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◄ ULT JER ►

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JER EN_ULT en_English_ltr Thu May 25 2023 15:33:11 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) tc

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, from the priests that are in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 which was the word of Yahweh to him in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 And it happened in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

4 And the word of Yahweh was to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you,

and before you came out from the womb I set you apart;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

6 Then I said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth.”

7 But Yahweh said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to rescue you”—the declaration of Yahweh.

9 Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched on my mouth. And Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have placed my words in your mouth. 10 Look, I am appointing you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

11 And the word of Yahweh was to me, saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” 12 And Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to do it.”

13 And the word of Yahweh was to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a blown-on pot and its face is away from the face of the north.” 14 And Yahweh said to me, “From the north disaster will be released on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling to all the clans of the kingdoms of the north”—the declaration of Yahweh. “And they will come, and each man will set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I shall speak my judgment against them concerning all their evil in which they abandoned me and burned incense to other gods, and worshipped what they made with their own hands. 17 So you yourself shall gird your loins, and stand up and say to them all that I myself shall command you! Do not be dismayed from before their faces lest I dismay you before their faces! 18 And I—behold!—I have made you this day a city of fortification and an iron pillar and bronze walls against all the land—against the kings of Judah, against its officials, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 19 And they will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I will be with you to rescue you—the declaration of Yahweh.”

2 And the word of Yahweh was to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh:

I have remembered for you the covenant faithfulness of your youth,

the love of your betrothal time,

your going after me in the wilderness,

in the land not sown.

3 Israel was holy to Yahweh,

the first of his harvest!

All those who ate it became guilty;

disaster came upon them

—the declaration of Yahweh.’ ”

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, house of Jacob,

and all clans of the house of Israel.

5 Thus says Yahweh,

“What did your fathers find wrong in me,

that they went far away from upon me,

and they went after the empty,

and became empty?

6 And they did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh,

who brought us up from the land of Egypt?

The one who led us in the wilderness,

in a land of a desert and a pit,

in a land of dryness and thick darkness,

in a land—no human passes through it and no man lives there?’

7 And I brought you into a land of fertile land,

to eat its fruit and its good things.

But you came and defiled my land,

and you made my inheritance into an abomination!

8 The priests did not say,

‘Where is Yahweh?’

and the handlers of the law did not know me,

and the shepherds transgressed against me,

and the prophets prophesied by Baal

and walked after things not profitable.

9 Therefore I shall still contend a legal case with you

—the declaration of Yahweh—

and with the sons of your sons I shall contend a legal case.

10 For cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look,

and to Kedar send out and pay very close attention

and see if there has been a thing as this!

11 Has a nation exchanged its gods,

though they were not gods?

But my people have exchanged their glory

for what does not profit.

12 Be appalled, heavens, at this,

and shudder, be very desolate!

—The declaration of Yahweh.

13 For my people have done two evils to me:

They have abandoned the spring of living waters

to dig out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that do not hold the water.

14 Is Israel a servant? Is he homeborn slave?

So why has he become for plunder?

15 Young lions roared against him;

they gave their voice.

And they made his land into a desolation;

his cities became ruins without an inhabitant.

16 Also, the sons of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have shaved the crown of your head.

17 Have you not brought this to yourself

when you abandoned Yahweh your God,

when he led you in the way?

18 And now, why—to you, to the road of Egypt

to drink the waters of the Nile?

And why—to you, to the road of Assyria

to drink the waters of the River?

19 Your evil will rebuke you,

and your apostasy will punish you.

So know and see

that it is evil and bitter

for you to forsake Yahweh your God,

and the fear of me is not in you.

—The declaration of Lord Yahweh of hosts.

20 For from long ago I broke your yoke;

I tore to pieces your fetters.

But you said, ‘I will not serve!’

For on every high hill

and beneath every leafy tree,

you yourself lie down, prostitute.

21 And I myself planted you as a choice vine,

all of it of genuine seed.

And how have you changed towards me

into degenerates of the strange vine?

22 For even if you clean yourself with natron

or multiply for yourself lye,

your iniquity is a stain before my face

—the declaration of Lord Yahweh.

23 How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;

I have not walked after the Baals’?

See your path in the valleys!

Know what you have done

—a swift female camel

entangling her ways,

24 a wild donkey, taught ones of the wilderness,

in the desire of its spirit sniffing at the air!

In her heat, who can turn her away?

All of the ones seeking her will not tire;

in her month they will find her.

25 Restrain your foot from becoming bare

and your throat from thirst!

But you have said, ‘It is hopeless!

No, for I love strangers

and after them I shall go!’

26 Like the shame of a thief when he is found,

so the house of Israel has been put to shame—

they, their kings, their princes,

and their priests and prophets,

27 the ones who say to the tree, ‘You are my father,’

and to the stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’

For they have turned their back to me

and not their faces.

But in the time of their trouble they say,

‘Arise and save us!’

28 But where are the gods that you made for yourself?

Let them arise if they can save you

in the time of your trouble,

for the number of your cities,

they are equal to your gods, Judah!

29 Why do you complain to me?

All of you have rebelled against me

—the declaration of Yahweh.

30 For futility I have struck your sons.

They would not accept discipline.

Your sword has devoured your prophets

like a destructive lion!

31 You are the generation!

See the word of Yahweh!

Have I been a wilderness to Israel?

Or a land of thick darkness?

Why do my people say, ‘We shall roam free,

we shall not go to you anymore’?

32 Will a virgin forget her jewelry,

a bride her sashes?

Yet my people have forgotten me

days without number!

33 How well you make your way to seek love,

so even to the wicked women you taught[fn] your ways.

34 Also on your skirts has been found

the blood of the lives of the poor innocent ones.

They were not discovered in burglary.

But despite all these,

35 you also say, ‘But I am innocent;

surely his nose has turned away from me.’

Behold, I shall judge you

because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

36 Why do you treat very lightly

to change your ways?

You will also be shamed from Egypt,

just as you were shamed from Assyria.

37 You will also go out from this place,

and your hands will be on your head,

for Yahweh has rejected the ones you trusted,

and you will not be successful by them.”

3 Saying, “If a man sends away his wife

and she goes from him and becomes another man’s,

will he return to her again?

Would that land not be greatly polluted?

And you have been a prostitute with many lovers,

and would you return to me?

—The declaration of Yahweh.

2 Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see!

Where have you not been ravished?

By the roads you sat for them,

as an Arab in the wilderness.

And you have polluted the land

with your prostitution and with your evil.

3 So the showers have been withheld

and the late rains have not been;

yet you have the forehead of a prostitute woman;

you refuse to be embarrassed.

4 Have you not just now called to me:[fn]

‘My father! You are a close friend of my youth!

5 Will he keep forever?

Or will he keep watch to eternity?’

Behold, you have spoken, [fn]

but you have done the evils as you can!”

6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Do you see what apostate Israel has done? She herself has walked up every high hill and to underneath every leafy tree, and she has been a prostitute there. 7 And I said, ‘After her doing all these, she will return to me,’ but she did not return. Then her treacherous sister Judah saw. 8 So I saw that for the very reason that apostate Israel had committed adultery, I had sent her away and had given a scroll of her divorce to her. But her sister Judah, acting treacherously, did not fear, and she went out, and she herself also prostituted. 9 And her prostitution was from thoughtlessness. And she defiled the land, and committed adultery with the stone and the tree. 10 And even in all of this, her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with all her heart, but only in deceit—the declaration of Yahweh.”

11 Then Yahweh said to me, “Apostate Israel has shown her spirit to be more righteous than treacherously acting Judah! 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,

‘Return, apostate Israel!—the declaration of Yahweh—

I shall not cause my face to fall against you.

Since I am faithful—the declaration of Yahweh—

I shall not keep forever.

13 Only, know your iniquity,

that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God,

and you have spread your ways to strangers

under every leafy tree,

and to my voice you did not listen

—the declaration of Yahweh.

14 Turn back, apostatizing sons!—the declaration of Yahweh—for I myself am your husband, and I shall take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and I shall bring you to Zion! 15 Then I shall give you shepherds according to my heart, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and insight. 16 And it will happen that you will increase and be fruitful in the land in those days—the declaration of Yahweh—they will no longer say, “The Box of the Covenant of Yahweh!” And it will not come up in heart, and they will not remember it. And they will not miss it, and another will not be made.’ 17 In that time they will call Jerusalem, ‘the throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will gather to her—to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem. And they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days, the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. And they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I caused your fathers to inherit.

19 And I myself said,

‘How I would set you among sons

and give to you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful heritage among the nations!’

And I said, ‘You shall call me “my father”.’

and from after me you shall not turn away.

20 Surely, like a woman dealing treacherously with her companion,

so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel

—the declaration of Yahweh.”

21 A voice is heard on the bare heights,

weeping pleas of the sons of Israel!

For they have made their ways crooked;

they have forgotten Yahweh their God.

22 “Turn back, apostatizing sons!

I will heal your apostasies!”

“Behold! We come to you,

for you are Yahweh our God!

23 Truly in vain from the hills,

the commotion on the mountains;

truly in Yahweh our God

is the salvation of Israel.

24 Yet from our youth the shame has consumed

the toil of our fathers—

their flock and their cattle,

their sons and their daughters!

25 Let us lie down in our shame,

and let our humiliation cover us,

for against Yahweh our God we have sinned!

Ourselves and our fathers,

from our youth and to this day,

and we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God!”

4 “If you return, Israel—the declaration of Yahweh—

to me you should return.

And if you remove your detestable things from before my face

and do not wander,

2 and you swear, ‘As Yahweh is alive’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then the nations will bless themselves in him,

and in him they will boast.”

3 For thus says Yahweh to the man of Judah and to Jerusalem:

‘Break up your unplowed ground,

and do not sow into thorns.

4 Be circumcised to Yahweh,

and remove the foreskins of your heart,

man of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

lest my heat go out like the fire,

and burn, and there is no one to extinguish

from the face of the evil of your deeds.

5 Declare in Judah, and in Jerusalem announce, and say,

“Blow the horn in the land!”

Call out fully and say,

“Assemble, and let us go

into the cities of fortification.”

6 Lift up a banner toward Zion,

and bring yourself to safety, do not stand still!

For I am bringing disaster from the north

and a great collapse.

7 A lion has come up from his thicket

and a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has gone out from his place

to make your land into a desolation;

your cities will become ruins,

without an inhabitant.

8 Because of this, gird yourselves with sackcloth,

lament and wail!

For the force of the nose of Yahweh

has not turned away from us.

9 And it will happen in that day—the declaration of Yahweh—

the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will perish,

And the priests will be appalled,

and the prophets will be horrified.’ ”

10 And I said, “Alas! Lord Yahweh, surely you have completely deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It will be peace for you.’ Yet the sword will reach as far as the life.”

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind of the bare hills in the wilderness—the way of the daughter of my people, not to winnow and not to cleanse, 12 a wind more full than these will come to me. Now I myself shall also speak judgments against them.

13 Behold, like clouds he comes up,

and his chariots are like the storm.

His horses are faster than eagles.

Woe to us, for we are devastated! 14 Cleanse your heart from evil, Jerusalem so that you might be saved.

Until when will lodge within you your wicked thoughts? 15 For a voice declares from Dan,

and announces coming disaster from the mount of Ephraim. 16 Report to the nations: Behold!

Announce to Jerusalem,

Guards are coming from the distant land,

and they give their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 Like the watchmen of a field they will be all around against her,

since she has been rebellious against me

—the declaration of Yahweh—18 your way and your deeds

have done these to you.

This is your evil.

Indeed it is bitter!

Indeed it reaches as far as your heart!

19 My inward parts! My inward parts!

I writhe in pain in the walls of my heart!

My heart is turbulent for me.

I shall not be silent,

for I hear the sound of the horn, my soul,

an alarm for battle. 20 Collapse upon collapse is called out,

for all the land is devastated.

Suddenly my tents are devastated,

in a moment, my curtains! 21 Until when will I see the banner,

will I hear the sound of the horn?

22 For my people are foolish;

they do not know me.

They are foolish sons

and they have no understanding.

They are wise to do evil,

but do not know to do good.

23 I saw the land,

and behold, it was formless and empty,

and to the heavens,

and there was not their light.

24 I saw the mountains.

And behold, they were quaking,

and all the hills were shaking themselves.

25 I saw, and behold, there was not the man,

and all the birds of the heavens had fled.

26 I saw, and behold, the orchard was the wilderness,

and all the cities had been pulled down

before the face of Yahweh, before the face of the fury of his nose.”

27 For thus says Yahweh,

“All the land will become a devastation,

but complete destruction I shall not make.

28 Because of this the land will mourn,

and the heavens will darken from above.

Because I have spoken my plans and will not regret,

and I shall not turn away from it.

29 From the noise of the horseman and the shooter of the bow

every city will flee.

They will go into the thickets

and ascend among the rocks.

Every city will be abandoned,

and there will be no man dwelling in them.

30 And you,[fn] devastated one, what will you do?

Although you dress in scarlet,

although you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold,

although you enlarge your eyes with eye paint,

you beautify yourself for futility.

The ones lusting reject you;

they seek your life.

31 For I hear a sound like a woman in labor,

distress like a woman birthing her firstborn,

the sound of the daughter of Zion;

she gasps for breath.

She spreads out her hands,

‘Woe now to me,

for my soul faints because of murderers!.’ ”

5 “Roam about in the streets of Jerusalem,

and see now and know,

and seek in her plazas,

if you can find a man,

if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth,

then I will forgive her.

2 And if they say, ‘As Yahweh is alive,’

surely they swear falsely.”

3 Yahweh, are not your eyes for honesty?

You struck them, but they do not tremble.

You have completely defeated them; they refuse to receive discipline.

They harden their faces more than rock;

they refuse to return.

4 So I myself said, “They are only ones who are poor.

They are foolish,

for they do not know the way of Yahweh,

the ordinance of their God.

5 I shall go for myself to the great ones

and speak to them,

for they themselves know the way of Yahweh,

the ordinance of their God.”

But they together broke the yoke;

they tore to pieces the fetters.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down;

a wolf of the deserts will devastate them;

a leopard watches over their cities;

all who go out from there will be torn apart,

for their transgressions increase;

their apostasies are numerous.

7 How, for this, could I forgive you?

Your sons have abandoned me

and have sworn by not-gods.

When I satisfied them,

they committed adultery

and assembled themselves to the house of the prostitute.

8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions. [fn]

Each man neighing to the wife of his neighbor.

9 Should I not punish because of these

—the declaration of Yahweh—

or even against a nation that is like this,

should I not avenge myself?

10 Go up onto her terraces [fn] and destroy!

But do not bring complete destruction.

Remove her vines,

for they are not of Yahweh.

11 For betraying me they have betrayed me,

the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

—the declaration of Yahweh.

12 They have deceived about Yahweh,

and they said, “He is not,

and no evil will come upon us,

and we will not see sword or famine.

13 And the prophets are for wind,

and the word is not in them,

thus it will be done to them.”

14 Therefore thus says Yahweh the God of hosts:

“Because you have spoken this word,

behold, I shall place my word in your mouth for a fire,

and this people will be wood, and it will consume them.

15 Behold! I shall bring a nation against you from far away, house of Israel

—the declaration of Yahweh—

it is a lasting nation; it is a nation from ancient times!

A nation whose tongue you do not know,

and you will not understand what they speak.

16 Its quiver is like an open grave.

All of them are warriors.

17 And it will consume your harvest and your bread.

They will consume your sons and your daughters.

It will consume your flock and your cattle;

It will consume your vine and your fig tree.

It will beat down with a sword

your cities of fortification that you trusted in.

18 But even in those days—the declaration of Yahweh—I shall not make of you a complete end. 19 And it will happen when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me and served gods of a foreigner in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land not yours.’

20 Declare this to the house of Jacob

and announce it in Judah, saying:

21 ‘Hear this, please, foolish people and without heart;

they have eyes but do not see;

they have ears but do not hear.

22 Should you not fear me—the declaration of Yahweh—

or should you not tremble from my face?

For I have placed sand as a border for the sea,

an eternal decree and it does not cross over it,

and if it rises and falls, still it would not prevail,

and if its waves roar, still they do not cross over it.

23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart.

They have turned aside and walked away.

24 And they do not say in their hearts,

“Let us now fear Yahweh our God,

the one who gives the rain—both the early rain and the late rain—in its season,

he keeps the appointed weeks of the harvest for us.”

25 Your iniquities turned have away these things,

and your sins have kept back from you the good.

26 For wicked ones are found among my people;

he watches like fowlers lying in wait; [fn]

they set a snare; they capture people.

27 Like a cage full of birds,

thus their houses are full of deceit,

thus they grow large and become rich.

28 They are fat; they are sleek.[fn]

They also trespass with acts of evil.

They do not plead the legal cause—

the legal cause of the fatherless one,

yet they prosper, but the justice of the needy ones—

they have not given justice.

29 Why, on account of these things should I not punish?

—The declaration of Yahweh—

against a nation that is like this

should my soul not avenge itself?

30 Desolation and horror

has happened in the land.

31 The prophets prophesy with deceit,

and the priests rule with their hands,

and my people love it so,

but what will you do in the end?’ ”

6 Bring yourselves to safety, sons of Benjamin,

from the midst of Jerusalem!

And in Tekoa blast a horn!

And over Beth Haccerem lift up an uplifting!

For evil looks down from the north,

and a great collapse.

2 I liken[fn] the daughter of Zion

to the beautiful and delicate woman.

3 To them shepherds and their flocks will go;

they will pitch tents against her all around;

they shall pasture each in his place.

4 “Consecrate yourselves for war against her!

Arise and let us go up at noon!

Woe to us for the day faces away,

for the shadows of evening are lengthening.

5 Arise and let us attack at night

and destroy her palaces.”

6 For thus says Yahweh of hosts:

Cut a tree,

and heap up siegeworks against Jerusalem!

She is the city he left behind,[fn]

all of her is oppression in her midst.

7 Like a well keeps its waters fresh,

thus she keeps her evil fresh.

Violence and oppression are heard in her;

always before my face are sickness and plague.

