.

28 Refractory are the all,

They slander as they go;

They are all of them brass and iron,

They are all of them corrupt.

29 Fiercely the bellows blow,

The lead is consumed by the fire;

But in vain doth the smelter keep smelting,

The dross is not smelted away.

30 Their name shall be refuse silver,

For them hath Jehovah as refuse rejected.

Salvation lies neither in Temple nor Ritual, but only in Repentance and Reform

7 The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah: 2 Take thy stand at the gate of the Temple, and there make the following proclamation. Say, Listen to this message from Jehovah, all ye men of Judah that enter these gates to worship Jehovah. 3 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will guarantee this place as your permanent home. 4 But put no trust in lying messengers, who say: "This is the Temple of Jehovah, the Temple of Jehovah, the Temple of Jehovah." 5 For if you really amend your ways and your doings: if you really do justice as between man and man; 6 if you abstain from the oppression of the resident foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, from the shedding of innocent blood in this place, and from devotion to other gods to your own hurt, 7 then I will guarantee you a home here for all time in the land that I gave your forefathers.

8 But see, you are putting your trust in doctrines that are as profitless as they are false. 9 What! you commit theft, murder, adultery, perjury, you burn sacrifice to the Baal, you run after other gods that are strange to you; 10 and then you (have the hardihood to) come and stand before me in this House which is called by My name, and say, "Now we are safe" – in order, forsooth, to carry on all these abominations. 11 This House which bears My name you regard, do you, as nothing but a robbers’ cave? Make no mistake: I – saith Jehovah – I have not been blind to all this.

12 I would ask you to visit My sanctuary in Shiloh, where I put My name at the first, and see what the wickedness of My people Israel constrained Me to do to it. 13 And so it will be now, saith Jehovah. Because you have perpetrated all these anormities, in defiance of My most earnest and repeated words, and have refused to respond to My call, 14 therefore this Temple in which you repose your trust – called by My name though it be – and the place that I gave to you and your forefathers, I will consign to the same fate as overtook Shiloh; 15 and I will hurl you out of My sight as I have hurled your brethren, the whole race of Ephraim.

16 As for thyself, offer no prayer for this people, raise no cry or prayer on their behalf, and make no intercession to Me, for I will not listen to thee. 17 Seest thou not what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, in order to vex Me. 19 Is it I, then, saith Jehovah, whom they are vexing? is it not rather themselves, doomed as they are to bring confusion upon their own faces? 20 Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, "My anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man and beast, upon trees of the field and fruit of the ground, and it shall blaze in unquenchable flame."

21 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Put the flesh of your burnt-offerings and your (other) sacrifices together, and make a common meal of them both alike; 22 for on the day that I brought your forefathers out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no commandment nor did I utter a syllable with regard to burnt offering or sacrifice. 23 But the commandment I gave them was this: Listen, I said, to My voice, and then I will be your God and you shall be My people, and take My commandments as the standard of all your life – this is the way to prosperity. 24 But, instead of inclining their ear and listening, they followed the dictates of their own stubborn and wicked hearts; they went backwards instead of forwards. 25 Ever since your forefathers came out of the land of Egypt, every day up to this very day I have been sending you early and late all My servants the prophets. 26 Instead, however, of inclining their ear, they stiffened their necks and behaved worse than their forefathers.

27 This, then, is the message thou art to address to them, though they will not listen to thee, nor respond to thy call – 28 thy message is to be this:

This is the folk that refused to listen

To the voice of Jehovah their God–

That refused to accept correction.

Sincerity is vanished,

It is found on their lips no more.

The Fearful Judgment upon Idolatry

29 Shear off thy locks – away with them–

Lift up a dirge on the heights:

For Jehovah hath spurned and forsaken

The race that hath roused Him to anger.

30 The people of Judah, saith Jehovah, have done the thing I abhor: the very House that bears My name they have defiled by introducing into it their abominable 31 worship. They have built a sanctuary of Topheth in the Valley of the son of Hinnom, for the burning of their sons and daughters in the fire, though this was no commandment of Mine – such a thing never entered into My mind.

32 Mark this therefore: days are coming, saith Jehovah, when it shall be no more called Topheth, nor the Valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, and Topheth shall be used as a burial-place for want of room (elsewhere). 33 The dead bodies of this people shall be devoured by the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and none shall scare them away. 34 In the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem I will still the voice of mirth and gladness, and the voice of bridegroom and bride; for the land shall become a waste.

8 At the time, saith Jehovah, they shall bring out of their graves the bones of the kings, the princes, the priests, and the prophets, of Judah, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 2 and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they loved and served and followed and sought and worshipped; and they shall remain ungathered and unburied, they shall be for dung on the face of the ground. 3 And in all places to which I have driven them, every man that is left of this evil family would choose rather death than life, saith Jehovah of Hosts.

The National Refusal to Repent and the Coming Retribution

4 Thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah:

Doth not one who has fallen rise up again,

And one who hath wandered turn back again?

5 Why, then, doth thy people keep turning

For ever and ever backward,

Clinging to ways deceitful,

Refusing to return?

6 I have listened with ear intent–

And their words are utterly false.

Not a man repents of his wickedness

Or thinks upon what he has done:

But each rushes on in his course

As a war-horse rushes in battle.

7 The very stork in the heavens

Doth know her appointed seasons;

The turtle, the swift, and the swallow,

Observe the time of their coming:

But the ordinance of Jehovah

My people doth not know.

8 How can ye say, "We are wise,

And with us is the law of Jehovah"?

For see! the false pen of the scribes

Hath turned it into a falsehood.

9 So the wise shall be put to shame,

Be dismayed and taken captive.

They have spurned the word of Jehovah–

What manner of wisdom have they?

10 So their wives I will give unto others,

To conquerors their fields.

For, great and small alike,

They are all of them greedy of gain;

Prophet and priest alike–

Every man of them practiseth falsehood.

11 They would heal the hurt of My people

As though it were but slight;

"It is well, it is well," they say,

"When it is anything but well."

12 Are they at all abashed

At their deeds abominable?

Nay, they are unabashed,

They know not how to blush.

They shall therefore fall with the fallen;

In the hour of their visitation

They shall stumble, saith Jehovah.

13 When I, saith Jehovah, would gather their fruit,

There is not a grape on the vine;

There is not a fig on the fig tree,

All withered are the leaves.

14 "Why are we sitting still?

Assemble yourselves together,

Let us enter the fortified cities,

And there let us meet our doom;

For Jehovah our God hath doomed us,

Hath given us gall to drink,

Because we have sinned against Him.

15 We wait for peace, but no good cometh;

For a season of healing, but lo! dismay."

16 From Dan is heard the snort of his steeds,

At the sound of his stallions neighing

All the land doth tremble.

They come and devour the land

And all that is therein,

The city and her inhabitants.

17 For see! I will send amongst you

serpents of basilik order,

Which cannot be charmed at all;

And they, saith Jehovah, shall bite you.

Jeremiah’s Lament over the Sin and the Doom of his people

18 Past healing is my sorrow,

My heart is heavy within me.

19 Hark! a voice is calling

From the daughter of my people

From a land that is far away:

"Is not Jehovah in Zion?

Is not her King therein?"

"With their images why have they vexed Me–

With futile foreign gods?"

20 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended,

And all unsaved are we."

21 For the daughter of my people,

All broken, mine own heart is broken;

I go about in mourning,

With the clutch of horror upon me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why cometh then no healing

To the daughter of my people?

9 O that my head were waters,

And mine eyes a fountain of tears,

That day and night I might weep

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

2 O that I had in the desert

A spot such as travellers lodge in;

For then would I leave my people,

Yea, from them I would go;

For they be all adulterers,

A company of traitors,

That bend their tongue like a bow.

3 It is not the true, but the false,

That has mastery in the land;

For they pass from evil to evil,

And they know not Me, saith Jehovah.

4 Let each man beware of his neighbour,

And trust not any brother:

For brothers are tricksters, all of them,

And neighbours are slanderers all.

5 They all deceive one another,

The truth they will not speak;

They have taught their tongue to lie,

They behave like knaves and fools.

6 Oppression upon oppression,

Deceit upon deceit:

They refuse, saith Jehovah, to know Me.

7 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,

Behold I will smelt them and test them,

For alas! I must turn Mine eyes away

From the daughter of My people.

8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow,

The words of their mouth are deceit;

They speak their neighbour fair,

But at heart they are laying a trap for him.

9 And crimes like these, saith Jehovah,

Am I to leave unpunished?

Shall not My soul be avenged

On a nation such as this?

10 Lift a lament for the mountains,

A dirge for the wilderness pastures;

For wasted they lie and untraversed,

No lowing of cattle they hear:

The birds of the air and the beasts

Are fled away and gone.

11 I will make of Jerusalem ruins,

A place for jackals to haunt;

I will make of the cities of Judah

An uninhabited waste.

12 Where is the man that Jehovah

Himself hath communed with and charged

To declare why the land us a ruin,

Laid waste like the untravelled wilderness?

