ACV - Jeremiah

Chapter 1

1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

1:2  to whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

1:3  It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away captive of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

1:4  Now the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee. I have appointed thee a prophet to the nations.

1:6  Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a child.

1:7  But Jehovah said to me, Say not, I am a child. For to whomever I shall send thee thou shall go, and whatever I shall command thee thou shall speak.

1:8  Be not afraid because of them, for I am with thee to deliver thee, says Jehovah.

1:9  Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

1:11  Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do thou see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

1:12  Then Jehovah said to me, Thou have well seen. For I watch over my word to perform it.

1:13  And the word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, What do thou see? And I said, I see a boiling caldron, and the face of it is from the north.

1:14  Then Jehovah said to me, Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah. And they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls of it round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them.

1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the rulers of it, against the priests of it, and against the people of the land.

1:19  And they shall fight against thee. But they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, says Jehovah, to deliver thee.

Chapter 2

2:1  And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

2:2  Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, how thou went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

2:3  Israel was holiness to Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come upon them, says Jehovah.

2:4  Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

2:5  Thus says Jehovah: What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?

2:6  Nor did they say, Where is Jehovah who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt?

2:7  And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it. But when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

2:8  The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me. And the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

2:9  Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Jehovah, and I will contend with your son's sons.

2:10  For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see, and send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing.

2:11  Has a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

2:12  Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, says Jehovah.

2:13  For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

2:14  Is Israel a servant? Is he a homebred one? Why has he become a prey?

2:15  The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled, and they have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

2:16  The sons also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.

2:17  Have thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou have forsaken Jehovah thy God when he led thee by the way?

2:18  And now what have thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou have forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

2:20  For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot.

2:21  Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

2:22  For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, says the lord Jehovah.

2:23  How can thou say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baalim? See thy way in the valley. Know what thou have done, a swift dromedary traversing her ways,

2:24  a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs up the wind in her desire. In her time of estrus who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month they shall find her.

2:25  Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst. But thou said, It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.

2:26  As the thief is shamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel shamed, they, their kings, their rulers, and their priests, and their prophets,

2:27  who say to a block of wood, Thou are my father, and to a stone, Thou have brought me forth. For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

2:28  But where are thy gods that thou have made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

2:29  Why will ye contend with me? Ye have all transgressed against me, says Jehovah.

2:30  In vain I have smitten your sons. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.

2:31  O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, We have broken loose. We will come no more to thee?

2:32  Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

2:33  How thou trim thy way to seek love! Therefore even the wicked women thou have taught thy ways.

2:34  Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. Thou did not find them breaking in. But it is because of all these things.

2:35  Yet thou said, I am innocent. Surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou say, I have not sinned.

2:36  Why do thou gad about so much to change thy way? Thou shall be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou were ashamed of Assyria.

2:37  Thou shall also go forth from there with thy hands upon thy head. For Jehovah has rejected those in whom thou trust. And thou shall not prosper with them.

Chapter 3

3:1  They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return again to me, says Jehovah.

3:2  Lift up thine eyes to the bare heights, and see. Where have thou not been lain with? By the ways thou have sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness, and thou have polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

3:3  Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. Yet thou have a harlot's forehead; thou refused to be ashamed.

3:4  Will thou not from this time cry to me, My Father, thou are the guide of my youth?

3:5  Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou have spoken, and have done evil things, and have had thy way.

3:6  Moreover Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have thou seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.

3:7  And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me, but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

3:8  And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not, but she also went and played the harlot.

3:9  And it came to pass through the frivolity of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

3:10  And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says Jehovah.

3:11  And Jehovah said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

3:12  Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, says Jehovah, I will not look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says Jehovah. I will not keep anger forever.

3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou have transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and have scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, says Jehovah.

3:14  Return, O backsliding sons, says Jehovah, for I am a husband to you. And I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

3:15  And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

3:16  And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah, nor shall it come to mind. Neither shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it. Neither shall it be made any more.

3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

3:19  But I said, How I will put thee among the sons, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! And I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.

3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so ye have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.

3:21  A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel, because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten Jehovah their God.

3:22  Return, ye backsliding sons, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come to thee, for thou are Jehovah our God.

3:23  Truly it is in vain from the heights, the multitude on the mountains. Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.

3:24  But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

3:25  Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us, for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.

Chapter 4

4:1  If thou will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, if thou will return to me, and if thou will put away thine abominations out of my sight, then thou shall not be removed.

4:2  And thou shall swear, As Jehovah lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. And the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him they shall glory.

4:3  For thus says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

4:4  Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

4:5  Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem, and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land. Cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

4:6  Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety, do not stay. For I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

4:7  A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way, he has gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.

4:9  And it shall come to pass at that day, says Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the rulers, and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

4:10  Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Surely thou have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace, whereas the sword reaches to the life.

4:11  At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse,

4:12  a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.

4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.

4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou may be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee?

4:15  For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:

4:16  Make ye mention to the nations. Behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

4:17  They are as keepers of a field against her round about, because she has been rebellious against me, says Jehovah.

4:18  Thy way and thy doings have procured these things to thee. This is thy wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to thy heart.

4:19  My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart. My heart is disquieted in me. I cannot hold my peace, because thou have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

4:20  Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.

4:21  How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

4:22  For my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are sottish sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

4:23  I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light.

4:24  I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.

4:25  I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

4:26  I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger.

4:27  For thus says Jehovah: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.

4:28  For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, nor will I turn back from it.

4:29  Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells in it.

4:30  And thou, when thou are made desolate, what will thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with scarlet, though thou deck thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlarge thine eyes with paint, in vain thou make thyself fair. Thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.

4:31  For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.

Chapter 5

5:1  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if ye can find a man, if there is any who does justly, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.

5:2  And though they say, As Jehovah lives, surely they swear falsely.