8 Let yourself be instructed, Jerusalem,

lest my soul turns away in disgust from you,

lest I make you a wasteland,

a land not inhabited.’ ”

9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Gleaning they will glean as the vine,

the remnant of Israel.

Cause your hand to return

as a grape gatherer over the branches.

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning

that they may listen?

Behold! Their ear is uncircumcised,

and they are not able to pay attention!

Behold! The word of Yahweh has come to them for disgrace,

but they would not delight in it.”

11 Therefore I am filled with the heat of Yahweh.

I am tired of holding it in.

“Pour it out on the children outside

and on the groups of young men who are together.

For also a husband will be captured with a wife,

an old person with fullness of days.

12 And their houses will be turned over to others,

fields and wives together.

For I shall stretch out my hand

against the inhabitants of the land

—the declaration of Yahweh.

13 For from the smallest and to the greatest,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

And from prophet and to priest,

each deals deceitfully.

14 And they have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, Peace,’ but there is no peace.

15 Were they ashamed when they did an abomination?

Indeed to be ashamed, they were not ashamed;

they did not even know to blush!

Therefore they will fall among the fallen ones;

At the time I punish them they will stumble

says Yahweh.

16 Thus says Yahweh,

“Stand by the roads and look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is;

and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We shall not walk in it.’

17 And I stationed watchmen over you.

Pay attention to the sound of the horn!

But they said, ‘We shall not pay attention.’

18 Therefore, hear, you nations!

And know, assembly,

what will be among them.

19 Hear, O earth:

Behold, I shall bring disaster to this people—

the fruit of their plans.

For to my words they did not pay attention,

and my law, they rejected it.

20 What is this to me, frankincense coming from Sheba?

Or reed perfume from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,

and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.

21 Therefore thus says Yahweh,

‘Behold, I shall give stumbling blocks to this people,

and they will stumble on them—fathers and sons together.

A resident and his neighbor will perish.’

22 Thus says Yahweh,

‘Behold, a people is coming

from the land of the north,

and a great nation is being woken up

from the farthest parts of the earth.

23 They hold bows and spears.

They are cruel and they are not compassionate.

Their sound roars like the sea,

and they ride on horses,

arranged like men for battle

against you, daughter of Zion.’ ”

24 We have heard the reports about them;

our hands fall limp.

Distress seizes us,

anguish as a woman giving birth.

25 Do not go out to the field,

and do not walk on the road,

for the sword of the enemy,

terror from all around.

26 Daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth

and roll about in ash;

make mourning for yourself as for an only son

a lamentation of bitterness,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

27 “I have given you as a tester among my people, an appraiser,

so you can know and test their way.

28 All of them are stubborn ones[fn] who rebel,

going about in gossip

All of them are bronze and iron;

they act corruptly.

29 The bellows fiercely blow

the lead from their fire.[fn]

In vain he refines to refine,

but the evil things are not torn away.

30 They will be called, ‘rejected silver,’

for Yahweh has rejected them.”

7 The word that was to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Stand at the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclaim there this word! And you shall say,

‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah, who enter these gates to bow down to Yahweh. 3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Make your ways and your deeds good, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust for yourself in words of deceit, saying, “The temple of Yahweh! The temple of Yahweh! The temple of Yahweh is this!” 5 For if making good you make good your ways and your deeds, if doing you do justice between a man and between his neighbor—6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless one, or the widow and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and do not walk after other gods to your harm—7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from ancient times and to eternity. 8 Behold! You trust for yourself in words of deceit to no benefit.

9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear deceitfully and burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before my face in this house which is called by my name and say, “We are delivered,” in order to do all of these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have also seen—the declaration of Yahweh.

12 But go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at in the beginning, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 So now, on account of your doing all of these deeds”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and because I spoke to you rising early and speaking, but you did not listen, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I shall do to the house that is called by my name, which you are trusting in, and to the place that I gave to you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 And I shall cast you out from my face just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the seed of Ephraim.’

16 As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or a prayer for them, and do not plead with me, for I shall not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The sons are collecting wood and the fathers kindling the fire, and the women are kneading dough to make cakes for the Queen of the Heavens, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke me to anger. 19 Are they provoking me to anger?”—the declaration of Yahweh—“is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

20 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, my nose and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast, and on the tree of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.’

21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 For I did not speak to your fathers nor did I command them on the day I brought them out from the land of Egypt concerning matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. 23 But I commanded them this word, saying, “Listen to my voice, and I will be your God and you will be my people; and you shall walk in all the ways that I command you so that it may go well for you.” 24 But they did not listen and they did not incline their ear. And they walked by schemes in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they went to the back and not to the face. 25 From the day that your fathers went out from the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all of my servants, the prophets, to you; each day rising early and sending. 26 And yet they did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ear, but they stiffened their neck. They did evil more than their fathers.’

27 So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. And you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them: This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of Yahweh its God and does not receive discipline. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

29 Shear your consecration hair and throw it away. And lift up on the bare heights a lamentation. For Yahweh has rejected and abandoned the generation of his fury. 30 For the sons of Judah have done evil in my eyes”—the declaration of Yahweh—“they have set their detestable things in the house over which my name is called, to defile it. 31 And they have built the high places of Topheth which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—which I did not command, and it did not come into my heart. 32 Therefore behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, instead, the Valley of Slaughter. And they will bury in Topheth because there is no room. 33 And the corpses of this people will be for food for the bird of the skies and for the beast of the earth, and there will be none to frighten them. 34 And I shall cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem: the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land will be desolate.”

8 “At that time”—the declaration of Yahweh—“they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the dwellers of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 And they will spread them out to the sun and to the moon and to all of the host of the heavens, which they loved and which they served, and that they walked after, and that they sought, and that they bowed down to. They will not be gathered, and they will not be buried. They will be for dung on the face of the land. 3 And they will choose death from life for all of the remnant who are remaining from this evil family, in all of the places of those who are remaining, where I drove them—the declaration of Yahweh of hosts.

4 And I will say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Will they fall and not rise? If one turns away, then does he not then return?

5 Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away, a continous apostasy?

They grasp upon deceit and refuse to turn.

6 I paid attention and listened, they did not speak rightly. There was not a man regretting over his wickedness, saying,

“What have I done?” All of them turn in their courses,

like a stallion plunging into the battle.

7 Even the stork in the heavens knows its appointed times,

and a turtledove, and a swift one, and a crane keep the time of their coming, but my people do not know the rule of Yahweh.

8 How can you say, “We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us”?

Indeed, behold! The stylus of the deceitful scribes have made it a deceitful thing.

9 The wise ones will be put to shame, they will be dismayed and will be captured.

Behold! They have rejected the word of Yahweh, so what wisdom do they have?

10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to those possessing them,

because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for dishonest gain. From the prophet to the priest, everyone deals deceitfully.

11 For they have healed the brokenness of the daughter of my people lightly,

saying, “Peace, Peace,” and there is not peace.

12 Were they ashamed when they did an abomination? No, being ashamed, they were not ashamed, they did not know how to be humiliated! Therefore they will fall among the fallen, they will stumble in the time of their punishment says Yahweh.

13 Gathering I will gather them”—the declaration of Yahweh—“there are not grapes on the vine, and there are not figs on the fig tree, and the leaf is withered, and the things I gave to them, they have passed away from them.”

14 “Why are we sitting? Be gathered, and let us go to the cities of fortification, and let us perish there,

for Yahweh our God will cause us to perish, and has given us water of poison to drink because we have sinned against Yahweh.

15 We were hoping for peace, but no good came,

for a time of healing, and behold, terror. 16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of his mighty ones the whole land quakes,

for they have come and consumed the land and its fullness, the city and those dwelling in it.”

17 “For behold, I am sending snakes among you, vipers that there is not for them a charm.

And they will bite you“—the declaration of Yahweh.

18 Joy of me in sorrow; my heart is faint within me.

19 Behold! The sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a far away land! Is Yahweh not in Zion?

Is her king no longer in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their idols, with vain foreign things?

20 The harvest has passed, summer has ended, and we have not been delivered.

21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, horror has seized me.

22 Is there no balm medicine in Gilead? Is there not a healer there?

Then why does the healing of the daughter of my people not go up?

9 I wish that my head were waters, and my eyes were a fountain of tears,

that I might weep day and night, for the slain ones of the daughter of my people.

2 Who will give me a lodging place of travelers in the desert, that I might leave my people and walk away from them.

For all of them are adulterers, an assembly of ones dealing treacherously!

3 “And they tread on their tongues their bow, for lies,

and not for truth they are strong in the land.

For from evil thing to evil thing they go, and they do not know me,”—the declaration of Yahweh.

4 Let each one take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother,

for every brother deceiving he deceives, and every neighbor walks in slander.

5 And each one deceives his neighbor, and they do not speak the truth;

they have taught their tongue to speak deceitful things; they weary themselves committing iniquity.

6 Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me,”—the declaration of Yahweh.

7 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Behold, I am refining them and will test them,

for how shall I act from before the face of the daughter of my people?

8 Their tongue is a murderous arrow, it speaks a deceitful thing.

With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor, but in his midst he sets ambush of him.

9 Shall I not punish upon them because of these things”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“Shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

10 For the mountains I will take up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation,

because they are burned up so that there is not a man passing through, and they do not hear the sound of cattle,

from the bird of the heavens and to the beast they have fled; they are gone.

11 “And I will make Jerusalem to piles of ruins, a dwelling-place of jackals,

and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without dwellers.”

12 Who is the man that is wise that he may understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken to, that he may declare it?

Why does the land perish, burn up like the wilderness so that there is not a man passing through?

13 And Yahweh said, “Because of their forsaking my law that I set before the face of them, and they do not listen to my voice and they do not walk in it. 14 But they have walked after the stubbornness of their hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am feeding them, this people wormwood and making them drink water of poison. 16 And I will scatter them among the nations whom they have not known, they nor their fathers, and I will send out the sword after them until I consume them.”

17 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Think about this,

and call for the ones who chant laments that they may come, and send for those who are skilled that they may come.

18 Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us,

that our eyes may go down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water.

19 For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion, ‘How we are devastated.

We are greatly ashamed, because we have left the land because they have cast down our dwellings.’ ”

20 Now hear women, the word of Yahweh, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth,

and teach your daughters wailing and each woman, her neighbor a lament.

21 For death has come up into our windows, it has entered into our palaces,

to cut off children from outside, young men from the open plazas.

22 Speak “Thus is the declaration of Yahweh—‘and the corpse of man will fall like dung upon the face of the field,

and like sheaves after the harvester, and there is no one to gather them.’ ”

23 Thus says Yahweh, “Do not let the wise one boast in his wisdom,

and do not let the mighty one boast in his strength. Do not let the rich one boast in his riches.

24 But let him who boasts, boast in this, understanding and knowing me,

that I am Yahweh, the one doing covenant faithfulness, justice and righteousness in the earth, for in these I take pleasure—the declaration of Yahweh.”

25 “Behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh—“when I will punish upon all of the ones being circumcised in foreskin, 26 upon Egypt and upon Judah, and upon Edom and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab and upon all of those being cut off of corner, those dwelling in the desert, for all of the nations are uncircumcised, and all of the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”

10 Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel.

2 Thus says Yahweh, “Do not learn to the way of the nations,

and do not be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed from them.

3 For the customs of the peoples are breath,

for a tree from the forest he cuts it down, the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool.

4 With silver and gold he decorates it; with nails and hammers they fasten it, so that it will not totter.

5 They are like scarecrows of a cucumber field, and they do not speak, carrying, they are carried because they do not walk.

Do not be afraid of them, for they will not do harm, and also there is not good with them.”

6 There is no one like you, Yahweh. You are great, and your name is great in power.

7 Who would not fear you, king of the nations? For it is fitting to you,

for among all the wise of the nations and among all of their kingdoms there is no one like you.

8 And in one they are stupid and foolish, the instruction of vain things is wood.

9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of a craftsman,

and the hands of one who refines. Their clothing is violet and purple; the work of skilled ones are all of them.

10 But Yahweh is the true God, he is the living God and eternal king.

The earth quakes from his anger, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

11 You shall say like this to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and earth

shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

12 The maker of the earth by his strength, the establisher of the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.

13 At the sound of his uttering, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes mists to ascend from the end of the earth,

he makes lightning for the rain, and he brings out wind from his storehouses.

14 Every man is stupid; without knowledge. Every metalworker is put to shame from his idols,

for his molten images are falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

15 They are vain, the work of mockery; they will perish at the time of their visitation.

16 Not like these is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things,

and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of hosts is his name.

17 Gather from the land your bundle, you one who dwells in the seige.

18 For thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am slinging the ones who inhabit the land at this time.

I will cause them distress in order that they will find.”

19 Woe to me because of my breaking! My wound is severe,

But I said, “Surely this is affliction, and I will bear it.

20 My tent is devastated, and all of my cords are ripped apart.

My sons have gone from me and they are not. There is not one spreading out my tent again, raising up my tent curtains.

21 For the shepherds are stupid and they do not seek Yahweh,

therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

22 The sound of a report, Behold! It is coming, and a great commotion from the land of the north,

to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.”

23 I know, Yahweh, that of a man is not his way, and not to a man is walking and make firm his steps.

24 Discipline me, Yahweh, but in justice, not in your anger lest you diminish me.

25 Pour out your fury on the nations that do not know you and on the clans that do not call on your name,

for they have consumed Jacob and they have consumed him and they have destroyed him and desolated his habitation.

11 The word that was to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak them to the men of Judah and to the ones who dwell in Jerusalem, 3 and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers on the day of my bringing them out from the land of Egypt, from the furnace of iron, saying, ‘Listen to my voice and you are to do according to all that I command you, so you will be to me for a people and I will be to you for God,’ 5 so that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give to them a land flowing of milk and honey, as this day.” ’ ” Then I answered and said, “So be it, Yahweh!”

6 And Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Say, ‘Listen to the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For warning, I warned your ancestors in the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt and until this day, rising early and admonishing, saying, “Listen to my voice.” 8 Yet they did not listen and they did not incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart, therefore I brought upon them all of the words of this covenant that I commanded them to do, but they did not do it.’ ”

9 And Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and in the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have returned to the iniquities of their first fathers, who refused to listen to my words, and they walked after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant that I cut with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I am bringing calamity to them, which they will not be able to go out from it, and though they cry out to me, yet I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they are offering to them, and saving they will not save them in the time of their calamity. 13 For as the number of your cities are your gods, Judah, and as the number of the streets of Jerusalem, you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to offer to Baal.

14 Therefore you, do not intercede for this people and do not lift up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for there is not me listening in the time of their calling to me because of their calamity.

15 What to my beloved in my house, to do her wickedness, the many,

and the flesh of the holy thing they pass over from you? When evil of you, then you rejoice.

16 Yahweh called your name, leafy olive tree, beautiful and of good fruit.

With the sound of a great storm he will kindle a fire upon her, and its branches will be broken. 17 For Yahweh of hosts, the one who planted you, has spoken calamity against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to anger me, offering to Baal.’ ”

18 And Yahweh made me know it, and I knew it; then you showed me their deeds. 19 And I was like a gentle lamb brought to slaughter, and I did not know that they had devised plans against me, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit! And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name will not be remembered any longer.”

20 But Yahweh of hosts is one judging of righteousness, examining kidneys and the heart.

Let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have revealed my cause.

21 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, and you will not die by our hand.” 22 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Behold, I am punishing upon them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by famine, 23 and there will not be a remnant to them, for I will bring calamity on the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation.”

12 You are righteous, Yahweh, when I plead to you.

Yet I would speak claims with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper, why are they at ease all of the ones being treacherous of treachery?

2 You have planted them, they have also taken root. They grow, they have also produced fruit.

Near you are in their mouth, but far away from their kidneys. 3 But you, Yahweh, know me; you see me and you test my heart toward you.

Drag them away like sheep for slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter!

4 Until when will the land dry up and the herbage of every field wither from the wickedness of those who dwell in it?

The beasts and the birds dwindle away because they said, “He will not see our end.”

5 If you have run with footmen and they have wearied you, how will you compete with the horses?

And if you are trusting in a land of peace, then how will you do in the height of the Jordan?

6 For even your brothers and your father’s house, even they have betrayed you, even they have called after you fully.

Do not trust in them, though they speak good things to you.

7 I have abandoned my house, I have left my inheritance.

I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest,

she uttered against me with her voice, therefore I hate her.

9 Is my inheritance a speckled bird of prey to me, are they a bird of prey all around against her?

Go, assemble all of the beast of the field, bring them for food.

10 Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard; they have tread down my portion;

they have made my pleasant portion a wilderness of desolation.

11 He has made it a desolation, she mourns to me;

desolate she is made desolate, all the land, because no man lays it to heart.

12 Upon all the bare heights in the wilderness have come the destroyers,

for the sword of Yahweh is consuming from one end of the land and to the other end of the land;

there is not peace for any flesh.

13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves, but they did not profit.

Be ashamed of your harvests, because of the burning of the nose of Yahweh.”

14 Thus says Yahweh concerning all my evil neighbors who strike the inheritance that I that I have caused my people Israel to inherit, “Behold, I am plucking them up from upon their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from their midst. 15 And it will happen after I pluck them up, I will turn and have compassion on them and bring them back, a man to his inheritance and a man to his land. 16 And it will happen, if learning, they will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name ‘As Yahweh lives’ just as they have taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built in the midst of my people. 17 But if they do not listen, then I will pluck up that nation, to pluck up and destroy”—the declaration of Yahweh.

13 Thus says Yahweh to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth for yourself and put it around your loins, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of Yahweh, and I put it around my loins. 3 And the word of Yahweh was to me a second time, saying, 4 “Take the loincloth that you bought, that is around your loins, and arise, go to Perath[fn] and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by Perath, just as Yahweh had commanded me. 6 And it happened from the end of many days, that Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go to Perath, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to Perath [fn] and dug and I took the loincloth from the place that I had hidden it, and behold, the loincloth was ruined, it was not good for anything.