13 And Jehovah said unto me:

Because they forsook My law

Which I had set before them,

And did not live thereby,

But disobeyed My voice,

14 And followed their stubborn hearts,

And the Baals that their fathers had taught them:

15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,

The God of Israel; Behold,

I will feed this people with wormwood,

And give them gall to drink.

16 I will scatter them far among nations

To them and their fathers unknown;

The sword I will send to pursue them,

Until I have clean consumed them.

17 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:

Now mark ye well and summon

The women that chant in dirges;

And send for the skilful women,

That they may come in haste,

18 And lift up for us a lament;

That our eyes may run with tears,

And our eyelids gush with water.

19 Hark! from Zion float sounds of wailing,

"Alas!how are we spoiled;

We are put to utter shame,

Because we have left the land,

And our homes are hurled to the ground."

20 Hear then, ye women, the word of Jehovah,

Received with your ears the word of His mouth,

And teach this lament to your daughters,

Each one to her neighbour this dirge:

21 "Death hath climbed up to our windows,

And into our palaces entered,

sweeping the child from the streets

And the youth from the broad open spaces.

22 The corpses of men are fallen

Like dung on the face of the field;

Or like sheaves behind the reaper,

With none to gather them up."

The True Glory of a Man

23 Thus saith Jehovah:

Let the wise man not boast of his wisdom,

Let the strong man not boast of his strength;

Let the rich man not boast of his riches,

24 But in this be the boaster’s boast–

In insight and knowledge of Me

As Jehovah, who over the earth

Doeth kindness and justice and right;

For these are the things that I love.

The Necessity for Circumcision of Heart

25 Mark this well, saith Jehovah: days are coming when I will punish all those that, though circumcised (in flesh) are uncircumcised (in heart) – 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all those denizens of the wilderness that have the corners of their hair clipped; for while all the nations are uncircumcised, the whole household of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

The Folly of Fearing the Impotent and Unreal Gods of the Heathen

10 Listen, O household of Israel, to the word which Jehovah hath spoken to you. 2 Thus saith Jehovah:

Learn not the ways of the heathen,

And be not dismayed at the signs in the sky,

As the heathen are dismayed;

3 For heathen religion is vapour.

A tree is cut down in the forest

And fashioned by craftsman’s axe,

4a Adorned with silver and gold–

4b And fastened with nails and hammers,

To keep them from toppling over.

5 They are altogether dumb,

Like a scarecrow in garden of cucumbers;

Carried they must needs be,

For they cannot go of themselves.

Be not afraid of them, then,

For they have it not in their power

To do either good or harm.

6 There is none like Thee, O Jehovah;

Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might.

7 Who should not fear Thee, O King of the nations?

For Thee it becometh well;

For among the wise men of the nations all,

And among their kingdoms all,

There is none that is like unto Thee.

8 One and all, they are senseless and silly,

Instructed of gods that are wooden.

9 With silver beat fine, brought from Tarshish,

And gold that cometh from Ophir–

And wrought by the craftsman and goldsmith,

And robed in blue and in purple–

The work of skilled men are they all–

10 But Jehovah is God indeed,

A living God, and a King everlasting;

The earth at His wrath doth tremble,

His anger no nation can bear.

12 He created the earth by His power,

He established the world by His wisdom,

He stretched out the heavens by His skill.

13 When He uttereth His voice,

The waters roar in the heavens,

And He causeth vapour to rise

From the uttermost ends of the earth.

Lightnings He made for the rain,

And the wind He brings out of His storehouses.

14 How foolish is man with his knowledge!

The goldsmith is shamed by his image;

His idols are delusion,

15 They are an empty mockery,

In the hour of their trial they shall perish.

16 Not such is the Portion of Jacob,

His God is the Framer of all things:

Jehovah of Hosts is His name.

The Approaching Doom of Exile

17 Take up thy pack from the ground,

(O Jerusalem), that sittest beleaguered.

18 For thus saith Jehovah, Behold,

This time I will surely sling out

The inhabitants of the land,

And bring them into such straits

That they shall melt for fear.

19 Ah! woe is me! I am broken,

And smitten very sore,

"Yes, this is a stroke indeed,"

Said I, "and I must bear it.

20 My tent is despoiled and perished,

And all my cords are broken;

My flock is vanished clean.

There is none to stretch my tent,

Or to hang up my curtains more.

21 For the shepherds are foolish grown,

And nothing they care for Jehovah;

For this cause they have not prospered,

And all their flock is scattered.

22 Hark! a rumour! behold, it cometh,

A mighty uproar from the land of the north,

It shall make of the cities of Judah a waste,

A place to be haunted of jackals.

Prayer that Judgment may be Tempered with Mercy

23 Well, O Jehovah, I know

That a man’s way lies not with himself;`

It is not in the power of man

To walk and direct his steps.

24 When therefore Thou chastenest us,

Do Thou deal, O Jehovah, in measure,

And not in Thine indignation;

For so wouldst Thou bring us to nothing.

25 Pour out Thy wrath on the heathen,

That have not cared for Thee–

And on tribes that invoke not Thy name;

For Jacob they have devoured,

They have desolated his dwelling.

Jeremiah Exhorts the People to be True to the Demands of the Deuteronomic Law

11 The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah.

2 "Listen to the words of this covenant, and declare them to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 Say to them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Accursed be the man that refuses to listen to the words of the covenant 4 with which I charged your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of that iron furnace, the land of Egypt. I promised them then that, if they obeyed My voice, and conformed to all My commandments, they should be My people and I would be their God, 5 and thus the oath would be established that swore to their forefathers – to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day." Then I answered and said, "Amen, Jehovah."

6 Jehovah then said to me, "Make this proclamation throughout the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the words of this covenant and act upon them. 7 For early and late, ever since the day that I brought your forefathers out of the land of Egypt up to this day, I have been earnestly adjuring them to listen to My voice; 8 but instead of obediently inclining their ear, every man of them followed the dictates of his own wicked and stubborn heart; so I brought upon them all the threats of this covenant which I had charged them to observe, but which they failed to observe."

9 Further Jehovah said to me, "The people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have been engaged in a manifest conspiracy (against Me). 10 They have reverted to the sins of their forefathers who refused to listen to My words, and they are actually indulging in the worship of other gods: the households of Israel and Judah alike have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. 11 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Mark this – I will bring upon them a disaster which they shall be powerless to escape; and when they cry to Me, I will turn a deaf ear. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to whom they burn sacrifice; but no help shall they get from them in the day of their calamity: 13 for your gods, O Judah, are as numerous as your cities; and as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up for sacrifice in the scandalous worship of the Baal.

14 As for thyself, offer no prayer for this people, raise no cry or prayer on their behalf; for I will not listed when they call to Me in the day of their calamity.

15 What business hath My Beloved

In My house, after conduct so vile?

Shall vows and the sacred flesh

Avert from thee thy doom

Then mightest thou rejoice.

16 A spreading, graceful olive

Jehovah had called thy name;

But to the roar of a mighty storm

He hath set it ablaze with lightning,

And the branches thereof are marred.

17 For Jehovah of Hosts that planted thee hath pronounced evil against thee in requital for the evil in which the households of Israel and Judah have vexatiously indulged, by burning sacrifice to the Baal."

A Plot against Jeremiah’s Life

Lament over the Havoc wrought upon Judah by her Neighbours

The Parable of the Waistcloth

13 Jehovah told me to go and buy a linen waistcloth and put it on my loins, taking care not to let it get into water. 2 So I bought a waistcloth, as Jehovah had bidden me, and I put it on my loins.

3 Then a second message from Jehovah came to me, telling me 4 to take the waistcloth I had bought, that was on my loins, and to proceed to Parah and bury it there in a chink of the rock. 5 So I went and buried it at Parah, as Jehovah had charged me. 6 Many days after, Jehovah told me to proceed to Parah and remove the waistcloth which He had charged me to bury there. 7 Then I went to Parah and dug out and took the linen waistcloth from the place where I had buried it; and lo! the waistcloth was ruined – it was good for nothing.

8 Then there came to me this word from Jehovah: 9 Thus saith Jehovah, Ruin like this I will bring upon the soaring pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 As for these depraved people who, refusing to listen to My words, follow the dictates of their own stubborn hearts and indulge in the worship and service of other gods – let them become like this waistcloth, good for nothing. 11 For, as the waistcloth clings to a man’s loins, so would I have had the whole household of Israel and Judah cling unto Me, saith Jehovah, to be My people, a source of renown and praise and glory: but they would not listen.

The Parable of the Jars

12 Take to them therefore this message: Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, "Every jar must be filled with wine." And if they say to thee, "Why, of course we know that every jar must be filled with wine," 13 then this is what thou shalt say to them: Thus saith Jehovah: Soon – mark it well – I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land – the kings that sit upon the throne of David, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 14 and I will dash them, saith Jehovah, one against another, fathers and sons together. I will neither spare nor pity: no compassion shall restrain Me from destroying them.

The Tender Solemn Warning

15 O hear and give ear, be not haughty;

Jehovah hath spoken.

16 To Jehovah your God give ye glory,

Before it grows dark,

And ere yet, on the mountains of twilight,

With feet that are stumbling,

Ye look for the light, which to gloom

And thick darkness He turneth.