5:3  O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? Thou have stricken them, but they were not grieved. Thou have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

5:4  Then I said, Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God.

5:5  I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

5:6  Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them; a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them; a leopard shall watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

5:7  How can I pardon thee? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses.

5:8  They were as fed horses roaming at large; everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

5:9  Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

5:10  Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's.

5:11  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says Jehovah.

5:12  They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine.

5:13  And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.

5:14  Therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts: Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

5:15  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou know not, nor understand what they say.

5:16  Their quiver is an open sepulcher. They are all mighty men.

5:17  And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat. They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds. They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees. They shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trust, with the sword.

5:18  But even in those days, says Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.

5:19  And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why has Jehovah our God done all these things to us? Then thou shall say to them, Just as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so ye shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

5:20  Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

5:21  Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, who have eyes, and see not, who have ears, and hear not:

5:22  Do ye not fear me? says Jehovah. Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail, though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

5:23  But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.

5:24  Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

5:25  Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.

5:26  For among my people are found wicked men. They watch as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

5:27  As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grown rich.

5:28  They have grown fat. They shine. Yea, they overflow in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper. And they do not judge the right of the needy.

5:29  Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

5:30  An astonishing and horrible thing has come to pass in the land.

5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. And what will ye do in the end thereof?

Chapter 6

6:1  Flee for safety, ye sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem. For evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.

6:2  The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off.

6:3  Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her round about. They shall feed every one in his place.

6:4  Prepare ye war against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines; for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

6:5  Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6:6  For thus has Jehovah of hosts said: Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She has oppression completely in the midst of her.

6:7  As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Continually before me is sickness and wounds.

6:8  Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee, lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

6:9  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine. Turn again thy hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

6:10  To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of Jehovah has become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

6:11  Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah. I am weary with holding in. Pour it out upon the sons in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.

6:12  And their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says Jehovah.

6:13  For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

6:14  They have also lightly healed the hurt of my people, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

6:15  Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

6:16  Thus says Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see. And ask for the old paths where is the good way. And walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk.

6:17  And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

6:18  Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

6:19  Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it.

6:20  To what purpose does there come to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

6:21  Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.

6:22  Thus says Jehovah, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred up from the outermost parts of the earth.

6:23  They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses. Each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion.

6:24  We have heard the report of it. Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

6:25  Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side.

6:26  O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning, as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation. For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

6:27  I have made thee a prover and a fortress among my people, that thou may know and try their way.

6:28  They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders. They are brass and iron. They all of them deal corruptly.

6:29  The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed of the fire. In vain do they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.

6:30  Waste silver, men shall call them, because Jehovah has rejected them.

Chapter 7

7:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

7:2  Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah.

7:3  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

7:4  Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these.

7:5  For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor,

7:6  if ye do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own hurt,

7:7  then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from of old even for evermore.

7:8  Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

7:9  Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known,

7:10  and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered, that ye may do all these abominations?

7:11  Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Jehovah.

7:12  But go ye now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

7:13  And now, because ye have done all these works, says Jehovah. And I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not,

7:14  therefore I will do to the house, which is called by my name, in which ye trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

7:15  And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

7:16  Therefore pray thou not for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them. Neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee.

7:17  Do thou not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

7:18  The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

7:19  Do they provoke me to anger? says Jehovah, and not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?

7:20  Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground. And it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

7:21  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh.

7:22  For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.

7:23  But this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. And walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.

7:24  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

7:25  Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

7:26  Yet they hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.

7:27  And thou shall speak all these words to them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shall also call to them, but they will not answer thee.

7:28  And thou shall say to them, This is the nation that has not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

7:29  Cut off thy hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

7:30  For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Jehovah. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

7:31  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, nor did it come into my mind.

7:32  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.

7:33  And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall frighten them away.

7:34  Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.

Chapter 8

8:1  At that time, says Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered, nor be buried. They shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

8:3  And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of hosts.

8:4  Moreover thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall he turn away, and not return?

8:5  Why then has this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold firm deceit. They refuse to return.

8:6  I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright. No man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his course as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

8:7  Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the law of Jehovah.

8:8  How can ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? But behold, the false pen of the scribes has wrought falsely.

8:9  The wise men are put to shame. They are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of Jehovah, and what manner of wisdom is in them?

8:10  Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

8:11  And they have lightly healed the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

8:12  Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

8:13  I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah. There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade, and things I have given them shall pass away from them.

8:14  Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah.

8:15  We looked for peace, but no good came, for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!

8:16  The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles. For they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell therein.

8:17  For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says Jehovah.

8:18  Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

8:19  Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities?

8:20  The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

8:21  For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold on me.

8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Chapter 9

9:1  Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

9:2  Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

9:3  And they bend their tongue-their bow-for falsehood, and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says Jehovah.

9:4  Take ye heed each one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

9:5  And they will deceive each one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves to commit iniquity.

9:6  Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit. Through deceit they refuse to know me, says Jehovah.

9:7  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them, for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my people?

9:8  Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. He speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies wait for him.

9:9  Shall I not visit them for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

9:10  For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through, nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

9:11  And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

9:12  Who is the wise man, who may understand this, and he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?

9:13  And Jehovah says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked in it,

9:14  but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them.

9:15  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

9:16  I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.

9:17  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come.

9:18  And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

9:19  For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

9:20  Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her neighbor lamentation.

9:21  For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces, to cut off the sons from outside, the young men from the streets.

9:22  Speak, Thus says Jehovah: The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather.

9:23  Thus says Jehovah: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches,

9:24  but let him who boasts boast in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Jehovah who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. For in these things I delight, says Jehovah.

9:25  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in their uncircumcision:

9:26  Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

Chapter 10

10:1  Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaks to you, O house of Israel.

10:2  Thus says Jehovah: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them.