8 And the word of Yahweh was to me, saying, 9 “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Thus I will ruin the majesty of Judah and the great majesty of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, the ones who refuse to listen to my words, the ones walking in the stubbornness of their heart, and they have walked after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them—let him be like this loincloth that is not good for anything. 11 For as a loincloth clings to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me”—the declaration of Yahweh—“to be for me my people, and be for name, and be for praise, and be for glory. But they would not listen.

12 Therefore you shall speak this word to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Every jar shall be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Knowing do we not know that every jar will be filled with wine?’ 13 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Behold, I am the one filling with drunkenness all of the ones inhabiting this land, and the kings, the ones sitting on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 14 And I will smash a man against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together”—the declaration of Yahweh—“I will not pity and I will not spare and I will not have compassion so as not to destroy them.” ’ ”

15 Listen and give ear; do not be proud, for Yahweh has spoken.

16 Give glory to Yahweh your God before he brings darkness,

and before he causes your feet to stumble on the mountains at twilight,

and you wait for light, but he turns it to deep darkness, he turns it to gloom.

17 But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret places because of your pride;

and weeping she will weep and my eyes will flow with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.

18 “Say to the king and to the queen mother, ‘Make low, sit,

for has come down from at your heads the crown of your glory.

19 The cities of the Negev are shut up, and there is not one opening. All of Judah has been exiled, she has been wholly exiled.’ ”

20 Lift up your eyes and see the ones coming from the north.

Where is the flock given to you, your flock of beauty?

21 What will you say when he appoints over you and you, yourself, have taught them, friends over you, to be head?

Will not labor pains seize you like a woman in labor?

22 And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?”

For the multitude of your iniquity your skirts have been uncovered and your heels been exposed.

23 Can the Cushite change his skin, or the leopard its spots?

Then also you yourself, are able to do good, ones accustomed to do evil.

24 Therefore I will scatter them like stubble passing away by the wind of the wilderness.

25 This is your lot, the portion of your measures from me”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“because you have forgotten me and trusted in a lie.

26 So I myself shall strip off your skirts over your face, that your shame may be visible.

27 Your adulteries and your neighings,

the lewdness of your harlotry, on the hills in the fields.

I have seen your abominations.

Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you not be clean?”

14 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought,

2 “Judah mourns, and her gates languish;

they mourn for the land,

and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3 And their noble ones send out their servants for water;

they go to cisterns; they find no water;

they return with their vessels empty;

they are ashamed and confounded

and they cover their head.

4 Because the ground is dismayed, since there is not rain in the land,

the farmers are ashamed; they cover their head.

5 For even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons, because there is no grass.

6 And the wild donkeys stand on bare heights and they gasp for air like jackals.

Their eyes fail because there is no herbage.”

7 Even though our iniquities testify against us, Yahweh, act for the sake of your name.

For our apostasies are many; we have sinned against you.

8 Hope of Israel, the one saving him in the time of trouble,

Why should you be like a stranger in the land, and like one traveling who turns aside to lodge?

9 Why should you be like a man being confused, like a mighty one who is not able to save?

Yet you are in our midst, Yahweh, and your name is called over us; do not leave us!

10 Thus says Yahweh to this people: “Thus they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet.

Therefore Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity and will punish their sins.” 11 So Yahweh said to me, “Do not pray for this people for good. 12 When they fast, I will not listen to their cry, and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But by the sword and by the famine and by the plague I will consume them.”

13 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets are saying to them, ‘You shall not see sword and you shall not have famine, but peace of stability I will give to you in this place.’ ” 14 And Yahweh said to me, “The prophets are prophesying a lie in my name. I have not sent them and I have not commanded them and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a vision of a lie and divination and worthlessness and the deceitfulness of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets, the ones prophesying in my name when I did not send them and they are saying, ‘Sword and famine there shall not be in this land.’ Those prophets shall perish by sword and by famine. 16 And the people to whom they are prophesying to, them shall be the ones being cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there will be no one burying for them—they, their wives nor their sons nor their daughters. And I will pour out upon them their evil.

17 And you shall speak this word to them: ‘Let my eyes flow with tears, night and day,

and let them not cease, for with a great breaking she has been broken, the virgin daughter of my people,

with a very severe blow.

18 If I go out to the field, then behold, pierced ones of the sword,

and if I enter the city, then behold the diseases of famine,

yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land, and they know not.’ ”

19 Have rejecting you rejected Judah? Or has your soul loathed Zion?

Why have you stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there was no good,

and for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

20 We know, Yahweh, our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.

21 For the sake of your name do not spurn us; do not disgrace the throne of your glory.

Remember, do not break your covenant with us.

22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who can bring rain or can the heavens give showers?

Are you not he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you, since you have done all these.

15 Then Yahweh said to me, “If Moses and Samuel stood to my face, my soul would not be to this people. Send them away from by my face, and let them go out. 2 And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says Yahweh:

“Those who are for death to death and those who are for the sword to the sword

and those who are for the famine to the famine and those who are for the captivity to the captivity.” ’

3 And I will appoint over them four kinds”—the declaration of Yahweh—“The sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the bird of the skies and the beast of the earth to devour and to destroy. 4 And I will make them a terror for all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 For who will have compassion on you, Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you, or who will turn aside to ask about your well-being?

6 You have forsaken me”—the declaration of Yahweh—“you have gone backward,

therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting.

7 And I will winnow them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land.

I will bereave them of children; I will destroy my people since they do not turn back from their ways.

8 Their widows will be numerous to me, more than the sand of the seas. I will bring to them, against the mother of the young men,

one who destroys at the noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on her suddenly.

9 She who has borne seven will grow faint. She will breath out her life. Her sun will go down while it is yet day.

She will be ashamed and disgraced, and the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword before the face of their enemies,”

the declaration of Yahweh.

10 Woe to me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land.

I have not lent, nor have they lent to me, but everyone of them is cursing me.

11 Yahweh said: “Surely I have loosened you for good;

surely I will make the enemy plead with you in the time of disaster and in the time of distress!

12 Can one break iron, iron from the north, or bronze?

13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give for plunder, with no price,

because of all your sins, and throughout your territories.

14 Then I will cause your enemies to bring you into a land that you do not know,

for a fire is kindled in my nose which shall burn against you.” [fn]

15 Yahweh, you yourself know! Remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on the ones persecuting me.

may you not take me away in the length of your nose;

know that I suffer reproach for you.

16 Your words were found, and I ate them and your words were a joy to me

and the rejoicing of my heart,

for by your name I am called, Yahweh, God of hosts.

17 I did not sit in the company of the ones who revel nor did I rejoice;

I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation.

18 Why is my pain endless and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?

Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like waters that are not reliable?

19 Therefore, thus says Yahweh, “If you return, then I will restore you, you shall stand to my face.

And if you take out the precious from the one who is worthless, you will be as my mouth.

They themselves shall turn to you, but you yourself shall not turn to them.

20 I will make you to this people a wall of fortified bronze, and they will fight against you,

but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” the declaration of Yahweh.

21 “And I will deliver you from the hand of the evil and I will redeem you from the palm of the ruthless.”

16 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take to you a wife and there shall not be to you sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says Yahweh about the sons and the daughters, the ones born in this place, and about their mothers who bear them, and about their fathers, the ones fathering them in this land, 4 “They will die deaths of diseases. They shall not be lamented and they shall not be buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the ground and by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed, and their corpses shall be food for the bird of the skies and for the beast of the earth.”

5 For thus says Yahweh, “Do not enter house of a funeral meal nor go to lament nor grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people”—the declaration of Yahweh—“covenant faithfulness and mercies. 6 And great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and they shall not lament for them and he shall not cut himself and he shall not be bald for them. 7 And not they shall break bread for them in mourning to comfort him for the one who is dead, and they shall not give them a cup of consolation to drink for his father or for his mother. 8 And you shall not go to the house of a feast to sit with them, to eat and drink.” 9 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 And it will happen that when you tell this people all of these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has Yahweh spoken all this great disaster concerning us and what is our iniquity and what is our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?’ 11 Then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have abandoned me,’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘and they have walked after other gods and they have served them and they have bowed down to them and they have abandoned me and they have not kept my law. 12 And you yourselves have done evil, to do more than your fathers, and behold, each one is walking after the stubbornness of his evil heart; to not listen to me. 13 So I will throw you far out of this land into a land that you have not known, you nor your fathers, and you shall serve other gods there by day and night, for I will not show favor to you.’

14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,”—the declaration of Yahweh—“when it shall no longer be said, ‘The life of Yahweh, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but rather, ‘The life of Yahweh, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all of the lands where he had driven them there.’ For I will bring them back to their land that I gave to their fathers.

16 Behold, I am sending for many fishermen”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and they shall fish them out. And after that I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them from on every mountain and from on every hill, and from out of the crevices of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from before my face nor is their iniquity concealed from before my eyes. 18 But I will first repay double of their iniquity and their sin because they have defiled my land with the carcass of their detestable things, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

19 Yahweh, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge in the day of trouble.

To you the nations shall come from the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited a lie,

worthlessness and there is no profit in them.

20 Will a man make for himself gods? But they are not gods.

21 “Therefore, behold, I am making them to know, this time I will make them to know my hand and my might,

and they shall know that my name is Yahweh.

17 The sin of Judah is being written with a stylus of iron with a point of diamond,

being engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars.

2 as their children remember their altars and their Asherim,

by the green tree on the high hills.

3 My mountain in the field,

your wealth,

all your treasures as plunder I will give,

your high places for sin within all your borders.

4 And you shall loosen, even yourself, from the inheritance that I gave to you,

and I will make you serve your enemies in the land that you do not know,

for you have kindled a fire in my nose, which shall burn unto eternity.”

5 Thus says Yahweh, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind;

and who makes flesh his arm, and who turns away his heart from Yahweh.

6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert and he shall not see when good comes,

but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, a land of salt, and not inhabited.

7 Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and his confidence is in Yahweh.

8 For he shall be like a tree which is planted by waters, and by the river, which sends out its roots,

and he does not fear when heat comes, for its leaf will be green,

and in the year of drought he will not anxious, nor will he cease from producing fruit.

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is incurable; who can know it?

10 I, Yahweh, am the one searching the heart, testing the kidneys,

to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

11 Like a partridge that hatches but did not lay, is the one getting riches but not by justice;

in the midst of his days, it will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.

12 A throne of glory, high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

13 The hope of Israel, Yahweh, all of the ones abandoning you shall be ashamed; the ones turning away from me shall be written in the earth,

because they have forsaken Yahweh, the fountain of living waters.

14 Heal me, Yahweh, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

15 Behold, they are saying to me, “Where is the word of Yahweh? Let it come now”

16 But I did not hasten from being one shepherding following you and the disastrous day I have not desired.

You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face.

17 Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18 Let the ones persecuting me be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed.

Bring the day of disaster on them and destroy them with double destruction.

19 Thus said Yahweh to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people which the kings of Judah enter by and which they go out by, and in all of the gates of Jerusalem. 20 And you shall say to them, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and all of Judah, and all of the ones who inhabit Jerusalem, the ones who enter by these gates. 21 Thus says Yahweh: “Take heed to yourselves and do not bear a burden on the day of the Sabbath, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the day of the Sabbath and you are not to do any work, but you shall make holy the day of the Sabbath, as I commanded your fathers. 23 Yet they listened not nor inclined their ear, but stiffened their neck to not hear and to not receive instruction.

24 And it will happen that if listening you listen to me”—the declaration of Yahweh—“to not bring a burden through the gates of this city on the day of the Sabbath, but make holy the day of the Sabbath to not do on it any work, 25 then shall enter the gates of this city, kings and officials, sitting on the throne of David, riding in the chariot and on horses, they and their officials, men of Judah and the ones inhabiting Jerusalem, and they shall inhabit this city forever. 26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the Shephelah, and from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and grain offerings and frankincense and bringing thank offerings to the house of Yahweh. 27 But if you do not listen to me, to make holy the day of the Sabbath and to not bear a burden nor enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire in her gates, and it shall consume the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” ’ ”

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will cause you to hear my words.” 3 And I went down to the house of the potter, and behold, he was doing work on the wheels.

4 And the vessel that he was making with the clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, and he returned and made it into another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

5 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 6 “Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, house of Israel?”—the declaration of Yahweh—“Behold, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. 7 If at any moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot and to tear down and to destroy it, 8 and if that nation turns from its evil, which I have spoken against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it. 9 And if at any moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 And if it does the evil in my eyes, not listening to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said to do good to it.

11 And now, please say to the men of Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Behold, I am forming evil against you and devising a plan against you. Please turn back, each man from his evil way, and make good your ways and your deeds.” ’ ” 12 But they will say, “It is hopeless, for we will walk after our own plans, and each man, the stubbornness of his evil heart, we will do.”

13 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: “Please ask among the nations, who has heard things like these? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the field? Or are foreign, cold, flowing waters removed?

15 Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthlessness, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, the paths of old, to walk on paths, a way not being built up,

16 to make their land a desolation, a hissing of eternity. Everyone passing over it will be appalled and will shake his head.

17 Like a wind of the east I will scatter them to the face of the enemy. The neck and not the face I will show them on the day of their calamity.”

18 And they said, “Come, and let us devise plans against Jeremiah, for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor a word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

19 Pay attention to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of my opponents.

20 Should evil be repaid in place of good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember my standing to your face to speak good concerning them, to turn back your wrath from them.

21 Therefore, give their sons to the famine, and deliver them over to the hands of the sword. And let their wives become bereaved of children and widows, and let their men become those killed of death, and their young men struck of the sword in the battle.

22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a raiding band against them suddenly, for they have dug a pit to capture me, and they have hidden traps for my feet.

23 But you, Yahweh, you know all of their counsel against me for death. Do not atone for their iniquity, and do not blot out their sin from before your face; but let them be overthrown to your face. In the time of your nose, deal with them.

19 Thus says Yahweh: “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take from of the elders of the people and of from of the elders of the priests. 2 And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I will speak to you. 3 And you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and dwellers of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold me, bringing disaster on this place, that everyone hearing it, his ears will tingle. 4 On account that they have forsaken me and have made this place foreign, and they have burned incense in it to other gods that they did not know, they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah, and they have filled this place with the blood of innocents. 5 And they have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command, and I did not speak, and it did not come up into my heart.

6 Therefore, behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will empty the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword to the face of their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. And I will give their corpses as food to the birds of the heavens and to the beast of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a desolation and a hissing. Everyone passing by it will be appalled and will hiss over all its wounds. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each man will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and the seekers of their life will impose on them.’

10 “And you shall break the jar before the eyes of the men who are going with you. 11 And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Thus I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a vessel of the potter that is not able to be made whole again. And in Topheth they will bury, until there is no place to bury. 12 Thus I will do to this place’ —the declaration of Yahweh—‘and to its dwellers, and to make this city like Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be like the defiled place of Topheth, because of all of the houses where they have burned incense on their roofs to all of the host of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ”

14 And Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him there to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: ‘Behold me, bringing to this city and to all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it, because they have stiffened their neck so as not to hear my words.’ ”

20 Now Pashhur son of Immer the priest—he was chief officer in the house of Yahweh—heard Jeremiah prophesying these words. 2 And Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh. 3 And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks. And Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but rather Magor-Missabib.

4 For thus says Yahweh: ‘Behold, I am making you as a terror to yourself and to all your lovers, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will be seeing. And I will give all of Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will exile them to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword. 5 And I will give all the wealth of this city and all its produce and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them and take them and bring them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all the dwellers of your house will go into captivity. And to Babylon you will go, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your lovers to whom you prophesied in falsehood.’ ”

7 You persuaded me, Yahweh, and I was persuaded.

You overpowered me, and you prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all the day;

everyone is mocking me.

8 For as often as I speak, I cry out, I call out,

“Violence and destruction!”

For the word of Yahweh has become for me

a reproach and a derision all the day.

9 And I said, “I will not remember him,

and I will not speak again in his name.”

But it was in my heart like a burning fire,

shut up in my bones;

and I was weary of containing it,

and I was not able.

10 For I have heard the whispering of many:

“Terror on every side!

Report him! Let us report him!”

Every man of my peace,

the watchers of my stumbling:

“Perhaps he will be deceived,

then we will prevail against him

and we will take our vengeance on him.”

11 But Yahweh is with me like a ruthless mighty warrior;

therefore my pursuers will stumble and will not prevail.

They will be greatly ashamed, for they have not succeeded;

everlasting humiliation will not be forgotten.

12 And Yahweh of Armies, the one testing the righteous,

seeing the kidneys and the heart—

let me see your vengeance on them,

for to you I have made known my cause.

13 Sing to Yahweh!

Praise Yahweh!

For he has rescued the life of the needy one

from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day on which I was born;

the day that my mother bore me,

let it not be blessed.

15 Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying,

“A male child has been born to you,”

making glad, he made him glad.

16 And let that man be like the cities

that Yahweh overthrew and did not relent.

And let him hear an outcry in the morning

and a shout at the time of noon,

17 because he did not put me to death from the womb,

so that my mother would have been my grave

and her womb pregnant forever.

18 Why is this, that from the womb I came out

to see trouble and sorrow,

and my days come to an end in shame.

21 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 “Please inquire of Yahweh on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his wonders, and he will withdraw from upon us.”

3 And Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4 ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am turning back the weapons of war that are in your hand, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging against you from outside the wall, and I will gather them to the middle of this city. 5 And I, I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, and in nose and in wrath and in great fury. 6 And I will strike the dwellers of this city, both man and beast. They will die by a great plague. 7 And afterward’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people and the ones remaining in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of the seekers of their life. And he will strike them to the mouth of the sword. He will not pity them, and he will not spare, and he will not have compassion.’

8 And to this people you will say, ‘Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving to your faces the way of life and the way of death. 9 The one dwelling in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the plague. But the one going out and falling upon the Chaldeans who are besieging against you will live, and his life will be to him for spoil. 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘into the hand of the king of Babylon it will be given, and he will burn it with fire.’ ”

11 “And to the house of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh.