17 But should ye refuse to give heed,

Then in secret my soul shall weep,

Because of your pride:

And with tears that flow ever and ever

Mine eyes shall run down

For the flock of Jehovah, afar

To captivity taken.

Lament on the Approaching Fate of King Jehoiachin and the Queen Mother

18 Say to the King and the Queen Mother,

Low ye be seated;

For down from your head hath been hurled

Your glorious crown.

19 The towns in the south land are shut,

There is no one to open them;

All Judah is swept into exile,

Swept all into exile.

Lament over the Sin and the Doom of Jerusalem

20 Jerusalem, lift up thine eyes and behold

How they come from the north.

Where is thy beautiful flock,

Even the sheep that were given thee?

21 What wilt thou say when He calleth–

To lord over thee–

The men thou thyself didst instruct

To approach thee as lovers?

Shall anguish not clutch at thee hard

As of woman in travail?

22 But if in thy heart thou shouldst say,

"Why is this come upon me?"

Thy manifold guilt is the cause

That thy skirts are stripped off

And thy modesty outraged.

23 Can the African change his skin,

Or the leopard his spots?

Just as helpless art thou to do good

That art wont to do evil.

24 And so to the winds of the desert

Like stubble that flies I will scatter them.

25 This is thy lot, this the portion

I measure to thee, saith Jehovah;

Because thou forgattest Me,

And hast trusted in falsehood.

26 Thy skirt I Myself will lift over thy face,

That thy shame may be seen.

27 Thine adulteries and thy neighings,

Thy harlotry foul–

In the field, on the hills, I have seen–

Thy detestable doings.

Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem!

How long time yet must pass

Until thou be cleansed?

A Grievous Drought and the Thoughts it Awakened in the Prophet

Predictions of Coming Disaster

The Joy and Wisdom of Trust

5 Thus saith Jehovah:

Accursed the man that trusteth in man,

And maketh flesh his arm,

While his heart is estranged from Jehovah.

6 Like a bare desert shrub shall he be,

No destiny fair shall be his;

His home is the scorching wilderness,

A salt uninhabited land.

7 But blessed the man that trusteth Jehovah,

That maketh Jehovah his confidence;

8 Like a tree shall he be, by the waters planted,

That stretcheth its roots out towards the stream,

And is never afraid for the coming of heat,

But its leaves are for ever green–

In the year of drought untroubled–

And it yieldeth fruit without ceasing.

The Prophet’s Prayer

9 "The heart is most treacherous of all things,

And sick beyond cure: who can know it?"

10 "I, Jehovah, am Searcher of hearts,

And Tester of thoughts am I,

To give each what his doings have earned,

To let each reap the fruit of his deeds."

11 Like a patridge that sitteth on eggs

That it hath not laid,

Is the man that getteth him riches

In ways unjust.

In the midst of his days he must leave them,

His end shall declare him a fool.

12 A glorious throne, set on high from of old,

Is the site where standeth our holy place.

13 O Jehovah, Thou Hope of Israel,

Put to shame shall all be that forsake Thee;

Yea, they that prove faithless to Thee

In the land shall be put to confusion;

Because they have forsaken

The Fountain of Living Water.

14 "Heal me, Jehovah, and I shall be healed;

Save me, and I shall be saved indeed:

For Thou art my Praise.

15 Mark how they say to me ceaselessly

’Where is the word of Jehovah?

Pray, now, let it come to pass.’

16 Yet never for this did I urge Thee

To bring on the evil day,

Nor ever have longed in my heart

For the day of disaster – Thou knowest.

The words that came forth from my lips

Lie open before Thy face.

17 O be not a terror to me,

Thou Refuge of mine in the day of evil.

18 Confusion on them that torment me–

On them, but not on me:

Be dire dismay upon them–

On them, but not on me;

Bring the day of disaster upon them,

With two-fold destruction destroy them."

The Sanctity of the Sabbath

19 Jehovah commanded me to go and take my stand at the Benjamin gate, through which the kings of Judah go in and out, and at all the gates of Jerusalem, 20 and there He charged me to address them as follows: "Ye kings of Judah, and all ye citizens of Judah and Jerusalem that pass through these gates, 21 Thus saith Jehovah: As ye value you lives, be very careful not to carry a burden or to bring anything of the kind through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; 22 also to carry no load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and to do no work of any kind, but to keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers. 23 But instead of obediently inclining their ear, they stiffened their neck; they would have nothing to 24 do with obedience or discipline. If you, however, will give earnest heed to Me, saith Jehovah, and refrain from bringing loads through the city gates on the Sabbath day, if you keep the Sabbath day holy and abstain from work of every kind, 25 then kings that sit upon the throne of David shall enter the gates of this city riding on chariots and horses, accompanied by their princes, the men of Judah, and the citizens of Jerusalem; and the city shall be inhabited for ever. 26 From the cities of Judah, the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and the district of Benjamin, from the lowland, the hill country, and the south, men shall come to the Temple with burnt-offerings and sacrifices, oblations and frankincense, and praise-offerings. 27 If, however, you refuse to give heed to Me and to keep the Sabbath day holy by refraining from carrying burdens through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle in her gates a fire unquenchable, that shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

The Lesson of the Potter and the Clay

18 Jeremiah received from Jehovah the message which follows: 2 "Rise and go down to the potter’s house– I have somewhat to say to thee, which I will communicate to thee there." 3 So I went down to the potter’s house: and there he was – engaged on a piece of work at the wheel. 4 Now, if the thing he was making was spoiled in his hands, he would just shape the material over again into another such vessel as he had decided to make.

5 Thereupon there flashed upon me this message from Jehovah. 6 "Cannot I," He said, "deal with you, O household of Israel, like this potter? You are in My hand just like the clay in the potter’s hand. 7 At one moment I may decide to pluck up or break down and destroy some nation of kingdom; 8 but if the nation whose fate I have decreed turn from its wickedness, then I relent and do not execute the doom I had planned for it. 9 At another moment I may decide to build up or to plant some nation of kingdom; 10 but if its behaviour displeases Me, if it refuses to listen to My voice, then I will retract the favours I had intended to confer upon it.

11 Now, therefore, make this announcement to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, Thus saith Jehovah: Beware! I am shaping calamity for you, I am fashioning plans for your discomfiture. Turn, then, every man of you, from your evil ways, and amend your life and behaviour." 12 But they will say, "No, there is no hope of that: rather will we follow devices of our own and yield, every man of us, to the impulses of our wicked and stubborn hearts."

13 Thus therefore saith Jehovah:

Ask any heathen man

If he ever heard aught like this?

An utterly horrible thing

Hath been wrought by the Virgin of Israel.

14 Doth the white snow vanish from Sirion’s crags?

Do the rills that flow cold from the hills ever dry?

15 Yet Me hath My people forgotten;

The gods that they worship are phantoms.

They have stumbled upon the way

Ordained for them of old,

And turned into bypaths

That never were truly laid.

16 So their land shall be made a horror–

An everlasting scorn.

It shall fill every traveller with horror–

Thereat he will shake his head,

17 I will scatter them like the sirocco

Before the face of their foes.

Not My face, but My back, will I show them,

In the day of their calamity.

Plots against Jeremiah

The Lesson of the Broken Flask and its Consequences for Jeremiah

Jeremiah’s Irresistible Impulse to Preach

Jeremiah Warns King Zedekiah that the Babylonians will Capture Jerusalem

21 The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when King Zedekiah sent the following request to him through Pashhur, the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest. 2 "Be good enough," they said, "to enquire of Jehovah on our behalf: for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Jehovah will so deal with us in His own wonderful way that the siege will be raised."

3 To the deputation Jeremiah replied: "Take this answer back to Zedekiah. 4 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Now you are able to fight outside the wall with the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you; but soon I will drive you with the weapons you handle inside this city. 5 And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and mighty arm – in anger, in fury, and in towering wrath. 6 Yes, I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast, with a great and deadly pestilence. 7 Thereafter, saith Jehovah, Zedekiah, king of Judah and his ministers and the people in this city that survive the pestilence, sword and famine, I will deliver into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of those that seek their life; and they shall smite them with the edge of the sword without mercy, compassion, or pity.

8 To the people thy message shall be this. Thus saith Jehovah: See! I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever remains in this city shall die by sword, famine, or pestilence; but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans that besiege you shall be spared, though he shall escape with nothing but his life. 10 For, saith Jehovah, I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good; into the hands of the king of Babylon it shall be given, and he shall burn it with fire.

11 To the royal house of Judah thy message shall be this.

Hear ye the word of Jehovah.

12 O household of David, thus saith Jehovah: In the morning give righteous judgment,

Deliver the man that is plundered

From the clutch of his oppressor:

Lest My fury break forth like fire

And blaze unquenchably,

Because of your evil doings.

13 Behold, I am against thee,

Thou denizen of the vale

And the rock of the plain, saith Jehovah:

Ye who say, ’Who can come down against us

And find his way into our lairs?’

14 I will punish you, saith Jehovah;

The fruit of your deeds ye shall reap:

I will kindle a fire in her forest

Which round and round will devour."