10:3  For the customs of the peoples are vanity. For a man cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

10:4  They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

10:5  They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak. They must be carried, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.

10:6  There is none like thee, O Jehovah. Thou are great, and thy name is great in might.

10:7  Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? For to thee it appertains, inasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like thee.

10:8  But they are together brutish and foolish, the instruction of idols! It is but a block of wood.

10:9  There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith, blue and purple for their clothing. They are all the work of skilful men.

10:10  But Jehovah is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.

10:11  Thus ye shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.

10:12  He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

10:13  When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

10:14  Every man has become brutish, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image. For his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

10:15  They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they shall perish.

10:16  The portion of Jacob is not like these. For he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of hosts is his name.

10:17  Gather up thy wares out of the land, O thou who abides in the siege.

10:18  For thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.

10:19  Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous, but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.

10:20  My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My sons have gone forth from me, and they are not. There is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

10:21  For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

10:22  The voice of news. Behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.

10:23  O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

10:24  O Jehovah, correct me, but in measure, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

10:25  Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. For they have devoured Jacob. Yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

Chapter 11

11:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

11:2  Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

11:3  and say thou to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant,

11:4  which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you, so ye shall be my people, and I will be your God,

11:5  that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered, and said, Truly, O Jehovah.

11:6  And Jehovah said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

11:7  For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

11:8  Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.

11:9  And Jehovah said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

11:10  They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

11:11  Therefore thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape. And they shall cry to me, but I will not hearken to them.

11:12  Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

11:13  For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem ye have set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.

11:14  Therefore do not pray thou for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.

11:15  What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh has passed from thee? When thou do evil, then thou rejoice.

11:16  Jehovah called thy name, A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit. With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

11:17  For Jehovah of hosts, who planted thee, has pronounced evil against thee because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.

11:18  And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it. Then thou showed me their doings.

11:19  But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit of it. And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may no more be remembered.

11:20  But, O Jehovah of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them, for to thee I have revealed my case.

11:21  Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek thy life, saying, Thou shall not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, that thou not die by our hand.

11:22  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,

11:23  and there shall be no remnant to them. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

Chapter 12

12:1  Thou are righteous, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee. Yet I would reason the case with thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously?

12:2  Thou have planted them. Yea, they have taken root, they grow. Yea, they bring forth fruit. Thou are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

12:3  But thou, O Jehovah, know me. Thou see me, and try my heart toward thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

12:4  How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

12:5  If thou have run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how can thou contend with horses? And though in a land of peace thou are secure, yet how will thou do in the pride of the Jordan?

12:6  For even thy brothers, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.

12:7  I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

12:8  My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her.

12:9  Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour.

12:10  Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

12:11  They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.

12:12  Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness. For the sword of Jehovah devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace.

12:13  They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing. And ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.

12:14  Thus says Jehovah against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

12:15  And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. And I will bring them again, each man to his heritage, and each man to his land.

12:16  And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Jehovah lives, even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.

12:17  But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Jehovah.

Chapter 13

13:1  Thus says Jehovah to me, Go, and buy thee a linen sash, and put it upon thy loins, and do not put it in water.

13:2  So I bought a sash according to the word of Jehovah, and put it upon my loins.

13:3  And the word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying,

13:4  Take the sash that thou have bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

13:5  So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Jehovah commanded me.

13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the sash from there, which I commanded thee to hide there.

13:7  Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the sash from the place where I had hid it. And, behold, the sash was rotten. It was good for nothing.

13:8  Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

13:9  Thus says Jehovah, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

13:10  This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this sash, which is good for nothing.

13:11  For as the sash clings to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Jehovah, that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, but they would not hear.

13:12  Therefore thou shall speak to them this word. Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

13:13  Then thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

13:14  And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Jehovah. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.

13:15  Hear ye, and give ear, be not proud, for Jehovah has spoken.

13:16  Give glory to Jehovah your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains. And, while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.

13:17  But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride. And my eye shall weep greatly, and run down with tears, because Jehovah's flock is taken captive.

13:18  Say thou to the king and to the queen-mother: Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your coronets have come down, even the crown of your glory.

13:19  The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them. Judah is carried away captive, all of it. It is wholly carried away captive.

13:20  Lift up your eyes, and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

13:21  What will thou say when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou thyself have taught to be friends to thee? Shall not sorrows take hold of thee as of a woman in travail?

13:22  And if thou say in thy heart, Why have these things come upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity thy skirts are uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence.

13:23  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then ye also may do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

13:24  Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.

13:25  This is thy lot, the portion measured to thee from me, says Jehovah, because thou have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.

13:26  Therefore I will also uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and thy shame shall appear.

13:27  I have seen thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills, in the field. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! Thou will not be made clean. How long shall it yet be?

Chapter 14

14:1  The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

14:2  Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish. They sit in black upon the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

14:3  And their ranking men send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads,

14:4  because of the ground which is cracked. Because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame; they cover their heads.

14:5  Yea, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes it because there is no grass.

14:6  And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no herbage.

14:7  Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name's sake, O Jehovah. For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against thee.

14:8  O thou hope of Israel, the Savior of it in the time of trouble, why should thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to tarry for a night?

14:9  Why should thou be as a man frightened, as a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O Jehovah, are in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name. Do not leave us.

14:10  Thus says Jehovah to this people: Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore Jehovah does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

14:11  And Jehovah said to me, Pray not for this people for good.

14:12  When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

14:13  Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Behold, the prophets say to them, Ye shall not see the sword, nor shall ye have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.

14:14  Then Jehovah said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their own heart.

14:15  Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.

14:16  And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and they shall have none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their wickedness upon them.

14:17  And thou shall say this word to them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

14:18  If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.

14:19  Have thou utterly rejected Judah? Has thy soul loathed Zion? Why have thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came, and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!

14:20  We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against thee.