12 House of David, thus says Yahweh, “Execute judgement with justice in the morning,

and rescue the one who is being robbed from the hand of the oppressor,

lest my wrath go out like fire and burn,

and there is no one quenching it,

from the face of the evil of their deeds.

13 Behold, I am against you, dweller of the valley,

rock of the plateau”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“the ones saying, ‘Who will come down upon us,

and who will enter into our dwellings?’

14 And I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your deeds”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“and I will kindle a fire in her forest,

and it will consume all her surroundings.”

22 Thus says Yahweh: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word. 2 And you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, king of Judah, the one sitting on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who are entering in these gates. 3 Thus says Yahweh: Do justice and righteousness, and rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor. And do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not do violence, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if doing you do this word, then kings sitting for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in the chariot and on horses, he and his servants and his people. 5 But if you will not hear these words, by myself I have sworn”—the declaration of Yahweh—“that this house will become a ruin.’ ”

6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are Gilead to me,

the top of Lebanon.

But surely I will make you a wilderness,

cities not inhabited.

7 And I will consecrate destroyers against you,

a man and his weapons,

and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars

and cast them on the fire.

8 And many nations will pass by this city, and they will say, a man to his neighbor, ‘On account of what has Yahweh done thus to great this city?’ 9 And they will say, ‘On account of the fact that they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ”

10 Do not weep for the dead one, and do not mourn for him. Weep, to weep for the one going away, for he will not return again nor see his native land.

11 For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, the one reigning in the place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: “He will not return there again. 12 But in the place where they exiled him, there he shall die, and he will not see this land again.”

13 Woe to the one building his house by unrighteousness

and his upper rooms by injustice,

who makes his neighbor work for nothing

and does not give him his wages,

14 the one saying, “I will build for myself a house of great measurements

and spacious upper rooms,”

and he cuts out windows for himself

and panels it with cedar

and paints it with vermilion.

15 Will you reign because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was good for him. 16 He judged the cause of the poor and the needy. Then it was good. Is not this the knowledge of me?”— the declaration of Yahweh. 17 “But there is nothing in your eyes and your heart except upon your unjust gain, and upon the blood of the innocent to pour it out, and upon oppression and upon extortion to do them.

18 Therefore, thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

“They will not mourn for him, saying,

‘Woe, my brother!’ and ‘Woe, sister!’

They will not mourn for him, saying,

‘Woe, master!’ and ‘Woe, his majesty!’

19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,

dragged and thrown out

beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

and give your voice in Bashan,

and cry out from Abarim,

for all your lovers are broken.

21 I spoke to you in your prosperity;

you said, ‘I will not hear.’

This has been your way from your youth,

for you have not heard my voice.

22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,

and your lovers shall go into captivity.

Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated

because of all your evil.

23 You who are dwelling in Lebanon,

you who are nesting in the cedars,

how you will be pitied when pangs come to you,

pain like the one giving birth!

24 As I live”—the declaration of Yahweh—“even if Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet on my right hand, surely from there I would tear you off. 25 And I will give you into the hand of the ones seeking your life and into the hand of those whom you fear from their face, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die. 27 And to the land where they are lifting up their soul to return there, there they will not return.”

28 “Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel?

Or is he a vessel in which there is no delight?

Why have they been hurled, he and his seed,

and thrown into a land that they did not know?”

29 Land, land, land,

hear the word of Yahweh!

30 Thus says Yahweh:

“Write down this man childless,

a man who will not prosper in his days,

for no man from his seed shall prosper,

sitting on the throne of David

and ruling again in Judah.”

23 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!”—the declaration of Yahweh. 2 “Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding my people: ‘You, yourselves have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I am attending to you for the evil of your deeds’ ”—the declaration of Yahweh. 3 “And I, I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 And I will raise up shepherds over them, and they will shepherd them. And they will no longer fear, and they will not be dismayed, and none will be missing”—the declaration of Yahweh.

5 “Behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh—“when I will raise up for David a righteous branch,

and he shall reign as king and act wisely, and he shall do justice and righteousness in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved,

and Israel will dwell in safety.

And this is his name by which he will be called:

‘Yahweh is our righteousness.’ ”

7 “Therefore, behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh—“when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but rather, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them.’ And they will dwell in their own land.”

9 Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me;

all my bones tremble.

I have become like a drunken man,

and like a man whom wine has overcome,

because of the face of Yahweh

and because of the face of his holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers,

for because of the face of a curse the land mourns,

the pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course is evil,

and their might is not right.

11 “For both prophet and priest are polluted;

even in my house I have found their evil”—the declaration of Yahweh.

12 “Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery places in the darkness;

they shall be pushed in and shall fall in it,

for I will bring disaster upon them,

in the year of their punishment”—the declaration of Yahweh.

13 “And among the prophets of Samaria I saw an impropriety:

they prophesied by Baal

and led my people Israel astray.

14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:

committing adultery and walking in falsehood.

And they have strengthened the hands of evildoers,

so that no man turns back from his evil.

All of them have become to me like Sodom,

and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

15 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the prophets:

“Behold, I am making them eat wormwood

and making them drink water of poison,

for from the prophets of Jerusalem

pollution has gone out to all the land.”

16 Thus says Yahweh of Armies:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets

who are prophesying to you.

They are deluding you;

they are speaking a vision of their own heart,

not from the mouth of Yahweh.

17 Saying, they say to the ones despising me,

‘Yahweh has spoken: Peace will be for you.’

And to everyone walking in the stubbornness of his heart they have said,

‘Disaster will not come upon you.’ ”

18 For who has stood in the counsel of Yahweh

and seen and heard his word?

Who has paid attention to his word and listened?

19 Behold, a storm of Yahweh! Wrath has gone out,

and a whirling tempest—

upon the head of the wicked it will whirl.

20 The nose of Yahweh will not turn back

until he has done and until he has established

the intentions of his heart.

In the latter days

you will understand it with understanding.

21 “I did not send the prophets,

yet they, they ran.

I did not speak to them,

yet they, they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my counsel,

then they would have caused my people to hear my words,

and they would have turned them back from their evil way

and from the evil of their deeds.”

23 “Am I a God from near”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and not a God from far?

24 Can a man hide himself in secret places, so I will not see him?”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?”—the declaration of Yahweh.

25 “I have heard what the prophets have said, the ones prophesying falsehood in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’ 26 Until when will this be in the heart of the prophets, the ones prophesying falsehood and the prophets of the deceit of their heart? 27 The ones planning to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they recount, a man to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name on account of Baal.

28 The prophet who has a dream with him, let him recount his dream, but the one who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. What to the straw with the grain?”—the declaration of Yahweh.

29 “Is not my word like fire?”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and like a hammer that shatters a rock?”

30 “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets”—the declaration of Yahweh—“the ones stealing my words, a man from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets”—the declaration of Yahweh—“the ones taking their tongue and declaring a declaration. 32 Behold, I am against the ones prophesying dreams of falsehood”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and they have recounted them and lead my people astray by their falsehoods and by their recklessness, yet I, I did not send them, and I did not command them. So benefiting, they will not benefit this people”—the declaration of Yahweh.

33 “And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the burden of Yahweh?’—then you shall say to them, ‘“What burden? And I will abandon you,” the declaration of Yahweh. 34 And the prophet and the priest and the people who say, “The burden of Yahweh,” I will punish that man and his house. 35 Thus you will say, a man to his neighbor and a man to his brother, “What has Yahweh answered?” or “What has Yahweh spoken?” 36 But “the burden of Yahweh” you shall not mention again, for the burden will be each man’s own word, for you have perverted the words of the living God, Yahweh of Armies, our God. 37 Thus you say to the prophet, “What has Yahweh answered you?” or “What has Yahweh spoken?” 38 But if you say, “The burden of Yahweh,” therefore thus says Yahweh: “Because you say this word, ‘The burden of Yahweh,’ when I sent to you, saying, ‘You shall not say, “The burden of Yahweh,’ ” 39 therefore, behold, I will surely forget you and abandon you and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, from at my face. 40 And I will put upon you everlasting reproach and everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.’ ”

24 Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set to the face of the temple of Yahweh, after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, exiled Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and the smiths from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, like the first ripe figs, and one basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten from badness. 3 And said Yahweh to me, “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad ones are very bad, that they cannot be eaten from badness.”

4 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard the exile of Judah whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans, for good. 6 And I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. And I will build them up and not tear them down, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh. And they will be to me for a people, and I, I will be to them for God, for they will return to me with all of their heart.

8 And like the bad figs that cannot be eaten from badness—for thus says Yahweh—so I will give Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem, the ones remaining in this land, and the ones dwelling in the land of Egypt. 9 And I will give them to horror, for evil, to all of the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and for a proverb, for a taunt and for a curse, in all of the places where I will drive them. 10 And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, until they are consumed from upon the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.”

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all of the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah—that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all of the people of Judah and to all of the dwellers of Jerusalem, saying, 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, and until this day—this is twenty-three years—the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4 And Yahweh has sent to you all of his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened, and you have not extended your ear to hear, 5 saying, ‘Turn back, please, each man from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land that Yahweh gave to you and to your fathers from everlasting to everlasting. 6 And do not go after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will not do harm to you.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to me”—the declaration of Yahweh—“so as to provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, to your harm.

8 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of Armies, ‘Because you have not listened to my words, 9 behold, I am sending and I will take all of the families of the north”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and against its dwellers and against all of these nations all around, and I will devote them to destruction and will make them a horror and a hissing and to an eternal desolation. 10 And I will cause to perish from them the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the sound of the bridegroom and the sound of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 And all of this land will become a ruin, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 And it will happen, when seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation”—the declaration of Yahweh—“for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 13 And I will bring upon that land all of my words that I have spoken against it, all of that which is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all of the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will also make them serve, even them, and I will repay them according to their deed and according to the work of their hands.’ ”

15 For thus says Yahweh, God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of the wrath from my hand, and you will make all of the nations to which I am sending you drink it. 16 And they will drink and will stagger and will act like madmen, from the face of the sword that I am sending among them.” 17 And I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh, and I made all of the nations drink, those to which Yahweh had sent me: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its officials, to make them a ruin, a desolation, a hissing, and a curse, as on this day; 19 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants and his officials and all of his people, 20 and all of the mixed people, and all of the kings of the land of Uz, and all of the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom and Moab and the sons of Ammon; 22 and all of the kings of Tyre and all of the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastland that is across the sea; 23 and Dedan and Tema and Buz and all of the ones cut at the corner of their hair; 24 and all of the kings of Arabia and all of the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; 25 and all of the kings of Zimri and all of the kings of Elam and all of the kings of Media; 26 and all of the kings of the north, the near and the far, a man to his brother, and all of the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Drink and be drunk and vomit and fall, and do not rise, from the face of the sword that I am sending among you.’ 28 And it will happen, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Drinking, you shall drink. 29 For behold, in the city over which my name is called I am beginning to bring harm, and you, being acquitted will you be acquitted? You will not be acquitted, for a sword I am calling against all of the dwellers of the earth”—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies.

30 “And you, you will prophesy to them all of these words and say to them,

‘Yahweh will roar from the height,

and from the habitation of his holiness he will give his voice.

Roaring, he will roar against his pasture;

a shout like those who are treading, he will sing

to all of the dwellers of the earth.

31 A tumult will come to the end of the earth,

for Yahweh has a dispute with the nations.

He is entering into judgment with all flesh;

the wicked—he will give them to the sword’ ”—the declaration of Yahweh.

32 Thus says Yahweh of Armies,

“Behold, disaster is going out from nation to nation,

and a great storm will be stirred up

from the farthest parts of the earth.

33 And the slain of Yahweh shall be on that day

from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth.

They shall not be mourned,

and they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried.

They will be as dung on the face of the ground.

34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry out,

and roll in the dust, you nobles of the flock,

for your days for slaughter and your dispersions have been fulfilled,

and you shall fall like a vessel of delight.

35 And refuge shall vanish from the shepherds,

and escape from the noble ones of the flock.

36 There is the sound of the cry of the shepherds

and the wailing of the nobles of the flock,

for Yahweh is destroying their pasture.

37 And the pastures of peace are devastated,

from the face of the burning of the nose of Yahweh.

38 He has left his lair like the young lion,

for their land has become a desolation,

from the face of the burning of the oppressor

and from the face of the burning of his nose.”

26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh and speak to all the cities of Judah that are coming to bow down in the house of Yahweh all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and turn back, a man from his evil way, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I am planning to do to them from the face of the evil of their deeds.”

4 And you shall say to them, “Thus says Yahweh: If you do not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have given to the face of you, 5 to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I am sending to you, rising early and sending, but you have not listened, 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make as a curse for all the nations of the earth.”

7 And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh. 8 And it happened, when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “Dying you must die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Like Shiloh this house will be, and this city will be desolate without a dweller’?” And all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.

10 And the officials of Judah heard these things, and they went up from the house of the king to the house of Yahweh, and they sat down in the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh. 11 And the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A judgment of death to this man, because he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your ears.”

12 And Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13 And now, make good your ways and your deeds, and listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent concerning the disaster that he has spoken against you. 14 And as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do to me according to the good and according to the right in your eyes. 15 Only, knowing you will know that if you are putting me to death, then you are putting innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its dwellers, for in truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak in your ears all these words.”

16 And the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “There is no judgment of death for this man, for in the name of Yahweh our God he has spoken to us.” 17 And men from the elders of the land rose up and said to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18 “Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies:

Zion, a field will be plowed,

and Jerusalem will become heaps,

and the mountain of the house to high places of a forest.’

19 Putting to death, did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Yahweh and entreat the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented concerning the evil that he had spoken against them? But we are doing great evil against ourselves.”

20 And also there was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. 21 And King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death. And Uriah heard, and he was afraid, and he fled and went to Egypt. 22 And King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt -- Elnathan son of Akbor and men with him -- to Egypt. 23 And they brought Uriah out from Egypt, and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him with the sword and threw his corpse into the graves of the sons of the people. 24 However, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so as not to give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, [fn] 2 “Thus says Yahweh to me, ‘Make for yourself bonds and yoke bars, and put them on your neck. 3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who are coming to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 And command them to their masters, saying, “Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to your masters, 5 ‘I myself made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the face of the earth, by my great strength and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it to whoever is right in my eyes. 6 And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant. And also the living creatures of the field I have given to him to serve him. 7 And all the nations will serve him and his son and the son of his son, until the time of his own land comes, even it. And many nations and great kings will make him serve them.

8 And it shall be that the nation and the kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, with the sword and with the famine and with the plague I will visit upon that nation”—the declaration of Yahweh—“until I have finished them by his hand.

9 And as for you, do not listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your soothsayers, and to your sorcerers, they who are speaking to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10 For they are prophesying falsehood to you, so as to remove you far away from on your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But the nation that brings its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let it rest on its land”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and it will cultivate it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”

12 And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks into the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? 14 And do not listen to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying falsehood to you. 15 For I have not sent them”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and they are prophesying in my name for falsehood, so that I will drive you out, and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

16 And to the priests and to all this people I spoke, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the house of Yahweh are being brought back from Babylon now, quickly,’ for they are prophesying falsehood to you. 17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a ruin?

18 And if they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh is with them, let them please intercede with Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels remaining in the house of Yahweh and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not go to Babylon.”

19 For thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the pillars, and concerning the Sea, and concerning the stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels remaining in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—21 for thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels remaining in the house of Yahweh and the house of the king of Judah and Jerusalem: 22 “They will be brought to Babylon, and there they will be until the day of my visiting them”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and I will bring them up and restore them to this place.”

28 Now it happened in that year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of Yahweh, to the eyes of the priests and all the people, saying, 2 “Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years of days, I, myself, am bringing back to this place all the vessels of the house of Yahweh that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and brought them to Babylon. 4 And I, myself, am bringing back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exile of Judah, the ones going to Babylon’— the declaration of Yahweh— ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”

5 And Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, to the eyes of the priests and to the eyes of all the people, the ones standing in the house of Yahweh. 6 And Jeremiah the prophet said, “Amen! Thus may Yahweh do! May Yahweh establish your words that you prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all the exiles from Babylon to this place. 7 But please hear this word that I, myself, am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people: 8 The prophets who were to the face of me and to the face of you from ancient time, they prophesied to many lands and against great kingdoms, regarding war and regarding disaster and regarding plague. 9 The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes, the prophet will be known as one whom Yahweh has sent in truth.”

10 And Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar from upon the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it. 11 And Hananiah said to the eyes of all the people, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Like this I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two more years of days from upon the neck of all the nations.’ ” And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

12 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet broke the yoke bar from upon the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 13 “Go, and you shall speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh: You have broken yoke bars of wood, but you will make in their place yoke bars of iron.’ 14 For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. And also the beast of the field I have given to him.’ ” 15 And Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, please, Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, and you yourself have made this people trust in falsehood. 16 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: ‘Behold, I am sending you away from upon the face of the earth. This year you are dying, for you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.’ ” 17 And Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.

29 And these are the words of the scroll that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2 after the going out of Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths, from Jerusalem. 3 He sent it by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah the king of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, to Babylon, saying,

4 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exile whom I have exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 ‘Build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to men, that they may bear sons and daughters. And multiply there and you not become few. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have exiled you there, and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh, for in its peace there shall be peace for you.’

8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners not deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you are causing yourselves to dream. 9 For in falsehood they are prophesying to you in my name. I did not send them”— the declaration of Yahweh.

10 “For thus says Yahweh: ‘When is completed seventy years for Babylon, I will visit you and I will establish my good word concerning you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I myself know the plans that I am planning concerning you”— the declaration of Yahweh— “plans of peace and not for evil, to give to you a future and a hope. 12 And you will call to me and will go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek me and will find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found by you”— the declaration of Yahweh— “and I will restore your captivity and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you there”— the declaration of Yahweh— “and I will bring you back to the place from where I exiled you.’

15 Because you have said, ‘Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ 16 for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who is sitting on the throne of David and concerning all the people who are dwelling in this city, your brothers who did not go out with you into the exile p —17 thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Behold, I am sending against them the sword, the famine, and the plague, and I will make them like the horrible figs that cannot be eaten from badness. 18 And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and I will make them to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and a desolation and a hissing and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they did not listen to my words“— the declaration of Yahweh— “that I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising early and sending, but you did not listen“— the declaration of Yahweh.