Jeremiah’s Judgment on the Kings of Judah

Jeremiah’s Judgment on the Prophets

The Baskets of Figs and their Meaning

24 After Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with the princes, the craftsmen and the smiths, had been carried from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, into exile in Babylon, Jehovah in a vision showed me two baskets of figs set down in front of Jehovah’s Temple. 2 One basket contained excellent figs, like the figs that are first ripe: the figs in the other were very bad, so bad that they could not be eaten."

3 Then Jehovah said to me, "What seest thou, Jeremiah?" And I answered, "Figs – the good figs very good, and the bad very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."

4 Thereupon this message came to me from Jehovah, 5 "Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: As with these good figs, so will I regard with favour the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and bring them back to this land. I will not pull them down, but I will build them; I will not pluck them up, but I will plant them; 7 and I will give them a heart to understand me, that I am Jehovah. They shall be My people and I will be their God, if they turn to Me with all their heart.

8 As for the figs that were too bad to eat, Thus saith Jehovah: They are symbolic of the fate of Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes, and the survivors of Jerusalem that are left in this land, and those whose home is in the land of Egypt. 9 For I will make them an object of consternation among every kingdom in the world, a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in every place to which I shall drive them; 10 and I will send among them sword, famine and pestilence, till they perish from the land that I gave to them and their forefathers.

The Divine Judgment to be Executed by the Babylonians upon Judah, upon the Neighbouring Nations, and upon the World at Large

Jeremiah on Trial for his life

26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, the message which follows came (to Jeremiah) from Jehovah: 2 Thus saith Jehovah, Take thy stand in the Temple court, and declare without reservation to all the people of Judah who are come to worship in the Temple, the whole message that I have commissioned thee to declare. 3 It may be that they will listen and severally abandon their wicked ways: if they do, I will relent and not bring upon them the calamity I am planning as penalty for their evil behaviour. 4 This, then, is what thou art to say to them, Thus saith Jehovah: If ye refuse to obey Me– to live in accordance with the law that I have set before you, 5 and to listen, as ye have never yet listened, to the words of My servants the prophets, whom early and late I have been sending to you – 6 then I will make this Temple like Shiloh, and as for this city, I will turn it into an object of execration to every nation in the world.

7 Now the audience that listened to this message of Jeremiah’s in the Temple included not only the whole body of the people, but the priests and the prophets as well. 8 So when he had concluded the message which Jehovah had commissioned him to declare to the whole people, the priests and the prophets seized him. "You must die," they exclaimed; 9 "for how dare you deliver in the name of Jehovah such a message as this, that this Temple will meet the fate of Shiloh, and that this city shall become an inhabited desolation?" At this juncture all the people began to crowd round Jeremiah in the Temple.

10 Now echoes of this tumult having reached the ears of the countries of Judah, they proceeded from the palace up to the Temple; and after they had taken their seats at the entrance to the new gate of the Temple, 11 the priests and the prophets addressed themselves to the countries and the whole body of the people. "This man." they said, "is guilty of a capital offence; for he has solemnly declared that this city is doomed– you have heard him with your own ears. 12 Then Jeremiah in his turn addressed himself to the courtiers and to the whole body of the people. "It is Jehovah Himself," he said, "that has sent me to proclaim upon this Temple and city the doom which you have just heard. 13 If, however, you amend your life and conduct, and listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, then He will relent and cancel His threat of catastrophe. 14 As for myself, I am in your hands: deal with me as you think right and proper. 15 But be very sure of this, that, if you put me to death, you will only be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon her people; for it is the simple truth that Jehovah has sent me to deliver this message in your hearing." 16 Thereupon, the courtiers and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man is not guilty of any capital offence; for his message to us has behind it the authority of Jehovah our God."

17 Them some of the elders, rising to their feet, thus addressed the people assembled: 18 "In the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah," they said, "Micah of Moresheth was prophesying; and this is what he said to all the people of Judah:

Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:

Like a field shall Zion be ploughed,

And Jerusalem levelled to ruins;

And the Temple Mount shall become

Like a thickly wooded height.

19 Did Hezekiah the king or the people of Judah dream of putting him to death? Rather were they not so overcome by godly fear that they sued for the favour of Jehovah, with the result that He relented and cancelled His threat of catastrophe? But look at us! Why, we are on the verge of involving ourselves in a great calamity."

The Babylonian Yoke will not be soon or easily Broken

27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah received from Jehovah the message which follows. 2 Thus spoke Jehovah: Make thongs and bars and put them on thy neck, 3 and send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, through their ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah, 4 and bid them say to their masters, "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Convey this message to your masters. 5 I have made the earth, with man and beast on the face of it, by My great power and outstretched arm, and I give it to whomsoever I please. 6 At the moment I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, My servant; the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him.

7 All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, till the time of his own land shall come – then many nations and great kings shall make him serve.

8 The nation and the kingdom which refuses to serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and to put their necks to the yoke of the king of Babylon – that nation, saith Jehovah, I will punish with sword, famine and pestilence, till I have delivered them into his hands.

9 As for yourselves, do not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, or sorcerers, who assure you that you will not be subject to the king of Babylon. 10 It is a lie that they preach to you, and it will end in your removal from your own land; for I will indeed drive you away and ye shall perish. 11 But the nation that brings its neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave on their own soil, which they shall continue to till and occupy."

12 A similar message I gave to Zedekiah, king of Judah, "If," said I, "you bring your neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, you will be spared. 13 Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine and pestilence, with which Jehovah has threatened the nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon? 14 Do not listen to the prophets when they tell you that you will not be subject to the king of Babylon: 15 they are preaching to you a lie. I have not sent them, saith Jehovah: it is a lie that they are preaching to you in My name, and it can only end in your being driven out and perishing – you and the prophets that preach to you."

16 And the message that I gave to the priests and to all this people was this: "Thus saith Jehovah: Do not listen to the prophets when they tell you that the vessels of the Temple will soon be brought back from Babylon. 17 They are preaching to you a lie: do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and you will be spared: why should this city become a ruin? 18 But if they are real prophets with a real message from Jehovah, let them entreat Jehovah of Hosts not to allow the vessels that are left in the Temple and in the royal palace at Jerusalem, to be taken to Babylon. 19 For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts concerning the pillars and the sea and the stands and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, 20 which were not taken by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, when he carried Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 Yes, thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the Temple and in the royal palace and at Jerusalem; 22 To Babylon they shall be brought, and there they shall remain till the day that I visit them, saith Jehovah; then I will bring them up and restore them to this place."

The Clash between the False Prophet and the True

28 The same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who belonged to Gibeon, addressed me as follows in the Temple in the presence of the priests and of all the people. 2 "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: ’I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years’ time I will bring back to this place all the Temple vessels that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon took from this place and carried to Babylon; 4 and Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah that have gone to Babylon, I will bring back to this place, saith Jehovah; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’"

5 Then Jeremiah the prophet replied to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and of all the people that were standing in the Temple; 6 and Jeremiah the prophet said, "Amen! Jehovah do so! May Johevah fulfil your prophecy and bring back the Temple vessels and all the exiles from Babylon to this place! 7 I ask you, however to listen to this word that I am about to speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8 From the beginning the prophets who preceded you and me in their messages concerning many lands and mighty kingdoms, prophesied war. 9 If a prophet prophesies peace, it is only when his word has been fulfilled that you can be sure that he has had a real commission from Jehovah." 10 Then Hananiah took the bar off Jeremiah’s neck, broke it, 11 and declared in the presence of all the people, "Thus saith Jehovah: ’Within two years’ time, I will similarly break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, off the necks of all the nations.’" Then Jeremiah the prophet went away.

12 But after Hananiah had broken the bar off Jeremiah’s neck, there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah: 13 "Go and say to Hananiah, Thus saith Jehovah, The wooden bar you have indeed broken,but I will replace it with a bar of iron. 14 For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: The yoke that I will put on the necks of all these nations will be made of iron – a yoke of service to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon: for serve him they shall. I have also given him the beasts of the field." 15 Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah. You have no commission from Jehovah: you are making this people trust a lie. 16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: ’Mark this well: I will dismiss thee from the face of the earth. This very year thou shalt die; for thy words are a disloyalty to Jehovah.’" 17 And that very year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah Exhorts the Exiles to settle down in Babylon

29 The following is a copy of the letter sent from Jerusalem by Jeremiah the prophet to the elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, who had been carried from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to exile in Babylon – 2 after the surrender of Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths– 3 the letter being sent by the hands of Eleasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, who had been despatched to Babylon to Nebuchanezzar, king of Babylon, by Zedekiah, king of Judah:

4 "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have carried from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and settle; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them; take wives and rear families; 6 take wives also for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may have sons and daughters; increase your numbers and do not let them diminish. 7 And strive for the welfare of the country to which I have brought you as exiles. Pray for it to Jehovah; for your own welfare and hers are bound up together. 8 For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let yourselves be beguiled by the prophets and diviners in your midst, and do not listen to the dreams 9 they dream; for it is a lie that they preach to you in My name – they have no commission from Me, saith Jehovah.