14:21  Do not abhor us. For thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. Remember, do not break thy covenant with us.

14:22  Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are not thou he, O Jehovah our God? Therefore we will wait for thee, for thou have made all these things.

Chapter 15

15:1  Then Jehovah said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

15:2  And it shall come to pass, when they say to thee, Where shall we go forth? Then thou shall tell them, Thus says Jehovah: Such as are for death, to death, and such as are for the sword, to the sword, and such as are for the famine, to the famine, and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

15:3  And I will appoint over them four kinds, says Jehovah: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

15:4  And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

15:5  For who will have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan thee? Or who will turn aside to ask of thy welfare?

15:6  Thou have rejected me, says Jehovah. Thou have gone backward. Therefore I have stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee. I am weary with relenting.

15:7  And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of sons. I have destroyed my people. They did not return from their ways.

15:8  Their widows have increased to me above the sand of the seas. I have brought upon them, against the mother of the young men, a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.

15:9  She who has borne seven, languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been put to shame and confounded. And the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah.

15:10  Woe is me, my mother, that thou have bore me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, nor have men lent to me, yet every one of them curses me.

15:11  Jehovah said, Truly I will strengthen thee for good. Truly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

15:12  Can a man break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?

15:13  Thy substance and thy treasures I will give for a spoil without price. And that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

15:14  And I will make them to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou know not. For a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.

15:15  O Jehovah, thou know. Remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy longsuffering. Know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.

15:16  Thy words were found, and I ate them. And thy words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by thy name, O Jehovah, God of hosts.

15:17  I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because of thy hand, for thou have filled me with indignation.

15:18  Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will thou indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?

15:19  Therefore thus says Jehovah: If thou return, then I will bring thee again that thou may stand before me. And if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shall be as my mouth. They shall return to thee, but thou shall not return to them.

15:20  And I will make thee to this people a fortified brazen wall. And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, says Jehovah.

15:21  And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

Chapter 16

16:1  The word of Jehovah came also to me, saying,

16:2  Thou shall not take thee a wife, nor shall thou have sons or daughters, in this place.

16:3  For thus says Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who begot them in this land:

16:4  They shall die grievous deaths. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground. And they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.

16:5  For thus says Jehovah, Enter not into the house of mourning, nor go to lament, nor bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says Jehovah, even loving kindness and tender mercies.

16:6  Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them,

16:7  nor shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

16:8  And thou shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.

16:9  For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

16:10  And it shall come to pass, when thou shall show this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?

16:11  Then thou shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, says Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law.

16:12  And ye have done evil more than your fathers, for, behold, ye walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not to me.

16:13  Therefore I will cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers, and there ye shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.

16:14  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,

16:15  but, As Jehovah lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

16:16  Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Jehovah, and they shall fish them up. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

16:17  For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hid from my face, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.

16:19  O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to thee the nations shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, even vanity and things in which there is no profit.

16:20  Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?

16:21  Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might, and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.

Chapter 17

17:1  The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars,

17:2  while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees upon the high hills.

17:3  O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures for a spoil, and thy high places, because of sin, throughout all thy borders.

17:4  And thou, even of thyself, shall discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee, and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou know not. For ye have kindled a fire in my anger which shall burn forever.

17:5  Thus says Jehovah: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Jehovah.

17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.

17:7  Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah, and whose trust Jehovah is.

17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and shall not be worried in the year of drought, nor shall cease from yielding fruit.

17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

17:10  I, Jehovah, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

17:11  As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.

17:12  A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

17:13  O Jehovah, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be put to shame. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters.

17:14  Heal me, O Jehovah, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved, for thou are my praise.

17:15  Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of Jehovah? Let it come now.

17:16  As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after thee, nor have I desired the woeful day. Thou know. That which came out of my lips was before thy face.

17:17  Be not a terror to me. Thou are my refuge in the day of evil.

17:18  Let them be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.

17:19  Thus Jehovah said to me, Go, and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

17:20  And say to them, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter in by these gates.

17:21  Thus says Jehovah: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

17:22  Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, nor do ye any work. But hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

17:23  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.

17:24  And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken to me, says Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to hallow the sabbath day, to do no work in it,

17:25  then there shall enter in by the gates of this city kings and rulers sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their rulers, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever.

17:26  And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill-country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing things of thanksgiving, to the house of Jehovah.

17:27  But if ye will not hearken to me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates of it, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

Chapter 18

18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

18:3  Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels.

18:4  And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it another vessel again, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

18:5  Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.

18:7  At that instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it,

18:8  if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will relent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

18:9  And at that instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,

18:10  if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.

18:11  Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

18:12  But they say, It is in vain. For we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.

18:13  Therefore thus says Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, Who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

18:14  Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

18:15  For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. And they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up,

18:16  to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shake his head.

18:17  I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18:18  Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

18:19  Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of those who contend with me.

18:20  Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.

18:21  Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword, and let their wives become childless, and widows, and let their men be slain of death, and their young men smitten of the sword in battle.

18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses when thou shall bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

18:23  Yet, Jehovah, thou know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee. Deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.

Chapter 19

19:1  Thus said Jehovah: Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests,

19:2  and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.

19:3  And say, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.

19:4  Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

19:5  and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither did it come into my mind.

19:6  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter.

19:7  And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. And I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.

19:8  And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues of it.

19:9  And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. And they shall eat each one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them.

19:10  Then thou shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with thee,

19:11  and shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as a potter's vessel is broken, that cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury in Topheth till there be no place to bury.

19:12  Thus I will do to this place, says Jehovah, and to the inhabitants of it, even making this city as Topheth.

19:13  And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.

19:14  Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Jehovah's house, and said to all the people,

19:15  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.

Chapter 20

20:1  Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Jehovah, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

20:2  Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Jehovah.