20 “But you, hear the word of Yahweh, all the exile whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you in my name falsehood: ‘Behold, I am giving them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and he will strike them before your eyes. 22 And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the exile of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23 because they have done a shameful thing in Israel and they have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and they spoke a word in my name falsely that I did not command them. And I am the one knowing and am a witness’— the declaration of Yahweh.”

24 And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘Because you sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 “Yahweh has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be overseers in the house of Yahweh over every man who is raving and making himself a prophet, and you shall put him in the stocks and in the neck iron. 27 And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah the Anathothite, the one making himself a prophet to you? 28 For on account of this he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘It will be long. Build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ” ’ ” 29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

30 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 31 “Send to all the exile, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he made you trust upon falsehood, 32 therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am visiting punishment upon Shemaiah the Nehelamite and upon his seed. There will not be for him a man dwelling in the midst of this people, and he will not see the good that I am doing for my people’— the declaration of Yahweh— ‘for he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.’ ”

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Write for yourself in a scroll all of the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, days are coming“— the declaration of Yahweh— “when I will restore the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,” says Yahweh, “and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’ ”

4 And these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and to Judah. 5 For thus says Yahweh,

“We have heard a voice of trembling,

dread, and there is no peace.

6 Ask, please, and see

can a male be giving birth?

Why do I see every strong man

with his hands on his loins

like a woman giving birth?

And all of the faces have turned

to paleness.

7 Woe! For great is that day,

there is none like it.

And it is a time of distress for Jacob,

but he will be saved from it.

8 And it will be on that day“— the declaration of Yahweh of Armies— “I will break his yoke from upon your neck, and I will tear apart your bonds, and foreigners will no longer enslave him.

9 And they will serve Yahweh their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

10 And you, my servant Jacob, do not fear,”— the declaration of Yahweh— “and do not be dismayed, Israel, for behold, I am saving you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return and shall have quiet and shall be at ease, and there shall be no one making him afraid.

11 For I am with you”— the declaration of Yahweh— “to save you. For I will make a complete end of all of the nations where I have scattered you, but you I will not make a complete end of. And I will discipline you according to justice, but acquitting, I will not acquit you.”

12 For thus says Yahweh, “Incurable is your breaking;

grievous is your wound.

13 There is no one pleading your cause,

nor for the wound medicines,

there is no healing for you.

14 All of your lovers have forgotten you;

they do not seek you.

For I have struck you with the striking of an enemy,

with the discipline of a cruel one,

because of the abundance of your iniquity;

your sins are numerous.

15 Why do you cry out over your breaking,

your pain that is incurable?

Because of the abundance of your iniquity,

your sins are numerous;

I have done these things to you.

16 Therefore, all of the ones devouring you will be devoured,

and all of your adversaries, every one of them,

shall go into captivity.

And the ones plundering you shall be as plunder,

and all of the ones preying upon you I will give as spoil.

17 For I will bring up healing for you,

and I will heal you from your wounds”—

the declaration of Yahweh—

“for they have called you an outcast:

‘She is Zion; no one is seeking her.’ ”

18 Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am restoring the fortune of the tents of Jacob,

and I will have compassion on his dwelling places.

And the city shall be built on its mound,

and the palace shall sit on its proper place.

19 And thanksgiving will go out from them,

and the voice of those laughing.

And I will multiply them, and they will not become few;

and I will make them honored, and they will not become insignificant.

20 And his sons will be as in former times,

and his congregation will be established to my face,

and I will punish all of his oppressors.

21 And his majestic one will be from among him,

and his ruler will come from his midst.

And I will bring him near, and he will approach me,

for who is this who has pledged his heart

to approach me?”—

the declaration of Yahweh.

22 “And you will be to me for a people,

and I will be to you for God.”

23 Behold, the storm of Yahweh,

wrath, has gone out,

a whirling storm;

upon the head of the wicked it will whirl.

24 The burning of the nose of Yahweh will not turn back

until his doing and until his establishing

the plans of his heart.

In the latter days,

you will understand it.

31 “At that time”—the declaration of Yahweh—“I will be for God to all of the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.” 2 Thus says Yahweh, “A people, the survivors of the sword, found favor in the wilderness, Israel, going to find his rest.”

3 From far off Yahweh appeared to me, “And with everlasting love I have loved you.

Therefore I have drawn you out with covenant faithfulness.

4 Again I will build you, and you will be built, virgin of Israel.

Again you will adorn yourself with your tambourines, and you will go out in the dance of the ones laughing.

5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria;

the planters will plant and will treat them as common.

6 For there will be a day when the watchers on the mountain of Ephraim will call out,

‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.’ ”

7 For thus says Yahweh, “Sing for Jacob with gladness, and shout for the chief of the nations. Cause it to be heard, praise, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’

8 Behold, I am bringing them from the land of the north, and I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth. Among them are the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the one giving birth, together; a great assembly will return here.

9 With weeping they will come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them. I will cause them to walk to streams of water on a straight road; they will not stumble on it. For I have become a father for Israel, and Ephraim, he is my firstborn.

10 Hear the word of Yahweh, nations, and declare it in the coastlands from far off, and say, ‘ The one scattering Israel will gather him, and he will protect him like a shepherd of his flock.’

11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.

12 And they will come and will sing on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant to the goodness of Yahweh, over the grain, and over the new wine, and over the fresh oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd. And their soul will be like a watered garden, and they will not continue to languish again.

13 Then the virgin will rejoice with dancing, and the young men and the old together. And I will turn their mourning to joy, and I will comfort them and I will cause them to rejoice rather than sorrow.

14 And I will saturate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness— the declaration of Yahweh.

15 Thus says Yahweh, “A voice is heard in Ramah, wailing, the weeping of bitterness. Rachel is weeping over her sons; she refuses to be comforted over her sons, for he is no more.”

16 Thus says Yahweh, “Withhold your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and they will return from the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope for your future”—the declaration of Yahweh—“and will return your sons to their border.

18 Hearing I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, ‘ You disciplined me, and I was disciplined like a calf not trained. Cause me to return, and I will return, for you are Yahweh my God.

19 For after my turning away I repented, and after my being made to know I struck on my thigh. I was ashamed and also I was humiliated, for I bore the reproach of my youth.’

20 Is Ephraim a precious son to me, or a child of delights? For as often as I speak against him, remembering I remember him. still Therefore my inward parts groan for him; having compassion I will have compassion on him”— the declaration of Yahweh.

21 Set up for yourself signposts; place for yourself markers. Set your heart to the highway, the road you walked. Return, virgin of Israel; return to these your cities.

22 Until when will you waver, O apostate daughter? For has created Yahweh a new thing in the land: a female surrounds a man."

23 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, "Again they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, in my restoring their prosperity, 'May bless you, Yahweh dwelling place of righteousness, mountain of holiness.' 24 And in it Judah and all its cities together will dwell, farmers and those who set out with the flock. 25 For I have saturated the weary soul, and every languishing soul I have filled." 26 On this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

27 "Behold, days are coming— the declaration of Yahweh— and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it will be, just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear down, and to overthrow and to destroy and to bring harm, thus I will watch over them to build and to plant— the declaration of Yahweh. 29 In the days those no they will say, longer

'Fathers ate sour grapes, and the teeth of the sons are set on edge.'

30 But each man will die in his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

31 Behold, days are coming— the declaration of Yahweh— and I will cut a covenant new with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, which they, they broke— my covenant— although I, I was a husband to them— the declaration of Yahweh.

33 For this is the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel after those days— the declaration of Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be God for them, and they, they will be a people for me.

34 And no they will teach, longer each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for all of them will know me, from the smallest of them to the greatest of them— the declaration of Yahweh— for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin no I will remember longer."

35 Thus says Yahweh, the one giving the sun for light by day, the statutes of the moon and the stars for light by night, the one stirring up the sea its waves so that roar, Yahweh of Armies is his name:

36 "If these statutes depart from before me— the declaration of Yahweh— then also the seed of Israel will cease from being a nation before me all the days."

37 Thus says Yahweh, "If the heavens above can be measured and can be searched out, the foundations of the earth below then also I, I will reject all the seed of Israel for all that they have done— the declaration of Yahweh."

38 "Behold, days are coming— the declaration of Yahweh— and will be built the city for Yahweh, from the Tower of Hananel to the Gate of the Corner. 39 And will go out the measuring line again before it over the hill of Gareb, and it will turn to Goah. 40 And all the valley of the corpses and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook of Kidron, to the corner of the Gate of the Horses toward the east, will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be uprooted, and it will not be overthrown again, forever."

32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard at the house of the king of Judah. 3 Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him and said, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Yahweh says this: Look, I am about to give over this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, for he will certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. His mouth will speak to the king’s mouth, and his eyes will see the king’s eyes. 5 He will take Zekediah to Babylon, and he will remain there until I have dealt with him—this is Yahweh’s declaration. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.’ ”

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 7 ‘Look, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you and will say, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth for yourself, for the right to buy it belongs to you.” ’ ” 8 Then, as Yahweh had declared, Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me in the courtyard of the guard, and he said to me, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and the right to buy it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was Yahweh’s word. 9 So I bought the field in Anathoth from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, and I weighed out for him the silver, seventeen shekels in weight. 10 Then I wrote in a scroll and sealed it, and had witnesses witness it. Then I weighed the silver in the scales. 11 Next I took the deed of purchase that was sealed, following the command and the statutes, as well as the unsealed deed. 12 I gave the sealed scroll to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in front of Hanamel, the son of my uncle, and the witnesses who had written in the sealed scroll, and in front of all the Judeans who sat in the courtyard of the guard. 13 So I gave a command to Baruch before them. I said, 14 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: Take these documents, both this receipt of purchase that is sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last for a long time. 15 For Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”

16 After I gave the receipt of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh and said, 17 “Woe, Lord Yahweh! Look! You alone have made the heavens and the earth by your great strength and with your raised arm. Nothing you say is too difficult for you to do. 18 You show covenant faithfulness to thousands and pour the guilt of men into the laps of their children after them. You are the great and mighty God; Yahweh of hosts is your name. 19 You are great in wisdom and mighty in deeds, for your eyes are open to all the ways of people, to give to each man what his conduct and deeds deserve. 20 You did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. To this present day here in Israel and among all mankind, you have made your name famous. 21 For you brought your people Israel out from the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand, with a raised arm, and with great terror. 22 Then you gave them this land—which you had sworn to their ancestors to give to them—a land flowing with milk and honey. 23 So they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or live in obedience to your law. They did nothing of what you had commanded them to do, so you brought all this disaster on them. 24 Look! The siege mounds have reached up to the city to capture it. For because of sword, famine, and plague, the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. For what you have said would happen is happening, and see, you are watching. 25 Then you yourself said to me, ‘Purchase a field for yourself with silver and have witnesses witness it, even though this city is being given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”

26 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 “Look! I am Yahweh, God of all mankind. Is anything too difficult for me to do? 28 Therefore Yahweh says this, ‘See, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will capture it. 29 The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come and set fire to this city and burn it, along with the houses on the roofs of which the people worshiped Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke me. 30 For the people of Israel and Judah have certainly been people who have been doing evil before my eyes since their youth. The people of Israel have certainly offended me with the practices of their hands—this is Yahweh’s declaration. 31 Yahweh declares that this city has been a provocation of my wrath and fury since the day that they built it. It has been that right up to this present day. So I will remove it from before my face 32 because of all the wickedness of the people of Israel and Judah, the things that they have done to provoke me—they, their kings, princes, priests, prophets, and every person in Judah and inhabitant of Jerusalem. 33 They turned their backs to me instead of their faces, though I had eagerly taught them. I tried to teach them, but not one of them listened in order to receive correction. 34 They set up their abominable idols in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35 They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom in order to put their sons and daughters in the fire for Molech. I did not command them. It never entered my mind that they should do this detestable thing and so cause Judah to sin.’

36 So now therefore, I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, say this concerning this city, the city about which you are saying, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and plague.’ 37 See, I am about to gather them from every land where I had driven them in my wrath, fury, and great anger. I am about to bring them back to this place and enable them to live in security. 38 Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way to honor me every day so it will be good for them and their descendants after them. 40 Then I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. I will set honor for me in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 Then I will rejoice in doing good to them. I will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and all my life.

42 For Yahweh says this, ‘Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good things that I have said I would do for them. 43 Then fields will be bought in this land, about which you are saying, “This is a ruined land, which has neither man nor beast. It has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” 44 They will buy fields with silver and write in sealed scrolls. They will assemble witnesses in the land of Benjamin, all around Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, in the cities in the hill country and in the lowlands, and in the cities of the Negev. For I will bring back their fortunes—this is Yahweh’s declaration.’ ”

33 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut within the courtyard of the guard, saying, 2 “Yahweh the maker, says this—Yahweh, who forms in order to establish—Yahweh is his name, 3 ‘Call to me, and I will answer you. I will demonstrate great things to you, mysteries that you do not understand.’ 4 For Yahweh, God of Israel, says this concerning the houses in this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that are torn down because of the siege ramps and the sword, 5 ‘The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill the houses with corpses of people whom I will kill in my wrath and fury, when I hide my face from this city because of all their wickedness. 6 But see, I am about to bring healing and a cure, for I will heal them and will bring to them abundance, peace, and faithfulness. 7 For I will bring back the fortunes of Judah and Israel; I will build them up as in the beginning. 8 Then I will purify them from all the iniquity that they have committed against me. I will pardon all the iniquities that they have done against me, and all the ways that they rebelled against me. 9 For this city will become for me an object of joy, a song of praise and honor for all the nations of the earth who will hear of all the good things that I am going to do for it. Then they will fear and tremble because of all the good things and the peace that I will give to it.’

10 Yahweh says this, ‘In this place about which you are now saying, “It is desolate, a place with neither man nor beast,” in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate having neither man nor beast, there will be heard again 11 the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the sound of the groom and the sound of the bride, the sound of those who say, while they bring thank offerings to the house of Yahweh, “Give thanks to Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh is good, and his unfailing love lasts forever!” For I will restore the fortunes of the land to what they were before,’ says Yahweh.

12 Yahweh of hosts says this: ‘In this desolate place, where now there is neither man nor beast—in all its cities there will again be pastures where shepherds can rest their flocks. 13 In the cities in the hill country, the lowlands, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and all around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the ones counting them,’ says Yahweh.

14 ‘Look! Days are coming—this is Yahweh’s declaration—when I will do what I have promised for the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and in that time I will make a righteous branch to grow for David, and he will carry out justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in security, for this is what she will be called, “Yahweh is our righteousness.” ’ 17 For Yahweh says this: ‘A man from David’s line will never be lacking to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 nor will a man from the Levitical priests be lacking before me to raise burnt offerings, to burn food offerings, and to perform grain offerings all the time.’ ”

19 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 “Yahweh says this: ‘If you can break my covenant with day and night so that there will no longer be day or night at their proper times, 21 then you will be able to break my covenant with David my servant, so that he will no longer have a son to sit on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests, my servants. 22 As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted, and as the sand of the seashores cannot be measured, so I will increase the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who serve before me.’ ”

23 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 “Have you not considered what this people has declared when they said, ‘The two families that Yahweh chose, now he has rejected them’? In this way they despise my people, saying that they are no longer a nation in their sight. 25 I, Yahweh, say this, ‘If I have not established the covenant of day and night, and if I have not fixed the laws of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant, and not bring from them a person to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and show mercy to them.’ ”

34 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all of his army, together with all the kingdoms of the earth, the domains under his power, and all their people were waging war against Jerusalem and all of her cities, saying: 2 “Yahweh, God of Israel, says this: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Yahweh says this: Look, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will burn it. 3 You will not escape from his hand, for you will certainly be seized and given into his hand. Your eyes will look at the eyes of the king of Babylon; he will speak directly to you as you go to Babylon.’ 4 Listen to the word of Yahweh, Zedekiah king of Judah! Yahweh says this concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. 5 You will die in peace. As in the funeral burning of your ancestors, the kings who were before you, they will burn your body. They will say, “Woe, master!” They will lament for you. Now I have spoken—this is Yahweh’s declaration.’ ”

6 So Jeremiah the prophet proclaimed to Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem. 7 The army of the king of Babylon made war against Jerusalem and all the remaining cities of Judah: Lachish and Azekah. These cities of Judah remained as fortified cities.

8 The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem, to proclaim freedom to them, 9 that each man must free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, so one was to make a slave of a Jew, who was his brother. 10 So all the leaders and people entered into the covenant that each person would free his male and female slaves so that they would not be enslaved any longer. They obeyed and set them free. 11 But after this they changed their minds. They brought back the slaves whom they had freed. They forced them to become slaves again.

12 So the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 13 “Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, ‘I myself made a covenant with your ancestors on the day that I brought them out from the land of Egypt, out from the house of slavery. That was when I said, 14 “At the end of every seven years, each man must send away his brother, his fellow Hebrew who had sold himself to you and served you for six years. Send him away in freedom.” But your ancestors did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. 15 Now you yourselves repented and began to do what is right in my eyes. You proclaimed freedom, each man to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name. 16 But then you turned and polluted my name; you caused each man to bring back his male and female slaves, the ones whom you had sent out to go where they wished. You forced them to become your slaves again.’