10 For thus saith Jehovah: As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are accomplished, I will visit you and bring you back to this place, in fulfilment of the gracious promise I made you. 11 For I know the thoughts I cherish towards you – thoughts of weal and not of woe – to bestow upon you a future and a hope. 12 When you call, I will answer you, and I will listen to your prayer. 13 If ye seek Me ye shall find Me. If ye seek Me with all your heart, 14 I will reveal Myself to you, saith Jehovah; and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have driven you, saith Jehovah, and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile. 15 But Jehovah, you say, has raised up for you prophets in Babylon.

16 For thus saith Jehovah concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people whose home is in this city – those brethren of yours who have not had to accompany you into exile. 17 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: See! I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence among them, and I will make them like figs that are too horribly bad to eat. 18 I will hunt them with sword, famine, and pestilence and I will make them an object of consternation to every kingdom in the world, and object of execration and horror, of scorn and insult among all the nations to which I have driven them; 19 because, saith Jehovah, they refused to listen to the messages I sent them early and late through My servants the prophets – yes, they refused to listen, saith Jehovah. 20 See, then, that ye listen to Jehovah’s message, all of you exiles whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21 Well, thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who preach to you a lie in My name. Mark this: I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will slay them before your eyes; 22 and their fate shall be adopted by all the exiles of Judah in Babylon as a model for imprecation. "Jehovah make thee," they will say, "like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," 23 because they wrought impious folly in Israel, in committing adultery with their neighbours’ wives and delivering in My name lying messages which I never gave them. Well I know it, saith Jehovah, and I am witness."

24 Touching the message of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, to be delivered by Jeremiah concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam. 25 This is the man who sent a letter in his own name to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest. 26 "Jehovah," he wrote, "has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, to exercise an oversight in the Temple over all that play the mad prophet and the ecstatic, and to put all such in the stocks and in the iron collar. 27 Why then did you not rebuke Jeremiah of Anathoth, who has been playing the mad prophet among you? 28 For he has sent a message to us in Babylon, maintaining that the exile would be long, and urging us to build houses and settle, and to plant gardens and eat the fruit of them." 29 Now Zephaniah the priest read the letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

30 Then there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah: 31 Send to all the exiles and say, Thus saith Jehovah concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Shemaiah has been prophesying to you without any commission from Me and has made you trust in a lie. 32 For this reason, therefore– thus saith Jehovah – I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants: not a man shall he have among you who will ever see the good fortune I will bring you, saith Jehovah: for his words are a disloyalty to Jehovah.

The Restoration of Israel and Judah

The New Covenant

31 Behold the days are coming,

When I, saith Jehovah, will make a new covenant

With the households of Israel and Judah–

32 But unlike the covenant I made with their fathers,

The day, when I took their hand in Mine,

To bring them out of the land of Egypt–

The covenant they themselves did break,

So that I, on My part, was constrained to abhor them.

33 But this, saith Jehovah, is the covenant I will make

With the household of Israel after those days:

I will set My law in their bosom,

And write it upon their heart,

And I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.

34 No more need any teach

His fellow to know Jehovah;

For one and all shall know Me,

The small and the great alike;

For I will pardon their guilt,

And their sin will remember no more.

During the Siege Jeremiah Displays his Confidence in the Ultimate Restoration of his People by Redeeming a Piece of Land Belonging to his Family at Anathoth

Renewed Promises of Restoration

Incidents of the Siege of Jerusalem

The Fidelity of the Rechabites contrasted with the Disobedience of the Jews

35 In the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah received the following message from Jehovah: 2 Go to the clan of the Rechabites, talk with them, bring them into one of the chambers (of the Temple) and offer them wine to drink. 3 So I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaz-ziniah, with his brothers and all his sons and the whole Rechabite clan, 4 and brought them into the Temple chamber belonging to the sons of Hanan, the son of Yigdaliah, the man of God, that was adjacent to the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the Keeper of the Threshold. 5 I then set before the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups and told them to drink. 6 "No," they said, "we will drink no wine; for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, laid a charge upon us and our children to drink no wine, 7 to build no houses, to sow no seed, to plant and possess no vineyard for ever, but to spend all our days in tents, so that we might live long on the land where as strangers we dwell. 8 In full obedience, therefore, to this charge of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, we have drunk no wine all our life long, neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters. 9 We have built no houses to live in, we have owned neither vineyard, field, nor seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and faithfully fulfilled all the instructions of our ancestors Jonadab. 11 It was only when the land was invaded by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, that we decided to come to Jerusalem, to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies; that is why we are (now) living in Jerusalem."

12 Then there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah: 13 "Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem: Should this not be a lesson to you to obey My words, saith Jehovah? 14 The injunction that Jonadab the son of Rechab laid upon his sons to drink no wine has been steadily observed: in obedience to that ancestral charge they have abstained to this day. But when I spoke to you early and late, you refused to listen. 15 Early and late I sent you all My servants the prophets with the message to each man of you that, if you would abandon your wicked ways, amend your conduct, and no longer indulge in the service of other gods, you should continue in the land that I gave your forefathers; but you would not incline your ear or listen to Me. 16 Unlike the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab, who have steadily observed the injunctions of their ancestor, this people has refused to listen to Me. 17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: See! I am about to bring upon Judah and upon all the citizens of Jerusalem all the misery with which I have threatened them, because they refused to listen to My words or respond to My call." 18 But to the clan of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the injunction of your ancestor Jonadab, keeping all his commandments and fulfiling all his instructions, 19 Jonadab, the son of Rechab shall never want a man to minister to Me, while the earth stands.

Jeremiah’s Prophecies Committed to Writing, Publicly Read in the Temple, and Contemptuously Burned by King Jehoiakim

36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah received the following message from Jehovah: 2 Take a book-roll, and write on it all the messages I have communicated to thee with regard to Israel and Judah and all nations, from My first message to thee in the days of Josiah right on to the present day. 3 It may be that, when the people of Judah hear of all the misery I am planning to bring upon them, they will severally abandon their wicked ways, and receive at My hands pardon for their guilt and sin.

4 Then Jeremiah summoned Baruch, the son of Neriah, who wrote down on a book-roll to Jeremiah’s dictation all the messages Jehovah had communicated to him. 5 Thereafter Jeremiah gave instructions to Baruch in the following terms: "Seeing that I am personally under restraint and debarred from access to the Temple, 6 do you go and, on the day appointed for fasting, read aloud in the Temple the messages of Jehovah in the hearing of the people from the roll which you have written to my dictation; read them also in the hearing of the Judeans who come from their respective country towns. 7 It may be that they will humbly supplicate Jehovah, and severally abandon their wicked ways: for great is the anger and fury with which Jehovah has threatened this people." 8 In accordance, therefore with his instructions from Jeremiah the prophet, Baruch read aloud from the book the words of Jehovah in the Temple.

9 Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, a sacred fast was proclaimed by all the people resident in Jerusalem, and all those also present from the country towns of Judah. 10 Then in the hearing of all the people Baruch read from the book the messages of Jeremiah from the room that belonged to Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the Secretary of State, which was situated in the upper court at the entrance to the new Temple gate. 11 Now when Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard the messages of Jehovah as they were read from the book, 12 he went down to the palace to the room of the Secretary of State, and there he found the whole court seated – Elishama, the Secretary and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elanthan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and indeed the whole court. 13 Micaiah proceeded to inform them of all the words he had heard Baruch read out of the book in the hearing of the people. 14 The whole court accordingly despatched a messenger to Baruch, namely one Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, with instructions to Baruch to appear, bringing with him the roll from which he had read in the hearing of the people. So Baruch, the son of Neriah, appeared before them with the roll in his hand.

15 Then they told him to sit down and read it in their hearing; so Baruch read while they listened. 16 When they had heard it all, they turned to one another in consternation, exclaiming to Baruch that they were bound to inform the king of all this. 17 They then asked Baruch to explain how he had written all these words. 18 Baruch replied that Jeremiah had dictated them all to him, and he had written them down with ink in the book. 19 "Well, then," said the princes to Baruch, "go into hiding, you and Jeremiah, and let nobody know where you are." 20 After they had deposited the roll in the chamber of Elishama the Secretary, they visited the king in his apartment, and reported the whole matter to him.

21 The king then despatched Jehudi to fetch the roll; and, when he had brought it from Elishama’s chamber, he read it in the hearing of the king and of all the courtiers who were in attendance upon him. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house, and the fire on the brazier was burning before him; 23 and every three or four columns that Jehudi read, the king would cut up with his penknife and fling into the fire that was on the brazier, till the whole roll was consumed in the fire that was on the brazier. 24 But there was no sense of horror either on the part of the king or of any of his ministers as they listened to all these words, nor did they rend their garments. 25 Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, however, had entreated the king not to burn the roll, but he would not listen to them. 26 Then the king commanded the royal prince Jerachmeel, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to fetch Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Jehovah kept them in concealment.