20:3  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Jehovah has not called thy name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.

20:4  For thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends. And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.

20:5  Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all the gains of it, and all the precious things of it, yea, all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies. And they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

20:6  And thou, Pashhur, and all who dwell in thy house shall go into captivity. And thou shall come to Babylon, and there thou shall die, and there thou shall be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou have prophesied falsely.

20:7  O Jehovah, thou have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all the day; everyone mocks me.

20:8  For as often as I speak, I cry out. I cry, Violence and destruction! Because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day.

20:9  And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot.

20:10  For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

20:11  But Jehovah is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be utterly put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

20:12  But, O Jehovah of hosts, who tries the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance on them, for to thee I have revealed my cause.

20:13  Sing to Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah, for he has delivered the soul of the needy man from the hand of evildoers.

20:14  Cursed be the day in which I was born. Let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

20:15  Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, A man-child is born to thee, making him very glad.

20:16  And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and did not relent. And let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime,

20:17  because he did not kill me from the womb, and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

20:18  Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Chapter 21

21:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,

21:2  Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us. For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps Jehovah will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

21:3  Then Jeremiah said to them, Thus ye shall say to Zedekiah:

21:4  Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, outside the walls. And I will gather them into the midst of this city.

21:5  And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation.

21:6  And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence.

21:7  And afterward, says Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy.

21:8  And thou shall say to this people, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

21:9  He who abides in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. But he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey.

21:10  For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, says Jehovah. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

21:11  And concerning the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the word of Jehovah.

21:12  O house of David, thus says Jehovah: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain, says Jehovah, you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our habitations?

21:14  And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Jehovah. And I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.

Chapter 22

22:1  Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

22:2  and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in by these gates.

22:3  Thus says Jehovah: Execute ye justice and righteousness. And deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong. Do no violence to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a desolation.

22:6  For thus says Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon, yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.

22:7  And I will prepare destroyers against thee, each one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each man to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done thus to this great city?

22:9  Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.

22:10  Weep ye not for him who is dead, nor bemoan him. But weep greatly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

22:11  For thus says Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return there any more.

22:12  But in the place where they have led him captive, there he shall die, and he shall see this land no more.

22:13  Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and gives him not his hire,

22:14  who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cuts out windows for himself, and it is overlaid with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

22:15  Shall thou reign, because thou strive to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy man, then it was well. Was not this to know me? says Jehovah.

22:17  But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

22:18  Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

22:19  He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

22:20  Go up to Lebanon, and cry. And lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim. For all thy lovers are destroyed.

22:21  I spoke to thee in thy prosperity, but thou said, I will not hear. This has been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyed not my voice.

22:22  The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy loved ones shall go into captivity. Surely then thou shall be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

22:23  O inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied thou shall be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

22:24  As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck thee from there,

22:25  and I will give thee into the hand of those who seek thy life, and into the hand of those of whom thou are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

22:26  And I will cast thee out, and thy mother who bore thee, into another country where ye were not born, and there ye shall die.

22:27  But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they shall not return.

22:28  Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not?

22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah.

22:30  Thus says Jehovah: Write ye this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days. For no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.

Chapter 23

23:1  Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Jehovah.

23:2  Therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says Jehovah.

23:3  And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

23:4  And I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed. Neither shall any be lacking, says Jehovah.

23:5  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

23:6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name by which he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.

23:7  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that they shall no more say, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,

23:8  but, As Jehovah lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land.

23:9  Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of his holy words.

23:10  For the land is full of adulterers. For because of swearing the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right.

23:11  For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house I have found their wickedness, says Jehovah.

23:12  Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They shall be driven on, and fall in it. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says Jehovah.

23:13  And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

23:14  In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing. They commit adultery, and walk in lies. And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They have all of them become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

23:15  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall. For from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land.

23:16  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah.

23:17  They say continually to those who despise me, Jehovah has said, Ye shall have peace. And to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you.

23:18  For who has stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has marked my word, and heard it?

23:19  Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, wrath, has gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest. It shall burst upon the head of the wicked.

23:20  The anger of Jehovah shall not return until he has executed, and till he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly.

23:21  I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

23:22  But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

23:23  Am I a God at hand, says Jehovah, and not a God afar off?

23:24  Can any man hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Jehovah. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says Jehovah.

23:25  I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

23:26  How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

23:27  Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

23:28  The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Jehovah.

23:29  Is not my word like fire? says Jehovah, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

23:30  Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says Jehovah, who steal my words each one from his neighbor.

23:31  Behold, I am against the prophets, says Jehovah, who use their tongues, and say, He says.

23:32  Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Jehovah, and tell them. And cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them, neither do they profit this people at all, says Jehovah.

23:33  And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? Then thou shall say to them, What burden! I will cast you off, says Jehovah.

23:34  And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of Jehovah, I will even punish that man and his house.

23:35  Thus ye shall say each one to his neighbor, and each one to his brother: What has Jehovah answered? and, What has Jehovah spoken?

23:36  And the burden of Jehovah ye shall mention no more, for every man's own word shall be his burden. For ye have perverted the words of the living God, of Jehovah of hosts our God.

23:37  Thus thou shall say to the prophet: What has Jehovah answered thee? and, What has Jehovah spoken?

23:38  But if ye say, The burden of Jehovah, therefore thus says Jehovah: Because ye say this word, The burden of Jehovah, and I have sent to you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of Jehovah,

23:39  therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you. And I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence.

23:40  And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

Chapter 24

24:1  Jehovah showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jehovah, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the rulers of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

24:2  One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe, and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten they were so bad.

24:3  Then Jehovah said to me, What do thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs. The good figs, very good, and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten they are so bad.

24:4  And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

24:5  Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

24:6  For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. And I will build them, and not pull them down, and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

24:7  And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

24:8  And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten they are so bad, surely thus says Jehovah: So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his rulers, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

24:9  I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

24:10  And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.