17 Therefore Yahweh says this, ‘You yourselves have not listened to me. You should have proclaimed freedom, every one of you, to your brothers and fellow Israelites. So look! I am about to proclaim freedom to you—this is Yahweh’s declaration—freedom for the sword, the plague, and famine, for I am going to make you a horrible thing in the sight of every kingdom on earth. 18 Then I will deal with the people who have broken my covenant, who did not keep the words of the covenant that they established before me when they cut a bull in two and walked between its parts, 19 and then the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests, and all the people of the land walked between the parts of the bull. 20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who are seeking their lives. Their bodies will be food for the birds of the skies and the beasts on the earth. 21 So I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his leaders into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who are seeking their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon that has risen up against you. 22 Look, I am about to give a command—this is Yahweh’s declaration—and will bring them back to this city to wage war against it and take it, and to burn it. For I will turn the cities of Judah into ruined places in which there will be no inhabitants.’ ”

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 2 “Go to the family of the Rekabites and speak with them. Then bring them to my house, into one of the rooms there, and give them wine to drink.” 3 So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah and his brothers, all his sons, and all the family of the Rekabites. 4 I took them to the house of Yahweh, into the rooms of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God. These rooms were beside the room of the leaders, which was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the gatekeeper. 5 Then I placed bowls and cups full of wine in front of the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.” 6 But they said, “We will not drink any wine, for our ancestor, Jonadab son of Rekab, commanded us, ‘Do not drink any wine, neither you nor your descendants, forever. 7 Also, do not build any houses, sow any seeds, or plant any vineyards; this is not for you. For you must live in tents all your days, so that you might live many days in the land where you are staying as foreigners.’ 8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rekab, our ancestor, in all that he commanded us, to never drink wine all of our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. 9 We will never build houses to live in, and there will be no vineyard, field, or seed in our possession. 10 We have lived in tents and we have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our ancestor commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked the land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape from the Chaldean and Aramean armies.’ So we are living in Jerusalem.”

12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 13 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive correction and listen to my words? —This is Yahweh’s declaration. 14 The words of Jonadab son of Rechab that he gave to his sons as a command, not to drink any wine, have been observed to this very day. They have obeyed their ancestor’s command. But as for me, I myself have been making persistent proclamations to you, but you do not listen to me. 15 I sent out to you all my servants, the prophets. I was persistent in sending them to say, ‘Let each person turn from his wicked way and do good deeds; let no one walk any longer after other gods and worship them. Instead, come back to the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ Yet you will not listen to me or pay attention to me. 16 For the descendants of Jonadab son of Rekab have observed the commands of their ancestor that he gave them, but this people refuses to listen to me.” ’ 17 So Yahweh, God of hosts and God of Israel, says this, ‘Look, I am bringing upon Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem, all the disasters I pronounced against them because I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’ ”

18 Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: You have listened to the commands of Jonadab your ancestor and have kept them all—you have obeyed all that he commanded you to do—19 so Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, ‘There will always be someone descended from Jonadab son of Rekab to serve me.’ ”

36 It came about in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, and he said, 2 “Take a scroll for yourself and write on it all the words that I have told you concerning Israel and Judah, and every nation. Do this for everything I have told from the days of Josiah until this very day. 3 Perhaps the people of Judah will listen to all the disasters that I intend to bring on them. Perhaps everyone will turn away from his wicked way, so I can forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote in a scroll, at Jeremiah’s dictation, all the words of Yahweh spoken to him. 5 Next Jeremiah gave a command to Baruch. He said, “I am in prison and cannot go to Yahweh’s house. 6 So you must go and read from the scroll that you wrote at my dictation. On the day of the fast, you must read Yahweh’s words in the hearing of the people in his house, and also in the hearing of all of Judah who have come from their cities. Proclaim these words to them. 7 Perhaps their pleas for mercy will come before Yahweh. Perhaps each person will turn from his wicked way, since the wrath and fury that Yahweh has proclaimed against this people are severe.” 8 So Baruch son of Neriah did everything that Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him to do. He read aloud the words of Yahweh in the house of Yahweh.

9 It came about in the fifth year and ninth month of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, that all the people in Jerusalem and the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah proclaimed a fast before Yahweh. 10 Baruch read aloud Jeremiah’s words in the house of Yahweh, from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard, by the gate of the entrance to the house of Yahweh. He did this in the hearing of all the people.

11 Now Micaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan heard all of Yahweh’s words in the scroll. 12 He went down to the house of the king, to the secretary’s room. Look, all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the officials. 13 Then Micaiah reported to them all the words that he had heard that Baruch read aloud in the hearing of the people. 14 So all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah son of Shelemiah son of Cushi, to Baruch. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Take the scroll in your hand, the scroll from which you were reading in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went to the officials. 15 Then they said to him, “Sit down and read this in our hearing.” So Baruch read the scroll. 16 It happened that when they heard all these words, each man turned in fear to the one next to him and said to Baruch, “We must certainly report all of these words to the king.” 17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all these words at Jeremiah’s dictation?” 18 Baruch said to them, “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on this scroll.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, hide yourself, and Jeremiah, too. Do not let anyone know where you are.”

20 So they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, and they went to the king in the courtyard and they reported everything in the hearing of the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi took it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Then he read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing beside him. 22 Now the king was staying in the winter house in the ninth month, and a brazier was burning in front of him. 23 It happened that as Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut it off with a knife and throw it into the fire in the brazier until all of the scroll was destroyed. 24 But neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were frightened, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had even urged the king not to burn the scroll, but he did not listen to them. 26 Then the king commanded Jerahmeel, a relative, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Yahweh had hidden them.

27 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll and the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, saying, 28 “Go back, take another scroll for yourself, and write in it all the words that were on the original scroll, the one that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned. 29 Then you must say this to Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘You burned that scroll, saying, “Why have you written on it, ‘The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, for he will destroy both man and beast in it’?” ’ ” 30 Therefore Yahweh says this concerning you, Jehoiakim king of Judah: “No descendant of yours will ever sit on the throne of David. As for you, your corpse will be thrown out into the heat of day and the frost of night. 31 For I will punish you, your descendants, and your servants for the iniquity of you all. I will bring on you, on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on every person in Judah all the disasters with which I have threatened you with, but to which you paid no attention.” 32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah the scribe. Baruch wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words that had been in the scroll burned by Jehoiakim king of Judah. Furthermore, many other similar words were added to this scroll.

37 Now Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made Zedekiah king over the land of Judah. 2 But Zedekiah, his servants, and the people of the land did not listen to the words of Yahweh that he proclaimed by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.

3 So King Zedekiah, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest sent a message to Jeremiah the prophet. They said, “Pray on our behalf to Yahweh our God.” 4 Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5 Pharaoh’s army came out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the news about them and left Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 7 “Yahweh, God of Israel, says this: This is what you will say to the king of Judah, because he has sent you to seek advice from me, ‘See, Pharaoh’s army, which came to help you, is about to go back to Egypt, its own land. 8 The Chaldeans will return. They will fight against this city, capture it, and burn it.’ 9 Yahweh says this: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘Surely the Chaldeans are leaving us,’ for they will not leave. 10 Even if you had defeated the entire Chaldean army that is fighting you so that only wounded men were left in their tents, they would get up and burn this city.”

11 So it was when the Chaldean army had left Jerusalem as Pharaoh’s army was coming, 12 then Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin. He wanted to take possession of a tract of land there among his people. 13 As he was in the Benjamin Gate, a chief guard was there. His name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah. He grabbed hold of Jeremiah the prophet and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” 14 But Jeremiah said, “That is not true. I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah did not listen to him. He took Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 The officials were angry with Jeremiah. They beat him and put him in prison, which had been the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had turned it into a prison.

16 So Jeremiah was put into an underground cell, where he stayed for many days. 17 Then King Zedekiah sent someone who brought him to the palace. In his house, the king asked him privately, “Is there any word from Yahweh?” Jeremiah answered, “There is a word: You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, your servants, or this people so that you have placed me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets, the ones who prophesied for you and said the king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land? 20 But now listen, my master the king! Let my pleas come before you. Do not return me to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.” 21 So King Zedekiah gave an order. His servants confined Jeremiah in the courtyard of the guard. A loaf of bread was given him every day from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.

38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard the words that Jeremiah was declaring to all the people. He was saying, 2 “Yahweh says this: Anyone staying in this city will be killed by sword, famine, and plague. But anyone who goes out to the Chaldeans will survive. He will escape with his own life, and live. 3 Yahweh says this: This city will be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.” 4 So the officials said to the king, “Let this man die, for in this way he is weakening the hands of the fighting men who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people. He is proclaiming these words, for this man is not working for safety for this people, but disaster.” 5 So King Zedekiah said, “Look, he is in your hand since there is no king able to resist you.” 6 Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah, son of the king. The cistern was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah down on ropes. There was no water in the cistern, but it was muddy, and he sank down into the mud.

7 Now Ebed-Melek the Cushite was one of the eunuchs in the king’s house. He heard that they had placed Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate. 8 So Ebed-Melek went from the king’s house and spoke with the king. He said, 9 “My master the king, these men have done evil with the way they have treated Jeremiah the prophet. They threw him into a cistern for him to die in it from hunger, since there is no more food in the city.” 10 Then the king gave a command to Ebed-Melek the Cushite. He said, “Take command of thirty men from here and take Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” 11 So Ebed-Melek took command of those men and went to the king’s house, to a storeroom for clothing under the house. From there he took rags and worn-out clothing and then let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and worn-out clothing under your arms and on top of the ropes.” So Jeremiah did so. 13 Then they pulled Jeremiah by the ropes. In this way they brought him up from the cistern. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.

14 Then King Zedekiah sent word and brought Jeremiah the prophet to himself, to the third entrance in Yahweh’s house. The king said to Jeremiah, “I want to ask you something. Do not keep the answer from me.” 15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I answer you, will you not certainly kill me? But if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 16 But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in private and said, “As Yahweh lives, the one who made us, I will not kill you or give you into the hand of those men who are seeking your life.”

17 So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Yahweh, God of hosts, God of Israel, says this: If you indeed go out to the officials of the king of Babylon then you will live, and this city will not be burned. You and your family will live. 18 But if you do not go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans. They will burn it, and you will not escape from their hand.” 19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “But I am afraid of the people of Judah who have deserted to the Chaldeans, because I might be given over into their hand, for them to treat me badly.” 20 Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over to them. Obey the message from Yahweh that I am telling you, so that things will go well for you, and so that you will live. 21 But if you refuse to go out, this is what Yahweh has shown me. 22 Look! All the women who are left in your house, king of Judah, will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. These women will say to you,

‘You have been deceived by your friends; they have ruined you.

Your feet are now sunk into the mud, and your friends will run away.’

23 For all of your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand. You will be captured by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned.”

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not inform anyone about these words, so that you do not die. 25 If the officials hear that I have talked with you, and if they come and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ 26 then you must say to them, ‘I made a humble plea before the king that he would not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ” 27 Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, so he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped talking with him, because they had not heard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king. 28 So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

39 In the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 In the eleventh year and fourth month of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into. 3 Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nebo-Sarsekim, Samgar Nebo, and Sarsechim, an important official. Nebo-Sarsekim was a high official and all the rest were the officials of the king of Babylon.

4 It happened that when Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all his fighting men saw them, they fled. They went out at night from the city by the king’s garden path, through the gate between the two walls. The king went out in the direction of the Arabah. 5 But the army of Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of the Jordan River valley near Jericho. Then they captured him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. 6 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his own eyes at Riblah. He also slaughtered all the noblemen of Judah. 7 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains in order to take him to Babylon. 8 Then the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses. They also tore down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king’s bodyguards, took into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city. This included the people who had deserted to the Chaldeans and the rest of the people who were left in the city. 10 But Nebuzaradan the commander of the king’s bodyguards allowed the poorest people who had nothing for themselves to remain in the land of Judah. He gave them vineyards and fields on that same day.

11 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had given an order about Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the commander of the king’s bodyguards. He had said, 12 “Take him and care for him. Do not harm him. Do for him anything he tells you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan the commander of the king’s bodyguards, Nebushazban the high eunuch, Nergal-Sharezer the high official, and all the most important officials of the king of Babylon sent men out. 14 Their men took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the guard and entrusted him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, to take him home, so Jeremiah stayed among the people.

15 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah while he was under arrest in the courtyard of the guard, saying, 16 “Speak to Ebed-Melek the Cushite and say, ‘Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: See, I am about to carry out my words against this city for disaster and not for good. For they will all come true before you on that day. 17 But I will rescue you on that day—this is Yahweh’s declaration—and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you fear. 18 For I will certainly rescue you. You will not fall by the sword. You will escape with your life, since you trust in me—this was Yahweh’s declaration.’ ”

40 The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan the commander of the king’s bodyguards had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound with chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon. 2 The chief guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “Yahweh your God decreed this disaster for this place. 3 So Yahweh brought it about. He did just as he had decreed, since you people sinned against him and did not obey his voice. That is why this thing has happened to you people. 4 But now look! I have released you today from the chains that were on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take care of you. But if it is not good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, then do not do so. Look at all the land before you. Go where it is good and right in your eyes to go.” 5 When Jeremiah did not reply, Nebuzaradan said, “Go to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has put in charge of the cities of Judah. Stay with him among the people or go wherever it is good in your eyes to go.” The commander of the king’s bodyguards gave him food and a gift, and then sent him away. 6 So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. He stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.

7 Now some commanders of Judean soldiers who were still in the countryside—they and their men—heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah son of Ahikam governor over the land. They also heard that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children who were the poorest people in the land, those who had not been exiled to Babylon. 8 So they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. These men were Ishmael son of Nethaniah; Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah; Seraiah son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai the Netophathite; and Jaazaniah son of the Maakathite—they and their men. 9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan took an oath to them and to their men and said to them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldean officials. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. 10 Look, I am living in Mizpah to meet with the Chaldeans who came to us. So harvest wine, summer fruit, and oil and store them in your containers. Live in the cities that you have occupied.” 11 Then all the Judeans in Moab, among the people of Ammon, and in Edom, and in every land heard that the king of Babylon had allowed a remnant of Judah to stay, that he had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan over them. 12 So all the Judeans returned from every place where they had been scattered. They came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They harvested wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

13 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders in the countryside came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 14 They said to him, “Do you realize that Baalis king of the people of Ammon sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikim did not believe them. 15 So Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah and said, “Allow me to go kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will suspect me. Why should he kill you? Why allow all of Judah that has been gathered to you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah destroyed?” 16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do this thing, for you are telling lies about Ishmael.”

41 But it happened that in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, from the royal family, and some officers of the king, came—ten men were with him—to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. They ate food together there in Mizpah. 2 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him rose up and attacked Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, with the sword. Ishmael killed Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had put in charge of the land. 3 Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah in Mizpah and the Chaldean fighting men found there.

4 Then it was the second day after the killing of Gedaliah, but no one knew. 5 Some men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria—eighty men who had shaved their beard, torn their clothes, and cut themselves—with food offerings and frankincense in their hands to go to Yahweh’s house. 6 So Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them as they went, walking and weeping. Then it happened that as he encountered them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!” 7 It came about that when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah slaughtered them and threw them into a pit, he and the men who were with him. 8 But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for there are provisions of ours in a field: Wheat and barley, oil and honey.” So he did not kill them with their other companions. 9 The cistern where Ishmael threw all the dead bodies that he had killed, was a large cistern that King Asa dug to make a defense against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it in with the dead. 10 Next Ishmael captured all the other people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah whom Nebuzaradan the chief guard had assigned to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. So Ishmael son of Nethaniah captured them and went to cross over to the people of Ammon.

11 But Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders with him heard of all the harm that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done. 12 So they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him at the great pool of Gibeon. 13 Then it happened that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders who were with him, they were very happy. 14 So all the people whom Ishmael had captured at Mizpah turned around and went to Johanan son of Kareah.

15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah fled with eight men from Johanan. He went to the people of Ammon. 16 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders with him took from Mizpah all the people who had been rescued from Ishmael son of Nethaniah. This was after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Johanan and his companions took the strong men, the fighting men, the women and children, and the eunuchs who had been rescued at Gibeon. 17 Then they went and stayed for a while in Geruth Kimham, which is near Bethlehem. They were going to go to Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans. They were afraid of them since Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had put in charge of the land.

42 Then all the army commanders and Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah the prophet. 2 They said to him, “Let our pleas come before you. Pray for us to Yahweh your God for these people who remain since we are so few in number, as you see. 3 Ask Yahweh your God to tell us the way we should go and what we should do.” 4 So Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Look, I will pray to Yahweh your God as you have requested. Whatever Yahweh answers, I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” 5 They said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not do everything that Yahweh your God tells us to do. 6 Whether it is good or if it is bad, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God.”

7 At the end of ten days, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. 8 So Jeremiah called to Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders with him, and to all the people from the least to the greatest. 9 Then he said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel—to whom you sent me so I might lay your pleas before him—says, 10 ‘If you go back and live in this land, then I will build you and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up, for I will turn back the disaster that I have brought on you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, whom you are fearing. Do not fear him—this is Yahweh’s declaration—since I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. 12 For I will give you mercy. I will have compassion on you, and I will bring you back to your land. 13 But suppose that you say, “We will not stay in this land”—if you do not listen to my voice, the voice of Yahweh your God. 14 Suppose that you say, “No! We will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see any war, where we will not hear the sound of the trumpet, and we will not go hungry for food. We will live there.” 15 Now listen to this word of Yahweh, you remnant of Judah. Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, ‘If you actually set out to go to Egypt, to go and live there, 16 then the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you are worrying about will pursue you to Egypt, and you will die there. 17 So it will happen that all the men who set out to go to Egypt to live there will die by sword, famine, or plague. There will be no survivor of them, no one to escape the disaster that I will bring on them.

18 For Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: Just as my wrath and my fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the same way my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and a horror, an object for speaking curses, and something dishonorable, and you will not see this place again.’ ” 19 Then Jeremiah said, “Yahweh has spoken concerning you—the remnant of Judah. Do not go to Egypt! You certainly know that I have been a witness against you today. 20 For you fatally deceived yourselves when you sent me to Yahweh your God and said, ‘Pray to Yahweh our God for us. Everything that Yahweh our God says, tell us, and we will carry it out.’ 21 For I have reported to you today, but you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God or to anything about which he sent me to you. 22 So now, you should certainly know that you will die by sword, famine, and plague in the place where you desired to go to live.”

43 It happened that Jeremiah finished proclaiming to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God that Yahweh their God had told him to say. 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling lies. Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there.’ 3 For Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, for you to cause our death and to make us captives in Babylon.” 4 So Johanan son of Kareah, all the princes of the army, and all the people refused to listen to Yahweh’s voice to live in the land of Judah. 5 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders took away all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations where they had been scattered to live in the land of Judah. 6 They took the men and women, the children and the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king’s bodyguards, had let remain with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan. They also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 They went to the land of Egypt, to Tahpanhes, because they did not listen to Yahweh’s voice.