27 After the king had burned the roll containing the words written by Baruch to Jeremiah’s dictation, Jeremiah received this message from Jehovah, 28 "Once more take another roll, and write on it all the words that were on the first roll that was consigned to the flames by Jehoiakim, king of Judah, 29 Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast taken it upon thee to burn this roll and to demand my reason for recording the threat that the king of Babylon would assuredly come and destroy this land, and clear it of man and beast. 30 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah: Never a man shall he have to sit upon the throne of David; his dead body shall be flung out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night. 31 I will punish him, his descendants, and his ministers, for their sins; and I will bring upon them and upon the citizens of Jerusalem all the misery with which I threatened them in vain."

32 Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it to Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the book that had been burned by Jehoiakim; and it was supplemented by many messages of a similar kind.

Jeremiah Warns King Zedekiah of the Impending Fate of Jerusalem

37 Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah was reigning in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, having been set upon the throne of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; 2 but neither he nor his ministers nor the people of the land gave any heed to the messages Jehovah had delivered by the prophet Jeremiah. 3 King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah, with the request that he would pray for them to Jehovah their God. 4 Now Jeremiah, who had not yet been put in prison, was still coming and going among the people.

5 The Chaldeans who were engaged in the siege of Jerusalem, having received a report that Pharaoh’s army was advancing from Egypt, abandoned the siege. 6 Then there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah, 7 Thus saith Jehovah: Tell the king of Judah who hath sent thee to consult Me, that Pharaoh’s army which is advancing to your aid shall return to Egypt to their own land; 8 and the Chaldeans will come back and assault this city and take it and burn it with fire. 9 Thus saith Jehovah: Do not delude yourselves with the idea that the Chaldeans will leave you for good: they will do nothing of the kind. 10 For even if you defeated the whole Chaldean army that is fighting against you, so completely that the only survivors were wounded men – a man to a tent– even they would rise up and burn this city with fire.

Jeremiah Arrested and Imprisoned

11 When, in view of the advance of Pharoah’s army, the Chaldean forces had abandoned the siege of Jerusalem, 12 Jeremiah made a journey from Jerusalem to the district of Benjamin to receive his inheritance among the people. 13 He had just reached the Benjamin gate when he was apprehended there by a sentry named Jirijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, who called out, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans." 14 "It is false, said Jeremiah, "I am not deserting to the Chaldeans." But Jirijah, refusing to listen, apprehended Jeremiah and brought him before the courtiers, 15 who in their exasperation had Jeremiah flogged and put in the house of Jonathan, the Secretary of State, which they had turned into a prison. 16 So Jeremiah found himself in the cells of the dungeon, where he remained for a considerable time.

Amelioration of Jeremiah’s Lot

17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him and questioned him secretly in his house whether there was any communication from Jehovah. "There is," said Jeremiah; "you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. 18 Further," said Jeremiah to the king, "what is my crime against you or your ministers or this people that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets (now) that assured you that the king of Babylon would never invade this country? 20 And now I beseech your Majesty to listen with favour to my supplication, and not to allow me to be taken back to the house of Jonathan the Secretary, where I am likely to perish." 21 Jeremiah was accordingly committed by royal command to the guard-court, and furnished with a loaf of bread a day from the Baker’s Street, till all the bread in the city was consumed. So Jeremiah remained in the guard-court.

Jeremiah Accused of Treason, is Put into a Dungeon, from which he is Rescued by Ebedmelech, a Foreigner

38 Now Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, the son of Pashhur, and Juca, the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and heard Jeremiah addressing all the people in words like these: 2 "Thus saith Jehovah: Whoever remains in this city shall die by sword, famine and perstilence; but whoever goes over to the Chaldeans shall be spared, though he shall escape with nothing but his life." 3 Also, "Thus saith Jehovah, This city shall most assuredly be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, and it shall be captured." 4 Whereupon those courtiers said to the king, "We petition you to have this fellow put to death: this sort of talk is unnerving all the people and the soldiers left in the city. This fellow does not want to help the city, but to ruin it." 5 "He is in your power," said the king; for he was helpless against them. 6 So they took Jeremiah and, lowering him with ropes, they threw him into the cistern of the royal prince Malchiah, that was in the guard-court. There was no water in the cistern, but only mud; and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

7 Now it came to the ears of Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian eunuch attached to the palace, that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. 8 Ebedmelech accordingly left the palace for the Benjamin gate where the king happened to be sitting at the time, and thus he addressed him: 9 "Your Majesty, these men have behaved most wrongfully in their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet; they have flung him into the cistern and he will die of hunger on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city." 10 At once the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three me and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he perished. 11 Ebedmelech, accordingly, taking the men with him, went to the palace, and secured from (a lumber room) underneath the treasury some torn and tattered rags, and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah into the cistern. 12 Then he told Jeremiah to put the torn and tattered rags under his armpits beneath the ropes; and Jeremiah did so. 13 Then they drew him up with the ropes and pulled him out of the cistern; and Jeremiah remained in the guard-court.

Zedekiah Secretly Consults Jeremiah

14 King Zedekiah afterwards sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entry that leads into the Temple; and the king said to Jeremiah, "I am going to ask you a question which you are to answer me unreservedly." 15 "If I tell you," said Jeremiah, "are you not certain to put me to death? besides, any advice I give you, you will simply disregard." 16 Then, in secret, the king swore the following oath to Jeremiah, "As Jehovah liveth, who created this life of ours, I assure you solemnly that I will neither put you to death nor deliver you into the hands of those men that are seeking your life." 17 Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, "Thus saith Jehovah, If you surrender voluntarily to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, but you and your family will be spared. 18 If, however, you refuse to surrender, then this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will burn it with fire; and you shall not escape from their hands." 19 Then the king said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to them and subjected to violence." 20 "No," said Jeremiah, "you will not be handed over. But I entreat you to listen to what I say – it is the voice of Jehovah: your happiness and your life depend upon it. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, then this is the message revealed to me in a vision by Jehovah – 22 mark it well; (I saw) all the women that are left in the palace of the king of Judah brought out to the chief officers of the king of Babylon, chanting the while this song:

Thy most excellent friends have beguiled

And prevailed over thee,

Thy feet they have thrust in the mire,

And thus sinking have left thee.

23 All your wives and children they shall bring out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape; you will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon; and this city shall be burned with fire."

24 "Well, then," said the king to him, "let nobody know anything of this conversation, or else you are a dead man. 25 If the courtiers hear that I have been talking with you, and come and ask you to tell them unreservedly, on pain of death, what you have been saying to the king and the king to you, 26 then just tell them that you were presenting a petition to the king that you should not be taken back to Jonathan’s house, where you were in danger of perishing." 27 In point of fact, the courtiers did all come to Jeremiah and question him; and the story he told them was in entire accordance with the king’s instructions. So they said no more to him, for no part of the conversation had been heard. 28 Jeremiah accordingly remained in the guard-court till the day Jerusalem was taken.

The Capture of Jerusalem

39 In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came with all his forces against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. 2 On the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah a breach was made in the city. 3 All the chief officers of the king of Babylon came and took their seats in the middle gate – Nergalsharezer the Rab-mag, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, and all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. 4 On observing this, Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all the soldiers took to flight, leaving the city during the night by way of the royal garden, by the gate between the two walls, and they made for the Jordan valley. 5 But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the steppes of Jericho. They seized him and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the district of Hamath, and he 6 pronounced judgment upon them. At Riblah the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and all the noblemen of Judah also did the king 7 of Babylon slay. He then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and loaded him with chains to carry him to Babylon. 8 The palace and the houses of the people the Chaldeans burned with fire, and the walls of Jerusalem they 9 demolished. The rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters who had gone over to him, and those that were left of the artificers, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, carried to exile in Babylon. 10 Some of the poor people who had nothing were left by Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, in the land of Judah, and presented at the same time with vineyards and fields.

11 With regard to Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had instructed Nebuzaradan, the commander 12 of the guard, to do him no harm, but to take and look well after him and treat him according to his own 13 instructions. So a messenger was despatched from Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, and Nebuzaradan, the Rab-saris, and Nergalsharezer, the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon.

Provision made for Jeremiah’s safety after the Capture of Jerusalem

Jeremiah’s Gracious Promise to Ebedmelech

15 During Jeremiah’s detention in the guard-court, there had come to him this message from Jehovah: 16 Go and say to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring upon this city all that I have said – for evil and not for good, and in that day it will be accomplished before thine eyes. 17 But, saith Jehovah, I will deliver thee on that day, and thou shalt not be given into the hands of the men thou dreadest. 18 I will save thee without fail; thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thou shalt escape with thy life, because, saith Jehovah, thou hast put thy trust in Me.

Jeremiah Elects to Remain in Palestine

40 The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah after he had been released from Ramah by Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, who had found him there in chains among the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, who were being carried to exile in Babylon.

2 The commander of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: "Jehovah, your God, pronounced this doom upon this place, 3 and He has kept His word. You have sinned against Him and refused to listen to His voice, and so this thing is come upon you. 4 But see now, I will release you at once from the chains on your hands. If you are disposed to accompany me to Babylon come and I will look well after you; but if not, then leave it alone. The whole land is before you; go wherever you choose and prefer. 5 Go back to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed Governor of the cities of Judah: stay with him among the people or go wherever you choose." Then the commander of the guard dismissed him with a gift of provisions and a present. 6 So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah at Mizpah, where he stayed with him among the people left in the land.