Chapter 25

25:1  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon),

25:2  which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

25:3  From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Jehovah has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking. But ye have not hearkened.

25:4  And Jehovah has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear),

25:5  saying, Return ye now each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore.

25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the work of your hands. And I will do you no hurt.

25:7  Yet ye have not hearkened to me, says Jehovah, that ye may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.

25:8  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts: Because ye have not heard my words,

25:9  behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Jehovah, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about. And I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

25:11  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

25:12  And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it desolate forever.

25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

25:14  For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them, even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.

25:15  For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

25:16  And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

25:17  Then I took the cup at Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me:

25:18  Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings of it, and the rulers of it, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day,

25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his rulers, and all his people,

25:20  and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

25:21  Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon,

25:22  and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea,

25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off,

25:24  and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness,

25:25  and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,

25:26  and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

25:27  And thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, then thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Ye shall surely drink.

25:29  For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished. For I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of hosts.

25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say to them, Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

25:31  A noise shall come even to the end of the earth, for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Jehovah.

25:32  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the outermost parts of the earth.

25:33  And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.

25:34  Wail, ye shepherds, and cry. And wallow, ye principal men of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and ye shall fall like a goodly vessel.

25:35  And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal men of the flock to escape.

25:36  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal men of the flock! For Jehovah lays waste their pasture.

25:37  And the peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.

25:38  He has left his covert as the lion. For their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, and because of his fierce anger.

Chapter 26

26:1  In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word from Jehovah came, saying,

26:2  Thus says Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words that I command thee to speak to them, diminish not a word.

26:3  It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may relent of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.

26:4  And thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

26:5  to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened,

26:6  then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

26:7  And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah.

26:8  And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shall surely die.

26:9  Why have thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.

26:10  And when the rulers of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of Jehovah, and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house.

26:11  Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.

26:12  Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers and to all the people, saying, Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.

26:13  Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah your God, and Jehovah will relent of the evil that he has pronounced against you.

26:14  But as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me as is good and right in your eyes.

26:15  Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants of it. For of a truth Jehovah has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

26:16  Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets. This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God.

26:17  Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

26:18  Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

26:19  Did Hezekiah king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Jehovah, and entreat the favor of Jehovah. And Jehovah relented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we commit great evil against our own souls.

26:20  And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. And he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.

26:21  And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the rulers, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt.

26:22  And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt,

26:23  and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

26:24  But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Chapter 27

27:1  In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

27:2  Thus says Jehovah to me: Make thee bonds and bars, and put them upon thy neck.

27:3  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 come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

27:4  And give them a charge to their masters, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus ye shall say to your masters:

27:5  I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whom it seems right to me.

27:6  And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. And the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.

27:7  And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman.

27:8  And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Jehovah, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

27:9  But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.

27:10  For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

27:11  But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation I will let remain in their own land, says Jehovah, and they shall till it, and dwell therein.

27:12  And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

27:13  Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

27:14  And hearken not to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you.

27:15  For I have not sent them, says Jehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my name, that I may drive you out, and that ye may perish, ye, and the prophets who prophesy to you.

27:16  Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Hearken not to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of Jehovah's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you.

27:17  Hearken not to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation?

27:18  But if they are prophets, and if the word of Jehovah is with them, let them now make intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, not go to Babylon.

27:19  For thus says Jehovah of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the stands, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city,

27:20  which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

27:21  Yea, thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem:

27:22  They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them, says Jehovah. Then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Chapter 28

28:1  And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Jehovah, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

28:2  Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

28:3  Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Jehovah's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon.

28:4  And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon, says Jehovah, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

28:5  Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Jehovah,

28:6  even the prophet Jeremiah said, Truly! Jehovah do so. Jehovah perform thy words which thou have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah's house, and all those of the captivity, from Babylon to this place.

28:7  Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people:

28:8  The prophets who have been before me and before thee of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

28:9  The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then the prophet shall be known that Jehovah has truly sent him.

28:10  Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it.

28:11  And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

28:12  Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

28:13  Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Thou have broken the bars of wood, but I have made in their stead bars of iron.

28:14  For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may served Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him. And I have given him the beasts of the field also.

28:15  Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah. Jehovah has not sent thee, but thou make this people to trust in a lie.

28:16  Therefore thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will send thee away from off the face of the earth. This year thou shall die because thou have spoken rebellion against Jehovah.

28:17  So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

Chapter 29

29:1  Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

29:2  (after Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem),

29:3  by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,

29:4  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

29:5  Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

29:6  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply ye there, and be not diminished.

29:7  And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Jehovah for it, for in the peace of it ye shall have peace.

29:8  For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you, nor hearken ye to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

29:9  For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them, says Jehovah.

29:10  For thus says Jehovah, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place.

29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.

29:12  And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray to me, and I will hearken to you.

29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

29:14  And I will be found by you, says Jehovah, and I will turn again your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah, and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.

29:15  Because ye have said, Jehovah has raised us up prophets in Babylon,

29:16  thus says Jehovah concerning the king who sits upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who have not gone forth with you into captivity,

29:17  thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten they are so bad.

29:18  And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them,

29:19  because they have not hearkened to my words, says Jehovah, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them. But ye would not hear, says Jehovah.

29:20  Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

29:21  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name. Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes.

29:22  And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,

29:23  because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them. And I am he who knows, and am witness, says Jehovah.

29:24  And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shall speak, saying,

29:25  Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou have sent letters in thine own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

29:26  Jehovah has made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Jehovah, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that thou should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

29:27  Now therefore, why have thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,

29:28  inasmuch as he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, It is long. Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them?

29:29  And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

29:30  Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

29:31  Send to all those of the captivity, saying, Thus says Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,

29:32  therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed. He shall not have a man to dwell among this people, nor shall he behold the good that I will do to my people, says Jehovah, because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah.