8 So the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9 “Take some large stones in your hand, and, in the sight of the people of Judah, hide them in the mortar in the pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes.” 10 Then say to them, “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, ‘See, I am about to send messengers to take Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon as my servant. I will place his throne over these stones that you, Jeremiah, have buried. Nebuchadnezzar will place his pavilion over them. 11 For he will come and attack the land of Egypt. Anyone who is assigned to death will be given to death. Anyone who is assigned to captivity will be taken captive. Anyone who is assigned to the sword will be given to the sword. 12 Then I will light a fire in the temples of Egypt’s gods. Nebuchadnezzar will burn them or capture them. He will clean out the land of Egypt just as shepherds clean vermin off their clothes. He will go out from that place in victory. [fn] 13 He will break the stone pillars at Heliopolis in the land of Egypt. He will burn the temples of Egypt’s gods.’ ”

44 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, the ones staying in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in Upper Egypt: 2 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says, ‘You yourselves have seen all the disasters that I brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. See, they are ruins today. There is no one to live in them. 3 This is because of the wicked things they did to offend me by going to burn incense and to worship other gods. These were gods that neither they themselves, nor you, nor your ancestors knew.’ 4 So I repeatedly sent all of my servants the prophets to them. I sent them to say, ‘Stop doing these abominable things that I hate.’ 5 But they did not listen. They refused to pay attention or turn from their wickedness in burning incense to other gods. 6 So my fury and my wrath were poured out and kindled a fire in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. So they became ruins and devastations, as at this present day.’ 7 So now Yahweh, the God of hosts and the God of Israel, says this, ‘Why are you doing great wickedness against yourselves? Why are you causing yourselves to be cut off from among Judah—men and women, children and babies? No remnant of you will be left. 8 By your wickedness you have offended me with the deeds of your hands, by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live. You have gone there so that you will be destroyed, so that you will be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth. 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your ancestors and the wickedness committed by the kings of Judah and their wives? Have you forgotten the evil committed by yourselves and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? 10 To this day, they still are not humbled. They do not honor my law or decrees that I placed before them and their ancestors, nor do they walk in them.’

11 Therefore Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, ‘See, I am about to set my face against you to bring disaster to you and to destroy all of Judah. 12 For I will take the remnant of Judah that has set out to go to the land of Egypt to live there. I will do this so that they will all perish in the land of Egypt. They will fall by sword and famine. From the least to the greatest they will perish by sword and famine. They will die and will become an object of swearing, cursing, reproaching, and a horrible thing. 13 For I will punish the people inhabiting the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem with the sword, with famine, and with the plague, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and live; and none of them will return except a few who escaped from there.’ ”

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were in the great assembly, and all the people who were living in Lower and Upper Egypt, answered Jeremiah. 16 They said, “About the word that you have told us in Yahweh’s name—we will not listen to you. 17 For we will certainly do all the things that we said we would do—burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we will be filled with food and will prosper, without experiencing any disaster. 18 When we refrained from doing these things, not offering incense to the queen of heaven and not pouring out drink offerings to her, we were all suffering poverty and were dying by sword and famine.” 19 The women said, “When we were making incense offerings before the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, was it against our husbands that we did these things, making cakes in her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people—to the men and women, and all the people who answered him—he proclaimed and said, 21 “Did not Yahweh remember the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—you and your ancestors, your kings and leaders, and the people of the land? For Yahweh calls this to mind; it comes to his thoughts. 22 Then he was no longer able to bear it because of your wicked practices, because of the abominations that you did. Then your land became a desolation, a horror, and a curse so there was no longer an inhabitant as at this present day. 23 Because you burned incense and sinned against Yahweh, and because you would not listen to his voice, his law, his statutes, or his covenant decrees, this disaster against you has happened as at this present day.”

24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, ‘You and your wives both have said with your mouths and carried out with your hands what you said, “We will certainly carry out the vows that we made to worship the queen of heaven, to pour out drink offerings to her.” Now fulfill your vows; carry them out.’ 26 So then, hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah who are staying in the land of Egypt, ‘See, I have sworn by my great name—says Yahweh. My name will no longer be called upon by the mouths of any of the men of Judah in all the land of Egypt, you who now say, “As the Lord Yahweh lives.” 27 See, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. Every person of Judah in the land of Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all finished. 28 Then the survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, only a small number of them. So all the remnant of Judah who went to the land of Egypt to live there will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs. 29 This will be the sign for you—this is Yahweh’s declaration—that I am setting against you in this place, so that you will know that my words will certainly attack you with disaster.’ 30 Yahweh says this, ‘Look, I am about to give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek to kill him. It will the same as when I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”

45 This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch son of Neriah. This happened when he wrote in a scroll these words at Jeremiah’s dictation—this was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, and he said, 2 “Yahweh, God of Israel, says this to you, Baruch: 3 You have said, ‘Woe is me, for Yahweh has added agony to my pain. My groaning has wearied me; I find no rest.’ 4 This is what you must say to him: ‘Yahweh says this: See, what I built, I am now tearing down. What I planted, I am now pulling up—I will do this throughout all the earth. 5 But are you hoping for great things for yourself? Do not hope for that. For see, disaster is coming on all humanity—this is Yahweh’s declaration—but I am giving you your life as your plunder everywhere you will go.’ ”

46 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. 2 For Egypt: “This is about the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt that was at Carchemish by the Euphrates river. This was the army that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:

3 Get the small shields and the large shields ready, and go forward to fight.

4 Put the harness on the horses; mount up on the horses and take your stand with your helmets on;

polish the spears and put on your armor.

5 What am I seeing here? They are filled with terror and are running away, for their soldiers are defeated.

They are running for safety and are not looking back. Terror is all around—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

6 the swift cannot run away, and the soldiers cannot escape.

They stumble in the north and fall beside the Euphrates River.

7 Who is this who rises like the Nile, whose waters toss up and down like the rivers?

8 Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of water that rise and fall.

Egypt says, ‘I will go up and I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.

9 Go up, horses. Be angry, you chariots. Let the soldiers go out,

Cush and Put, men skillful with a shield, and Ludim, men skillful at bending their bows.’

10 That day will be the day of vengeance for the Lord Yahweh of hosts, and he will avenge himself on his foes.

The sword will devour and be satisfied. It will drink its fill of their blood. For there will be a sacrifice

to the Yahweh Lord of hosts in the northern land by the Euphrates River.

11 Go up to Gilead and obtain medicine, virgin daughter of Egypt.

It is useless that you put much medicine on yourself. There is no cure for you.

12 The nations have heard of your disgrace. The earth is filled with your laments,

for soldier stumbles against soldier; both of them fall together.”

13 This is the word that Yahweh told Jeremiah the prophet when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came and attacked the land of Egypt:

14 “Announce in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes.

‘Take your station and prepare yourself, for the sword will devour those around you.’

15 Why are your mighty ones face-down on the ground? They will not stand, because I, Yahweh, have pushed them to the ground.

16 He increases the numbers of those who stumble. Each soldier falls against the next one. They are saying, ‘Get up. Let us go home.

Let us go back to our own people, to our native land. Let us leave this sword that is beating us down.’

17 They proclaimed there, ‘Pharaoh the king of Egypt is only a noise, one who has let his opportunity slip away.’

18 As I live—declares the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts—

someone will come like Mount Tabor and Mount Carmel by the sea.

19 Pack for yourselves baggage to carry into exile, you who live in Egypt.

For Memphis will become a waste, it will lie in ruins and no one will live there.

20 Egypt is a very beautiful young cow, but a stinging insect is coming from the north. It is coming.

21 The hired soldiers in her midst are like a fattened bull, but they will also turn away and run away.

They will not stand together, for the day of their disaster is coming against them, the time of their punishment.

22 Egypt hisses like a snake and crawls away, for her enemies are marching against her.

They are going toward her like woodcutters with axes.

23 They will cut down the forests—this is Yahweh’s declaration—although it is very dense.

For the enemies will be more numerous than locusts, unable to be counted.

24 The daughter of Egypt will be made ashamed. She will be given into the hand of people from the north.”

25 Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “See, I am about to punish Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt and her gods, her kings the Pharaohs, and those who trust in them. 26 I am giving them into the hand of the ones seeking their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his servants. Then after this Egypt will be inhabited as in previous days—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

27 But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear. Do not be dismayed, Israel, for see, I am about to bring you back from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Then Jacob will return, find peace, and be secure, and there will be no one to terrify him. 28 You, my servant Jacob, do not fear—this is Yahweh’s declaration—for I am with you, so I will bring complete destruction against all the nations where I scattered you. But I will not destroy you completely. Yet I will discipline you justly and will certainly not leave you unpunished.”

47 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines. This word came to him before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

2 “Yahweh says this: See, floods of water are rising in the north. They will be like an overflowing river!

Then they will overflow the land and everything in it, its cities and its inhabitants! So everyone will shout for help,

and all the inhabitants of the land will lament.

3 At the sound of the stamping of their strong horses’ hooves,

at the roar of their chariots and the noise of their wheels,

fathers will not help their children because of their own weakness.

4 For the day is coming that will devastate all of the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

every survivor who wants to help them. For Yahweh is devastating the Philistines,

those who remain from the island of Caphtor. 5 Baldness will come upon Gaza. As for Ashkelon, the people who are left in their valley will be made silent.

How long will you cut yourself in mourning?

6 Woe, sword of Yahweh! How long will it be until you become silent?

Go back to your scabbard! Stop and be silent.

7 How can it rest when Yahweh has commanded it,

when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coastlands along the sea?”

48 To Moab, Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this,

“Woe to Nebo, for it has been devastated. Kiriathaim has been humiliated and captured.

Her fortress has been disgraced and crushed.

2 The honor of Moab is no more. Their enemies in Heshbon plotted disaster against her.

They said, ‘Come and let us destroy her as a nation. Madmen will also perish—a sword will go after you.’

3 Listen! A sound of screaming is coming from Horonaim, where there is ruin and great destruction.

4 Moab has been destroyed. Her children have made their cries heard.

5 They go up the hill of Luhith weeping,

for on the way down to Horonaim, screams are heard because of the destruction.

6 Flee! Save your lives and become like a juniper bush in the wilderness.

7 For because of your trust in your practices and your wealth, you also will be captured.

Then Chemosh will go away into captivity, together with his priests and leaders.

8 For the destroyer will come to every city; no city will escape.

So the valley will perish and the plain will be devastated, as Yahweh has said.

9 Give wings to Moab, for she must certainly fly away.

Her cities will become a wasteland, where there is no one to live in them.

10 May anyone who is lazy in doing Yahweh’s work be cursed! May anyone who keeps his sword back from shedding blood be cursed!

11 Moab has felt secure since he was young. He is like his wine

that has never been poured from pot to pot. He has never gone into captivity.

Therefore he tastes as good as ever; his flavor remains unchanged.

12 So see, the days are coming—this is Yahweh’s declaration—when I will send him those who will tip him over and pour out all his pots and shatter his jars.

13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh just as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their object of trust.

14 How can you say, ‘We are soldiers, powerful fighting men’?

15 Moab will be devastated and its cities attacked. For its finest young men have gone down to the place of slaughter. This is the king’s declaration! Yahweh of hosts is his name.

16 Moab’s disaster is soon to happen; calamity is hurrying quickly.

17 All you who are around Moab, wail; and all you who know its fame,

shout this, ‘Woe, the strong staff, the honored rod, has been broken.’

18 Come down from your honored place and sit on the dry ground, you daughter living in Dibon.

For the one who will destroy Moab is attacking you,

the one who will destroy your strongholds.

19 Stand on the road and watch, you people who live in Aroer.

Ask the ones who are fleeing and escaping. Say, ‘What has happened?’

20 Moab has been shamed, for it has been shattered.

Howl and lament; shout for help.

Tell it to people by the Arnon River that Moab has been devastated.

21 Now punishment has come to the hill country,

to Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

22 to Dibon, Nebo, and Beth Diblathaim,

23 to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul, and Beth Meon,

24 To Kerioth and Bozrah,

and to all the cities in the land of Moab—

the farthest and the closest cities.

25 The horn of Moab has been hacked off; its arm has been broken—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

26 Make him drunk, because he acted proudly against Yahweh. Let Moab wallow in his vomit, and let him be an object of ridicule. 27 For did not Israel become an object for laughter to you? Was he found among thieves, so that you shook your head at him as often as you spoke about him?

28 Abandon the cities and camp on the cliffs, inhabitants of Moab.

Become like a dove that is nesting over the mouth of a hole in the rocks.

29 We have heard of Moab’s pride—his arrogance,

his haughtiness, his pride, his self-glory and the conceit in his heart. 30 This is Yahweh’s declaration—I myself know his defiant speech, which amounts to nothing, like his deeds.

31 So I will howl a lament for Moab, and I will shout in sorrow for all of Moab.

I will lament for the people of Kir Hareseth.

32 I will weep for you more than I did for Jazer, vine of Sibmah! Your branches passed across the Salt Sea and reached

as far as Jazer. The destroyers have attacked your summer fruit and your wine.

33 So celebration and rejoicing have been taken away from the fruit trees and the land of Moab.

I have put an end to the wine from their winepresses. They will not tread with joyful shouts. Any shouts will not be shouts of joy.

34 From the shouts at Heshbon as far as Elealeh, their sound is heard at Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, since even the waters of Nimrim have dried up. 35 For I will put an end to anyone in Moab who makes sacrifices on the high places and burns incense to his gods—this is Yahweh’s declaration. 36 So my heart is lamenting for Moab like a flute. My heart is lamenting like flutes for the people of Kir Hareseth. The riches they gained are gone. 37 For every head is bald and every beard shaved. Incisions are on every hand, and sackcloth is around their waists. 38 There is mourning everywhere, on every flat roof of Moab and in Moab’s plazas. For I have destroyed Moab like pots that no one wants—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

39 How it has been shattered! How they howl in their lamenting! Moab turns its back in shame! So Moab will become an object of derision and a terror to all those who are around him.” 40 For Yahweh says this, “See, the enemy will come flying like an eagle, spreading out his wings over Moab.

41 Kerioth has been captured, and its strongholds have been seized.

For in that day the hearts of Moab’s soldiers will be like the hearts of women in birth labor.

42 So Moab will be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he made himself to be great against Yahweh.

43 Terror and the pit, and a trap are coming on you, inhabitant of Moab—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

44 Anyone who flees because of terror will fall into the pit,

and anyone who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the trap, for I will bring this on them

in the year of my vengeance against them—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

45 The ones who flee will stand in the shadow of Heshbon without any strength, for fire will go out from Heshbon,

flame from the middle of Sihon. It will devour the forehead of Moab and the top of the heads of the boastful people.

46 Woe to you, Moab! Chemosh’s people are destroyed,

For your sons are taken as captives and your daughters into captivity.

47 But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in later days—this is Yahweh’s declaration.”

The judgment on Moab ends here.

49 About the people of Ammon, Yahweh says this,

“Does Israel have no children? Is there no one to inherit anything in Israel?

Why does Molech occupy Gad, and his people live in its cities? [fn]

2 So look, the days are coming—this is Yahweh’s declaration—when I will sound the signal for battle

against Rabbah among the people of Ammon, so it will become a deserted heap and its villages will be set on fire.

For Israel will possess those who possessed him,” says Yahweh.

3 “Howl in lament, Heshbon, for Ai will be devastated! Shout out, daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth.

Lament and run about in futility, for Molech is going into captivity,

together with his priests and leaders.

4 Why do you brag about your valleys, your valleys that are so fruitful, faithless daughter?

You who trust in your wealth and say, ‘Who will come against me?’

5 See, I am about to bring terror on you—this is the declaration of Lord Yahweh of hosts—

this terror will come from all those who surround you. Each one of you will be scattered before it.

There will be no one to gather those running away.

6 But after this I will restore the fortunes of the people of Ammon—this is Yahweh’s declaration.”

7 About Edom, Yahweh of hosts says this, “Is there no longer any wisdom to be found in Teman?

Has good advice disappeared from those who have understanding? Has their wisdom become corrupted?

8 Flee! Turn back! Stay in holes in the ground, inhabitants of Dedan.

For I am bringing the disaster of Esau on him at the time that I punish him.

9 If grape harvesters came to you, would they not leave a little bit behind?

If thieves came in the night, would they not steal only as much as they wanted?

10 But I have stripped Esau bare. I have revealed his hiding places.

So he will not be able to hide himself. His children, his brothers, and his neighbors are destroyed, and he is gone.

11 Leave your orphans behind. I will take care of their lives, and your widows can trust in me.”

12 For Yahweh says this, “See, those who did not deserve it must certainly drink some of the cup. Do you yourself think you will go without punishment? You will not, for you will certainly drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself—this is Yahweh’s declaration—that Bozrah will become a horror, a disgrace, a devastation, and an object for cursing. All of its cities will become devastations forever.

14 I have heard news from Yahweh, and a messenger has been sent out to the nations,

‘Gather together and attack her. Get ready for battle.’

15 “For see, I have made you small compared to the other nations, despised by people.

16 As for your fearsomeness, your heart’s pride has deceived you, inhabitants of places on the cliff,

you who have occupied the highest hills so that you may make your nest high like an eagle.

I will bring you down from there—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

17 Edom will become a horror to everyone passing by it.

Every such person will tremble and hiss because all of its disasters.

18 Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says Yahweh,

“no one will live there; no person will stay there.

19 See, he will go up like a lion from the forests of the Jordan to the green pasturelands.

For I will quickly make Edom run from it, and I will put someone who will be chosen in charge of it.

For who is like me, and who will summon me? What shepherd is able to resist me?”

20 “So listen to the plans that Yahweh has decided against Edom,

the plans that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman.

They will certainly be dragged away, even the smallest flock.

Their pasturelands will be turned into ruined places.