Assassination of Gedaliah the Governor of Judah

7 When all the commanders of the forces in the open field, together with their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah Governor of the land, and charged him with the oversight of the men, women and children, and of the poorest of the land, such as had not been carried to exile in Babylon, 8 they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah – Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai of Netophah, and Jezaniah, the son of the Maacathite. 9 And Gedaliah gave his oath to them and their men: "Don’t be afraid," he said, "of the Chaldean officials. You will prosper if you stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon. 10 As for myself, I will reside at Mizpah, to represent your interests when the Chaldean (officials) visit us; and you can gather wine, fruit, and oil, and store them up and live in the towns you take possession of." 11 Further, all the Jews that were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, or elsewhere, when they heard that the king of Babylon had granted permission to some to remain in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam Governor, 12 they all returned to Judah from all the places to which they had been driven – to Gedaliah at Mizpah – and they gathered immense stores of wine and fruit.

13 Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces in the open field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, 14 and asked him whether he was aware that Baalis king of Ammon had sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to assasiante him. But Gedaliah would not believe it. 15 Then Johanan, in a secret audience with Gedaliah at Mizpah, said to him: "I beseech you to allow me to go and slay Ishmael. Nobody need know. Why should he take your life? that will mean the scattering of all the Jews that have gathered round you, and the ruin of all that is left of Judah." 16 "No," said Gedaliah to Johanan, "do nothing of the kind: what you say of Ishmael is not true."

41 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, a member of the royal family, accompanied by one of the chief officers of the king and ten (other) men, paid a visit to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 2 While they were all dining together there, Ishmael and the ten men who accompanied him rose and with the sword smote and slew Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed Governor of the land, 3 together with all the Jews who were with him in Mizpah and all the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

Murder of Pilgrims and Flight of Gedaliah’s Assasin

4 The day after the murder of Gedaliah, of which no one was yet aware, 5 eighty pilgrims from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, with beards shaven, clothes rent and gashes (on their bodies), came with vegetable offerings and frankincense in their hand to present them at the house of Jehovah. 6 Ishmael went out from Mizpah to meet them, and they were weeping as they went along. When he meet them, he invited them to come to Gedaliah; 7 but when they were well within the town, he and the men who accompanied him slew them at the cistern. 8 Ten of their number, however, entreated Ishmael not to kill them: "for we have stores of wheat," they said, "and barley, oil, and honey, buried in the ground." So he let them alone and did not consign them to the doom of their brethren. 9 Now the cistern into which Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men he had slain was the great cistern which had been constructed by king Asa in his war against Baasha, king of Israel; and this Ishmael filled with the slain.

10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people that were at Mizpah, the princesses and all the people left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, had committed to the charge of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam; and he started across to Ammon. 11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, heard of all the atrocities perpetrated by Ishmael, 12 they took all their men and set out to attack him; and they found him by the great waters of Gibeon. 13a All the people with Ishmael – 14a all that he had carried captive from Mizpah – 13b when they saw Johanan and the commanders of the forces that were with him, were filled with joy; 14b and turning about, they came back and 15 joined Johanan. But Ishmael, escaping with eight men, repaired to Ammon.

16 Then Johanan and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, tool all the rest of the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah, after his assassination of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam – men, women, and eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. 17 Then they took their journey and stayed awhile at the sheepfolds of Chimham in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, from which they intended to travel to Egypt; 18 for they were in terror of the Chaldeans, because Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed Governor of the land.

Migration of the Jews to Egypt in Defiance of Jeremiah’s Counsel

7 After an interval of ten days, Jeremiah received a message from Jehovah. 8 He accordingly summoned Johanan and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and all the people, small and great, 9 and thus he addressed them. "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication: 10 If you remain quietly in this land, I will build you up and not throw you down; I will plant you and not pluck you up: for I am grieved at the misery I have brought upon you. 11 You are afraid of the king of Babylon, but do not be afraid of him, saith Jehovah; do not be afraid of him, for I will be with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will have pity upon you and inspire him with pity for you, so that he will allow you to remain in your own land. 13 You may, however, disregard the voice of Jehovah your God, and refuse to remain in this land: 14 you may say, ’No; we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war and hear no sound of trumpet and never suffer for lack of bread – and there we shall make our home.’ 15 In that case I call upon you that are left of Judah to listen to the message of Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you are really determined to proceed to Egypt, and if you go and settle there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the hunger that you dread shall cling to your heels there in Egypt, and there ye shall die; 17 and all the men that were determined to go and settle in Egypt shall die by the sword, famine, and pestilence; not one shall survive or escape the disaster that I will bring upon them. 18 For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: As Mine anger and fury have been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My fury be poured out upon you when ye enter Egypt; and ye shall be an object of execration and horror, of cursing and scorn; and ye shall see this place no more.

19 This is Jehovah’s message to you that are left of Judah: ’Do not go to Egypt.’ But now be very sure of this – I this day lay witness against you; 20 you have done yourselves a grievous wrong. You have sent me to Jehovah your God with the request that I should pray for you to Jehovah, and promising to act in entire accordance with the will of Jehovah when I declared it to you; 21 but when I did declare it this day, you refused to listen to the voice of Jehovah in respect of any part of my commission. 22 Now therefore be very sure of this, that ye shall die by the sword, famine, and pestilence, in the land where it is your desire to go and settle."

43 When Jeremiah had finished addressing to the assembled people all these words with which Jehovah had commissioned him, 2 Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the defiant and insolent men exclaimed to Jeremiah, "You are a liar; you have no commission to us from Jehovah to warn us against going and settling in Egypt; 3 but it is Baruch the son of Neriah who is setting you on against us with the object of delivering us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to be killed or transported to Babylon." 4 So Johanan and all the commanders of the forces and all the people refused to listen to the voice of Jehovah which urged them to remain in the land of Judah. 5 Accordingly Johanan and all the commanders of the forces took all that were now left of Judah – those that had come back from all the nations to which they had been driven, to settle in the land of Judah – 6 the men, the women, the princesses, and all the persons whom Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, had left in the charge of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, including Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah; 7 and, disregarding the voice of Jehovah, they went to Egypt and arrived at Daphnae.

Jeremiah Predicts the Conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar

8 In Daphnae Jeremiah received the following message from Jehovah: 9 "Take large stones in thy hand and hide them away in secret at the porch of Pharaoh’s residence in Daphnae in the presence of a few of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, Thus saith Jehovah: Mark this well – I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon My servant, who shall set his throne above these stones thou hast buried and spread his glistening tapestry over them. 11 He shall come and smite the land of Egypt, devoting to death those doomed to death, to captivity those doomed to captivity, to the sword those doomed to the sword. 12 He shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, he shall clear the land of Egypt, as a shepherd clears his mantle of vermin, and then he shall depart from it in comfort. 13 Also he will shatter the obelisks of Bethshemesh, in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.

Jeremiah Denounces the Jews in Egypt for their Idolatrous Worship of the Queen of Heaven

44 Concerning all the Jews whose home was in Egypt– at Migdol, Daphnae, Memphis, and in upper Egypt– Jeremiah received the following message: 2 "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen with your own eyes all the misery that I have wrought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Ye see what they are to-day – desolate and uninhabited – 3 as a consequence of their wicked behaviour which provoked Mine indignation; for they went and burned sacrifice in the service of other gods, unknown alike to them or to you or your forefathers; and that, 4 though early and late I had been sending to you My servants the prophets to warn you against these abominable practices that I detest. 5 But they refused to listen or incline their ear: they would no abandon their wickedness or cease sacrificing to other gods. 6 And so Mine anger and fury were poured forth: it blazed in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, so that they became the waste and the desolation that they are to-day.

7 Now, therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are ye doing yourselves this great wrong, which can only end in the utter extermination of Judah, man and woman, child and babe? 8 Why are ye vexing Me with the fabrications of your hands, burning sacrifice to other gods in the land of Egypt, where ye have come to settle? All this can only end in your extermination and in your being cursed and scorned by every nation in the world. 9 Have you forgotten the crimes of your forefathers and of the kings and princes of Judah, the crimes, too, your own wives committed in the land of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem? 10 To this day they have remained unhumbled and unafraid. They have not lived in accordance with My law or with the statutes I set before you and your forefathers.

11 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mark this – I will set My face against you for Evil, to exterminate Judah utterly. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah that were determined to come and settle in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Egypt they shall all be consumed; they shall fall by the sword and by famine; small and great, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall be an object of execration and horror, of cursing and scorn; 13 and, as I have punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and pestilence, so will I punish those that have made Egypt their home, 14 that not a man of the remnant of Judah which has come to settle in Egypt shall escape or survive to return to the land of Egypt for which they shall yearn; for none but a fugitive or two shall return."

15 Then the great gathering, composed of all the men who were aware that their wives burned sacrifice to other gods, and all the women that were standing by, replied to Jeremiah thus: 16 "We refuse to listen to this message of yours that you have communicated to us in the name of Jehovah: 17 but we will most assuredly keep our solemn oath to burn sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings in her honour as we used to do – we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we lived well and were untouched by misfortune. 18 But ever since the day we ceased burning sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink-offerings in her honour, we have been utterly destitute, and sword and famine have consumed us. 19 Yes," said the women, "as for our offering of sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink-offerings in her honour – have we not had the approval of our husbands in making cakes for her stamped with her image, and in pouring her out drink-offerings?"