Chapter 30

30:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

30:2  Thus speaks Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee in a book.

30:3  For, lo, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

30:4  And these are the words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

30:5  For thus says Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

30:6  Ask ye now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

30:7  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

30:8  And it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds. And strangers shall no more make him their bondman,

30:9  but they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

30:10  Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

30:11  For I am with thee, says Jehovah, to save thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee. But I will correct thee in measure, and will in no way leave thee unpunished.

30:12  For thus says Jehovah, Thy hurt is incurable, and thy wound grievous.

30:13  There is none to plead thy cause, that thou may be bound up; thou have no healing medicines.

30:14  All who love thee have forgotten thee; they seek thee not. For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased.

30:15  Why do thou cry for thy hurt? Thy pain is incurable, for the greatness of thine iniquity. Because thy sins were increased, I have done these things to thee.

30:16  Therefore all those who devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity. And those who despoil thee shall be a spoil, and all who prey upon thee I will give for a prey.

30:17  For I will restore health to thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, says Jehovah, because they have called thee an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.

30:18  Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places. And the city shall be built upon its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner.

30:19  And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

30:20  Their sons also shall be as formerly, and their congregation shall be established before me. And I will punish all who oppress them.

30:21  And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them. And I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me. For who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says Jehovah.

30:22  And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

30:23  Behold, the tempest of Jehovah-wrath-has gone forth, a sweeping tempest. It shall burst upon the head of the wicked.

30:24  The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return until he has executed, and till he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days ye shall understand it.

Chapter 31

31:1  At that time, says Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

31:2  Thus says Jehovah: The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

31:3  Jehovah appeared of old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn thee.

31:4  Again I will build thee, and thou shall be built, O virgin of Israel. Again thou shall be adorned with thy tambourine, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.

31:5  Again thou shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant, and shall enjoy it.

31:6  For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion to Jehovah our God.

31:7  For thus says Jehovah: Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Jehovah, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

31:8  Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the outermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind man and the lame man, the woman with child, and she who travails with child together. They shall return here a great company.

31:9  They shall come with weeping. And I will lead them with supplications. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

31:10  Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.

31:11  For Jehovah has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

31:12  And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Jehovah, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

31:13  Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together, for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

31:14  And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Jehovah.

31:15  Thus says Jehovah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

31:16  Thus says Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, says Jehovah, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

31:17  And there is hope for thy latter end, says Jehovah, and thy sons shall come again to their own border.

31:18  I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself saying, Thou have chastised me, and I was chastised as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me back, and I shall be turned back, for thou are Jehovah my God.

31:19  Surely after that I was turned back. I repented, and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

31:20  Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, says Jehovah.

31:21  Set thee up road marks. Make thee guideposts. Set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou went. Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

31:22  How long will thou go here and there, O thou backsliding daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.

31:23  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Yet again they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof when I shall bring again their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness.

31:24  And Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell in there together, the husbandmen, and those who go about with flocks.

31:25  For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul I have replenished.

31:26  Upon this I awoke, and beheld, and my sleep was sweet to me.

31:27  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

31:28  And it shall come to pass that, just as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says Jehovah.

31:29  In those days they shall no more say, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the son's teeth are set on edge.

31:30  But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31:31  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,

31:32  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says Jehovah.

31:33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Jehovah: I will give my laws into their mind, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

31:35  Thus says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar. Jehovah of hosts is his name.

31:36  If these ordinances depart from before me, says Jehovah, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

31:37  Thus says Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Jehovah.

31:38  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

31:39  And the measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.

31:40  And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields, to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to Jehovah. It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.

Chapter 32

32:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

32:2  Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.

32:3  For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do thou prophesy, and say, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

32:4  And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes.

32:5  And he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him, says Jehovah. Though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?

32:6  And Jeremiah said, The word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

32:7  Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come to thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth. For the right of redemption is thine to buy it.

32:8  So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin. For the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine. Buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.

32:9  And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

32:10  And I signed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.

32:11  So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, according to the law and custom, and that which was open,

32:12  and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.

32:13  And I charged Baruch before them, saying,

32:14  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days.

32:15  For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land.

32:16  Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Jehovah, saying,

32:17  Ah lord Jehovah! Behold, thou have made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for thee,

32:18  who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, the great, the mighty God. Jehovah of hosts is his name,

32:19  great in counsel, and mighty in work, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings,

32:20  who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men, and made thee a name, as at this day,

32:21  and brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror,

32:22  and gave them this land, which thou swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

32:23  And they came in, and possessed it, but they obeyed not thy voice, nor walked in thy law. They have done nothing of all that thou commanded them to do. Therefore thou have caused all this evil to come upon them.

32:24  Behold, the mounds. They have come to the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence. And what thou have spoken has come to pass, and, behold, thou see it.

32:25  And thou have said to me, O lord Jehovah, Buy thee the field for money, and call witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

32:26  Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

32:27  Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?

32:28  Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

32:29  And the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

32:30  For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth. For the sons of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Jehovah.

32:31  For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, that I should remove it from before my face,

32:32  because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and of the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their rulers, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

32:33  And they have turned the back to me, and not the face. And though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.

32:34  But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

32:35  And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

32:36  And now therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which ye say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:

32:37  Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation. And I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.

32:38  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

32:39  And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their sons after them.

32:40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. And I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

32:41  Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good. And I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

32:42  For thus says Jehovah: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

32:43  And fields shall be bought in this land, of which ye say, It is desolate, without man or beast. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

32:44  Men shall buy fields for money, and sign the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South. For I will cause their captivity to return, says Jehovah.

Chapter 33

33:1  Moreover the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

33:2  Thus says Jehovah who does it, Jehovah who forms it to establish it; Jehovah is his name:

33:3  Call to me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou know not.