21 At the sound of their falling the earth shakes. The sound of distressed shouts is heard at the Sea of Reeds.

22 See, someone will attack like an eagle, and swoop down and spread his wings over Bozrah.

Then on that day, the hearts of Edom’s soldiers will become like the heart of a woman in birth labor.”

23 About Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad will be ashamed, for they have heard news of disaster.

They melt away! They become as troubled as the sea, which cannot stay calm.

24 Damascus has become very weak. It turns away to flee; terror seizes it.

Distress and pain seize it, like the pain of a woman giving birth.

25 How has the city of praise not been forsaken, the town of my joy?

26 Therefore its young men will fall in its plazas,

and all the fighting men will perish on that day—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts.”

27 “For I will light a fire on the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the strongholds of Ben Hadad.”

28 About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, Yahweh says this to Nebuchadnezzar (now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon was going to attack these places):

“Arise and attack Kedar and destroy those people of the east.

29 Their tents and their flocks will be taken,

along with their tent curtains and all of their equipment;

their camels will be led away from them,

and men will shout to them, ‘Terror is on every side!’

30 Flee! Wander far away! Stay in holes in the ground, inhabitants of Hazor—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devised a plan against you. Flee! Turn back!

31 Arise! Attack the nation at ease, that lives in safety,” says Yahweh.

“They have no gates or bars in them, and its people live by themselves.

32 For their camels will become plunder, and the abundance of their property will become war plunder.

Then I will scatter to every wind those who cut the corners of their hair,

and I will bring disaster on them from every side—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

33 Hazor will become a lair of jackals, a permanent wasteland.

No one will live there; no human being will stay there.”

34 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam. This happened at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, and he said, 35 “Yahweh of hosts says this: See, I am about to break the bowmen of Elam, the main part of their power.

36 For I will bring the four winds from the four corners of the heavens,

and I will scatter the people of Elam to all of those winds. There is no nation

to which those scattered from Elam will not go.

37 So I will shatter Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their lives.

For I will bring disaster against them, the fury of my wrath—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them.

38 Then I will put my throne in Elam and will destroy its king and leaders from there—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

39 and it will happen in later days that I will bring back the fortunes of Elam—this is Yahweh’s declaration.”

50 This is the word that Yahweh declared about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet,

2 “Report to the nations and cause them to listen. Lift up a signal and cause them to listen. Do not conceal it.

Say, ‘Babylon is taken. Bel is made ashamed. Marduk is dismayed. Its idols are put to shame; its images are dismayed.’

3 A nation from the north will arise against it, and make her land a desolation.

No one will live in it; both man and beast will flee away.

4 In those days and at that time—this is Yahweh’s declaration—the people of Israel and the people of Judah

will come together to go with weeping and seek Yahweh their God.

5 They will ask the way to Zion and will set off toward it, saying,

We will go and join ourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”

6 My people have been a lost flock. Their shepherds have led them astray in the mountains;

they have turned them around from hill to hill. They went, they forgot the place where they had lived.

7 Everyone who went out to them devoured them. Their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty,

because they sinned against Yahweh, their true home—Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’

8 Leave from the midst of Babylon; go out from the land of the Chaldeans;

be like male goats that leave before the rest of the flock does.

9 For see, I am about to set in motion and raise up a group of great nations from the north against Babylon.

They will arrange themselves against her. Babylon will be captured from there.

Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.

10 Chaldea will become plunder. All those who plunder it will be satisfied—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

11 You rejoice, you celebrate the plundering of my inheritance;

you jump around like a calf stamping in its pasture;

you neigh like a powerful horse.

12 So your mother will be greatly ashamed; the one who bore you will be embarrassed.

See, she will be the least of nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13 Because of Yahweh’s anger, Babylon will not be inhabited, but will be a complete devastation.

Everyone who passes by will shudder because of Babylon and will hiss because all of its wounds.

14 Arrange yourselves against Babylon all around her. Everyone who bends a bow must shoot at her.

Do not keep back any of your arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.

15 Raise a shout against her all around! She has surrendered; her towers have fallen;

her walls are torn down, for this is Yahweh’s vengeance.

Take vengeance on her! Do to her just as she has done!

16 Destroy both the farmer who sows seed and the one who uses a sickle at the time of harvest in Babylon.

Let each person turn back to his own people from the oppressor’s sword; let them flee to their own land.

17 Israel is a sheep scattered and driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him;

then after this, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon broke his bones. 18 Therefore Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says this: See, I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 I will restore Israel to his homeland; he will graze on Carmel and Bashan.

Then he will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days and at that time, says Yahweh, iniquity will be looked for in Israel,

but none will be found. I will inquire about the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant that I spare.”

21 “Arise against the land of Merathaim, against it and the ones inhabiting Pekod.

Put them to the sword and set them apart for destruction—this is Yahweh’s declaration—do everything that I am commanding you.

22 The sounds of battle and enormous destruction are in the land.

23 How the hammer of all the lands has been cut apart and destroyed.

How Babylon has become a destroyed place among the nations.

24 I have set a trap for you and you were taken, Babylon, and you did not know it!

You were found and captured, because you opposed Yahweh.

25 Yahweh has opened his armory and is bringing out the weapons for carrying out his anger.

There is work for the Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Attack her from far away. Open her granaries and pile her up like heaps of grain.

Set her apart for destruction. Leave no remnant of her.

27 Kill all her bulls. Send them down to the place of slaughter.

Woe to them, for their day has come—the time for their punishment.

28 There is the sound of those fleeing, of those who are survivors, from the land of Babylon.

These will report the vengeance of Yahweh our God for Zion, and vengeance for his temple.”

29 “Summon the archers against Babylon—all those who bend their bows.

Camp against her, and let no one escape.

Repay her for what she has done.

Do to her by the measure she has used.

For she had defied Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

30 So her young men will fall in the city squares,

and all her fighting men will be destroyed on that day—

this is Yahweh’s declaration.”

31 “See, I am against you, proud one—this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts—

for your day has come, proud one, the time when I will punish you.

32 So the proud ones will stumble and fall. No one will raise them up.

I will light a fire in their cities; it will devour everything around him.

33 Yahweh of hosts says this: The people of Israel are oppressed, together with the people of Judah.

All the ones who captured them still hold them; they refuse to let them go.

34 The one who rescues them is strong. Yahweh of hosts is his name. He will truly plead their case,

in order to bring rest to the land, and to bring strife to the ones inhabiting Babylon.

35 A sword is against the Chaldeans—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

and against the inhabitants of Babylon, her leaders, and her wise men.

36 A sword against those who say empty words! They will become fools!

A sword against her soldiers! They will be filled with terror.

37 A sword is coming against their horses, their chariots and all of the people who are in the midst of Babylon,

so they will become like women. A sword is coming against her storerooms, and they will be plundered.

38 A drought is coming on her waters, so they will become dry.

For she is a land of worthless idols, and they act like people made insane by their dreadful idols.

39 So desert beasts with the jackals will inhabit there, and the young of ostriches will live in her.

For all time, she will no longer be inhabited. From generation to generation, she will not be lived in.

40 Just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

no one will live there; no person will stay in her.”

41 “See, a people is coming from the north;

a great nation and many kings

are being stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.

42 They will pick up bows and spears. They are cruel and have no compassion.

Their sound is like the sea roar,

and they are riding on horses,

set out in order as men for battle, against you,

daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon heard the reports about them and his hands fell limp in distress.

Anguish seized him like a woman giving birth.

44 Behold! He goes up like a lion from the heights of the Jordan to the enduring grazing place

For I will quickly cause them to run from it, and I will put someone who will be chosen in charge of it.

For who is like me, and who will summon me? What shepherd is able to resist me?

45 So listen to the plans that Yahweh has decided against Babylon,

the plans that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans. They will certainly be dragged away,

even the smallest flock. Their pasturelands will be turned into ruined places.

46 At the sound of conquered Babylon the earth shakes, and their shout of distress is heard among the nations.”

51 “Yahweh says this: See, I am about to stir up a wind of destruction against Babylon

and against those who live in Leb Kamai.

2 I will send foreigners to Babylon. They will scatter her and devastate her land,

for they will come against her from all around on the day of disaster.

3 Do not let the archers bend their bows; do not let them put on armor.

Do not spare her young men; set her whole army apart for destruction.

4 For the wounded people will fall in the land of the Chaldeans; those who are killed will fall in her streets.

5 For Israel and Judah are not forsaken by their God, by Yahweh of hosts,

although their land is filled with offenses committed against the Holy One of Israel.

6 Flee from the midst of Babylon; let each man save himself. Do not perish in her iniquity.

For it is the time of Yahweh’s vengeance. He will repay all of it to her.

7 Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of Yahweh that made all the world drunk;

nations drank her wine and became insane.

8 Babylon will fall suddenly and be destroyed.

Wail for her! Give her medicine for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.

9 ‘We wished to heal Babylon, but she is not healed. Let us all leave her and go away,

to our own land. For her guilt reaches up to the heavens; it is piled up to the clouds.

10 Yahweh has declared our innocence. Come, let us tell in Zion

the deeds of Yahweh our God.’

11 Sharpen the arrows and take up the shields. Yahweh is stirring up

the spirit of the king of the Medes in a plan to destroy Babylon.

This is for Yahweh’s vengeance, vengeance for the destruction of his temple.

12 Lift up a banner over Babylon’s walls; make the watch strong; set up watchmen; prepare the ambushes;

for the LORD will do what he has said concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13 You people who live by many streams of water, you people who are rich with treasures,

your end has come. The thread of your life is now cut short.

14 Yahweh of hosts has sworn by his own life, ‘I will fill you with men, like a swarm of locusts,

and they will raise a battle cry against you.’

15 He has made the earth by his power; he set in place the world by his wisdom.

By his understanding he stretched out the heavens.

16 When he thunders, there is the roar of waters in the heavens, for he brings up the mist from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for rain and sends out wind from his storehouses.

17 Every man has become ignorant, without knowledge. Every metalworker is put to shame by his idols.

For his cast images are frauds, and there is no life in them.

18 They are useless, the work of mockers; they will perish at the time of their punishment.

19 But God, the portion of Jacob, is not like these, for he is the molder of all things. Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;

Yahweh of hosts is his name.

20 You are my war hammer, my weapon for battle.

With you I will smash nations and destroy kingdoms.

21 With you I will smash horses and their riders; with you I will smash chariots and their drivers.

22 With you I will smash each man and woman; with you I will smash the old and the young.

With you I will smash the young men and the virgin girls.

23 With you I will smash the shepherds and their flocks; with you I will smash the plowmen and their teams.

With you I will smash the governors and officials.

24 For in your sight I will pay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea

for all of the evil that they did in Zion—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

25 See, I am against you, mountain of destruction—this is Yahweh’s declaration—which destroys the whole earth.

I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the cliffs,

and make you a burned-out mountain.

26 So they will not take from you any stone to construct a building’s corner or foundation;

for you will become an everlasting devastation—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

27 Lift up a banner over the earth. Blow the trumpet over the nations. Call the nations to attack her:

Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.

Appoint a commander to attack her; bring up horses like swarming locusts.

28 Prepare the nations to attack her: The kings of the Medes and his governors,

all of his officials and all the lands under his rule.

29 For the land will shake and be in anguish, since Yahweh’s plans continue against Babylon,

to make the land of Babylon a wasteland where there is no inhabitant.

30 The soldiers in Babylon have stopped fighting; they stay in their strongholds.

Their strength has failed; they have become women—her homes are on fire, the bars of her gates are broken.

31 A messenger runs to proclaim to another messenger, and a runner tells another runner

to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been taken from end to end.

32 So the fords over the river are seized; the enemy is burning the reed marshes,

and Babylon’s fighting men are confused.

33 For Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor.

It is time to trample her down. In a little while the time of harvest will come to her.

34 ‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me,

he has driven me into confusion and has made me an empty pot.

Like a monster he has swallowed me,

he has filled his stomach with my delicious foods,

and then he has spit me out.’

35 The one who lives in Zion will say, ‘May the violence done to me and my flesh be on Babylon.’

Jerusalem will say, ‘May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea.’

36 Therefore Yahweh says this: See, I am about to plead your case and bring about vengeance for you.

For I will dry up Babylon’s waters and make her springs run dry.

37 Babylon will become heaps of rubble, a den of jackals, a horror,

an object of hissing, where there are no inhabitants.

38 The Babylonians will roar together like young lions. They will growl like lion cubs.

39 When they become hot with greed, I will make a feast for them; I will make them drunk so they become happy,

and then sleep an unending sleep and not wake up—this is Yahweh’s declaration—

40 I will send them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.

41 How Babylon has been captured! So the praise of all the earth is seized.

How Babylon has become a ruined place among the nations.

42 The sea has come up over Babylon! She is covered with its roaring waves.

43 Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness,

a land that no one inhabits, and no human being passes through.

44 So I will punish Bel in Babylon; I will bring out from his mouth what he swallowed,

and the nations will no longer flow to him with their offerings. The walls of Babylon will fall.

45 Go out from her midst, my people. Let each of you save his own life from the fury of my wrath.

46 Do not let your hearts be timid or fear the news that is heard in the land,

for the news will come one year. After it in the next year there will be news,

and violence will be in the land. Ruler will be against ruler.

47 Therefore, see, days are coming when I will punish the carved idols of Babylon.

All of her land will be ashamed, and all of her slaughtered ones will fall in her midst.

48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them will rejoice over Babylon.

For destroyers will come for her from the north—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

49 As Babylon has made the killed of Israel fall,

so the killed of all her land will fall in Babylon.

50 Survivors of the sword, go away! Do not stay still.

Call Yahweh to mind from far away; let Jerusalem come to mind.

51 We are ashamed, for we have heard insults; reproach has covered our faces,

for foreigners have entered the holy places of Yahweh’s house.

52 Therefore, see, days are coming—this is Yahweh’s declaration—when I will punish her carved idols,

and the wounded people will groan in all of her land.

53 For even if Babylon went up to the heavens or fortified her highest fortresses,

destroyers would come from me to her—this is Yahweh’s declaration.

54 A shout of distress came from Babylon, a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.

55 For Yahweh is destroying Babylon. He is causing her loud voice to perish.

Their enemies roar like the waves of many waters; their noise becomes very strong.

56 For the destroyers have come against her—against Babylon!—and her warriors have been captured.

Their bows are broken, for Yahweh is the God of vengeance; he will surely carry out this repayment.

57 For I will make her princes, her sages, her officials, and her soldiers drunk,

and they will sleep in an unending sleep and never wake up—

this is the King’s declaration: Yahweh of hosts is his name.

58 Yahweh of hosts says this: The thick walls of Babylon will be completely demolished,

and her high gates will be burned.

Then the peoples coming to her aid will labor uselessly; everything that the nations try to do for her will be burned up.”

59 This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah

son of Mahseiah when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon

in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was a chief officer. 60 For Jeremiah had written in a scroll about all the disaster that was going to come on Babylon—all these words that were written about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you go to Babylon, then you will see and you will read these words aloud. 62 Then you will say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself have declared that you would destroy this place, and that no man or animal will live in it, and it will be desolate forever.’ 63 Then when you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64 Say, ‘Babylon will sink like this. It will not arise because of the disaster that I am sending against it, and they will fall.’ ” Jeremiah’s words end here.

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal; she was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did everything that Jehoiakim had done. 3 Through Yahweh’s anger, all these events happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he drove them from before himself. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 It happened that in the ninth year of the reign of King Zedekiah, in the tenth month, and on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against Jerusalem. They camped opposite it, and they built a siege wall around it. 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign. 6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city was broken into, and all the fighting men fled and went out of the city at night by the way of the gate that was between the two walls, by the king’s garden, although the Chaldeans were all around the city. So they went in the direction of the Arabah. 8 But the army of Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of the Jordan River valley near Jericho. All his army was scattered away from him. 9 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his own eyes, and at Riblah he also slaughtered all the leaders of Judah. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon. The king of Babylon put him in prison until the day of his death.

12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem. He was the commander of the king’s bodyguards and a servant of the king of Babylon. 13 He burned the house of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; also every important building in the city he burned. 14 As for the walls around Jerusalem, all the army of the Babylonians who were with the commander of the bodyguards destroyed them. 15 As for the poorest people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen— Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguards, took some of them away into exile. 16 But Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguards, left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

17 As for the bronze pillars that belonged to the house of Yahweh, and the stands, and the large bronze basin called “The Sea” that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke them into pieces and carried all the bronze back to Babylon. 18 The pots, shovels, lamp trimmers, bowls, and all the utensils of bronze with which the priests had served in the temple—the Chaldeans took them all away. 19 The basins and the incense burners, the bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and basins that were made of gold, and those made of silver—the commander of the king’s guard took them away as well. 20 The two pillars, the large bronze basin known as “The Sea,” and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, things that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, contained more bronze than could be weighed. 21 The pillars were eighteen cubits high each, and a line around each one measured twelve cubits. Each was four fingers thick and hollow. 22 A capital of bronze was on top of it. The capital was five cubits high, with latticework and pomegranates all around. It was all made of bronze. The other pillar and its pomegranates were the same as the first. 23 So there were ninety-six pomegranates on the capital’s sides, and one hundred pomegranates above the surrounding latticework.

24 The commander of the bodyguards took prisoner Seraiah, the high priest, together with Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three gatekeepers. 25 From the city he took prisoner an officer who was in charge of soldiers, and seven men of those who advised the king, who were still in the city. He also took prisoner the king’s army officer responsible for drafting men into the army, along with sixty important men from the land who were in the city. 26 Then Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. In this way, Judah went out of its land into exile.

28 These were the people who Nebuchadnezzar exiled: In the seventh year, 3, 023 Judeans. 29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he took 832 people from Jerusalem. 30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king’s bodyguards, exiled 745 Judean people. All the exiled people totaled 4, 600.

31 It happened later in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Awel-Marduk, king of Babylon released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. This happened in the year that Awel-Marduk began to reign. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat more honorable than that of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 Awel-Marduk removed Jehoiachin’s prison clothes, and Jehoiachin ate regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life, 34 and a regular food allowance was given to him every day for the rest of his life until his death.