20 Such was the answer of all the people, men and women. Then Jeremiah addressed them as follows: 21 "Yes, you did indeed burn your sacrifices in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem – you and your fathers, your kings and your princes and commons; and is it not precisely this that rankled in the mind and heart of Jehovah, 22 till He could bear your wicked and abominable conduct no longer, with the result that your country is become the uninhabited desolation, the horror, the curse that it is to-day? 23 It is because you have offered such sacrifices, sinning against Jehovah, disobeying the voice of Jehovah, refusing to live in accordance with His laws. His statutes, His expressed will: that is why the misery of to-day is come upon you."

24 Further, Jeremiah said to the people and the women assembled: "Listen to the message of Jehovah, all ye Jews that are in the land of Egypt. 25 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Verily you women have indeed carried out your solemn resolve faithfully to perform the vows you have taken upon you, to burn sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings in her honour. Well, then, keep your word and perform your vows. 26 But listen now to the world of Jehovah, all ye Jews who have made Egypt your home. Mark this well: I have sworn, saith Jehovah, by My great name, that never again in all the land of Egypt shall My name be uttered by the lips of any man of Judah in the oath ’As truly as the Lord Jehovah liveth.’ 27 Mark! I am watching over them for evil and not for good; and every man of Judah in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there be an end of them. 28 Some who escape the sword in Egypt shall return to Judah, but they shall be few in number; and then all the remnant of Judah that have some to settle in Egypt shall know whose word it is that stands – Mine or theirs.

29 And this, saith Jehovah, shall be to you the sign that I will punish you in this place, to teach you that My threats of disaster shall be confirmed upon you. 30 Thus saith Jehovah: I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies and of those that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. king of Babylon, his enemy that sought his life."

Words of Mingled Rebuke and Promise Addressed to Baruch

45 This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet delivered to Baruch the son of Neriah, after he had written these words in a book to Jeremiah’s dictation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. 2 "This, Baruch, is the message to thee from Jehovah, the God of Israel.

3 Thou hast said, ’Woe is me! for Jehovah

to my pain hath added sorrow;

With groaning I am weary,

And I have found no rest.’

4 Let this be thy message to him, Thus saith Jehovah: When I must destroy what I built,

And when I must uproot what I planted,

5 Shalt thou seek great things for thyself?

Seek them not; for, behold, I will bring

On all flesh, saith Jehovah, disaster;

But thou, wheresoever thou comest,

By My grace, shalt escape with thy life."

Oracle on Egypt

46 The message concerning the nations which Jeremiah the prophet received from Jehovah.

2 On Egypt.

Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt at Carchemish on the river Euphrates, where it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

3 Set the buckler and shield in array,

And draw nigh for the battle.

4 Set the buckler and shield in array,

And draw nigh for the battle.

4b Harness the steeds, mount the chargers,

Stand forth in your helmets.

Polish your spears, don your breastplates.

5 Why are they turned in dismay–

Their warriors crushed,

Fled apace without once looking backward,

By terror beset?

6 The swift cannot flee,

Nor the strong man escape:

North by the banks of Euphrates

They stumble and fall.

7 Who is that rose up like the Nile,

Whose waters toss like floods?

8 It is Egypt that rose like the Nile,

Whose waters toll like floods.

" I will rise, I will cover the earth,

And destroy," said he, "her inhabitants.

9 Up, steeds; rage, ye chariots;

And forth, ye warriors, march–

Cush and Put, that handle the shield,

And ye Ludim, that bend the bow."

10 But that day is the Lord Jehovah’s–

A day of revenge on His foes,

When the sword shall devour to its fill,

And be drunken with their blood.

For Jehovah of Hosts hath a sacrifice

In the northern land, by Euphrates.

11 Up to Gilead, fetch thee balsam.

O virgin daughter of Egypt;

In vain dost thou multiply medicines,

No healing is there for thee.

12 The nations have heard thy wail,

And the earth is full of thy cry;

For warrior stumbles on warrior,

Both are fallen together.

13 The message of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would come and smite the land of Egypt.

14 Tell it Migdol,

Publish it in Memphis:

Say, "Take thy stand and prepare,

For the sword hath devoured round about thee."

15 Wherefore is Apus fled?

Thy mighty one held not his ground,

Because down he was thrust by Jehovah.

16 The strangers among thee are fallen,

And prostrate, they say each to other,

"Let us flee from the murderous sword,

Let us rise and go back to our people,

To the land wherein we were born."

17 Call Pharaoh of Egypt "Blusterer,

Who hath let the hour go by."

18 As live, saith the King, whose name

Is Jehovah of Hosts: One shall come

Like Tabor among the mountains,

Or Carmel by the sea.

19 O daughter that dwellest in Egypt,

Prepare thee to go into exile;

For Noph is become like a desert,

An uninhabited waste.

20 A graceful heifer is Egypt,

But a wasp from the north hath assailed her.

21e For the day of disaster hath reached her,

f The time of her visitation.

a The warriors, too, that she hired,

b Were like unto fatted calves:

c As for them, together they turned

d And fled, without making a stand.

22a She hisseth like a serpent

b Against the advancing hosts;

23c For more are they than locusts,

d So many they cannot be counted.

22c Against her they come with axes,

Like men that hew down trees,

23a "Fell, saith Jehovah, "her forest,

b For it is impenetrable,"

24 Put to shame is the daughter of Egypt,

To men from the north given over.

25 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,

The God of Israel:

See! Amon of Thebes I will punish,

And Pharaoh and those that trust him;

26 An I will deliver them over

To those that seek their life,

To the hands of Nebuchadnezzar,

King of Babylon, and his servants.

But afterwards she shall be peopled

As in days of old, saith Jehovah.

27 So fear them not, O Jacob My Servant;

O Israel, be not dismayed, saith Jehovah.

For see! I will save both thee and thine offspring

From the far distant land where captive ye lie.

And Jacob once more shall have quiet and ease

In his own land, with no one to make him afraid;

28 So fear thou not, O Jacob My Servant,

For I, saith Jehovah, am with thee (to save thee).

An end I will make of the nations–

Of each, among whom I have driven thee;

But of thee I will not make an end.

I will not leave wholly unpunished,

But in measure I will chastise thee.

Oracle on the Philistines

47 The message concerning the Philistines which Jeremiah the prophet received from Jehovah, before Pharaoh smote Gaza. 2 Thus saith Jehovah:

From the north, see! waters are rising,

They swell to a raging torrent:

They will sweep o’er the land and its fulness,

The city and (all) her inhabitants.

Men shall utter a cry,

Those that dwell in the land shall howl.

3 At the noise of the hoofs of his galloping steeds,

At the rush of his chariots, the roar of his wheels,

The father shall not look behind for the children;

For all unnerved shall they be–

4 Because of the day of destruction

That cometh on all the Philistines,

Sweeping from Tyre and Sidon

All helpers that yet remain;

For Jehovah shall work destruction

On all that are left in the coast-land.

5 Baldness is come upon Gaza,

Ashkelon is destroyed.

O ye that are left of the Anakim,

How long must ye gash yourselves yet?

6 "Ah! Sword of Jehovah!

How long will it be ere thou rest?

Into thy scabbard get thee,

And keep thee quiet and still."

7 But how can it be quiet,

Since Jehovah hath given it a charge?

He hath destined it for Ashkelon,

And for the shore washed by the sea.

Oracle on Moab

48 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:

Alas for the ruin of Nebo!

Kiriathaim is taken,

Misgab is shamed and dismayed.

2 The renown of Moab is vanished,

In Heshbon they plotted her ruin:

"Come, let us blot out the nation;

Thou, Madmen, shalt be silenced,

The sword shall follow thee hard."

3 Hark! a shriek from Horonaim–

Havoc and fell destruction.

4 Moab is destroyed,

The shriek can be heard far as Zoar,

5 They climb the ascent to Luhith,

Weeping the while as they go;

For the path that leads down to Horonaim

Is ringing with cries of destruction.

6 Fly, escape for your lives,

Though like bare desert shrub shall ye be.

7 Thou hast trusted in thy strongholds,

And therefore art thou taken:

Chemosh shall pass into exile,

His priests and his princes together.

8 Upon every city the spoiler shall come,

No city shall escape;

The valleys shall also perish,

And the table-land be destroyed,

In accord with the word of Jehovah.

9 Give ye wings unto Moab,

For fain would she fly away

From her cities that shall be desolate

And empty altogether.

10 Cursed be he that doeth

The work of Jehovah remissly;

And cursed be he that keepeth

His sword from (shedding) blood.

11 From his youth Moab been at ease,

On his lees he hath quietly rested–

Not emptied from vessel to vessel,

Nor ever to exile borne;

so his taste remaineth in him,

And his scent is all unchanged.

12 Therefore days, saith Jehovah, are coming,

When tilters I will send;

And they shall tilt him over

And empty out his vessels,