33:4  For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to defend against the mounds and against the sword,

33:5  while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city:

33:6  Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them. And I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.

33:7  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first.

33:8  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. And I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me.

33:9  And this city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it.

33:10  Thus says Jehovah: Yet again there shall be heard in this place-of which ye say, It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast-

33:11  the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his loving kindness is forever, and of those who bring thanksgiving into the house of Jehovah. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Jehovah.

33:12  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Yet again there shall be in this place, which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

33:13  In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Jehovah.

33:14  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.

33:15  In those days, and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

33:16  In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby she shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.

33:17  For thus says Jehovah: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel,

33:18  neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.

33:19  And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

33:20  Thus says Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season,

33:21  then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

33:22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister to me.

33:23  And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

33:24  Consider thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Jehovah chose, he has cast them off? Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

33:25  Thus says Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,

33:26  then I will also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.

Chapter 34

34:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,

34:2  Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

34:3  And thou shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand. And thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shall go to Babylon.

34:4  Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says Jehovah concerning thee, Thou shall not die by the sword;

34:5  thou shall die in peace. And with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee. And they shall lament thee, saying, Ah lord! For I have spoken the word, says Jehovah.

34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah in Jerusalem,

34:7  when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah, fortified cities.

34:8  The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,

34:9  that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that none should make bondmen of them, namely, of a Jew his brother.

34:10  And all the rulers and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his man-servant, and everyone his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more. They obeyed, and let them go.

34:11  But afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

34:12  Therefore the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

34:13  Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,

34:14  At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to thee, and has served thee six years. Thou shall let him go free from thee. But your fathers hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear.

34:15  And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor. And ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name.

34:16  But ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return. And ye brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.

34:17  Therefore thus says Jehovah: Ye have not hearkened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Jehovah-to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. And I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.

34:18  And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it,

34:19  the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf,

34:20  I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.

34:21  And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army that has gone away from you.

34:22  Behold, I will command, says Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

Chapter 35

35:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

35:2  Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

35:3  Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.

35:4  And I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the rulers, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.

35:5  And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink ye wine.

35:6  But they said, We will drink no wine. For Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, forever.

35:7  Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any, but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land in which ye sojourn.

35:8  And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,

35:9  nor to build houses for us to dwell in. Neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed,

35:10  but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

35:11  But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem.

35:12  Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

35:13  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? says Jehovah.

35:14  The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed. And to this day they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment. But I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened to me.

35:15  I have also sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me.

35:16  Inasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not hearkened to me,

35:17  therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard, and I have called to them, but they have not answered.

35:18  And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you,

35:19  therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.

Chapter 36

36:1  And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

36:2  Take thee a roll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to thee, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.

36:3  It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

36:4  Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken to him, upon a roll of a book.

36:5  And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of Jehovah.

36:6  Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou have written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon the fast-day. And also thou shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.

36:7  It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return each one from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah has pronounced against this people.

36:8  And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house.

36:9  Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah.

36:10  Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.

36:11  And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah,

36:12  he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber. And, lo, all the rulers were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the rulers.

36:13  Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.

36:14  Therefore all the rulers sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll from which thou have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came to them.

36:15  And they said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

36:16  Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

36:17  And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How did thou write all these words at his mouth?

36:18  Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.

36:19  Then the rulers said to Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye are.

36:20  And they went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and they told all the words in the ears of the king.

36:21  So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the rulers who stood beside the king.

36:22  Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month, and the brazier was burning before him.

36:23  And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.

36:24  And they were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words.

36:25  Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them.

36:26  And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Jehovah hid them.

36:27  Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,

36:28  Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

36:29  And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shall say, Thus says Jehovah: Thou have burned this roll, saying, Why have thou written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?

36:30  Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David. And his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.

36:31  And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they did not hearken.

36:32  Then Jeremiah took another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire, and there were added besides to them many like words.

Chapter 37

37:1  And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

37:2  But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, hearkened to the words of Jehovah, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

37:3  And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to Jehovah our God for us.

37:4  Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison.

37:5  And Pharaoh's army came forth out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke away from Jerusalem.

37:6  Then the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

37:7  Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.

37:8  And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and they shall take it, and burn it with fire.

37:9  Thus says Jehovah: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us. For they shall not depart.

37:10  For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yea they would rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

37:11  And it came to pass that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken away from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,

37:12  then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there in the midst of the people.

37:13  And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou are falling away to the Chaldeans.

37:14  Then Jeremiah said, It is false. I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not hearken to him. So Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the rulers.

37:15  And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made that the prison.

37:16  When Jeremiah came into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,

37:17  then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him. And the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. He also said, Thou shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

37:18  Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, How have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?

37:19  Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?

37:20  And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king. Let my supplication, I pray thee, be presented before thee, that thou not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

37:21  Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. And they gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

Chapter 38

38:1  And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,

38:2  Thus says Jehovah: He who abides in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live.

38:3  Thus says Jehovah: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

38:4  Then the rulers said to the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death, inasmuch as he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them. For this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.

38:5  And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand, for the king is not he who can do anything against you.

38:6  Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

38:7  Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),

38:8  Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,

38:9  My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the dungeon. And he is likely to die in the place where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.

38:10  Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.

38:11  So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

38:12  And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Now put these rags and worn-out garments under thine armpits under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.

38:13  So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

38:14  Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Jehovah. And the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.

38:15  Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to thee, will thou not surely put me to death? And if I give thee counsel, thou will not hearken to me.

38:16  So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah lives, who made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor will I give thee into the hand of these men who seek thy life.

38:17  Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel. If thou will go forth to the king of Babylon's rulers, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shall live, and thy house.

38:18  But if thou will not go forth to the king of Babylon's rulers, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shall not escape out of their hand.

38:19  And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.

38:20  But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak to thee, so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live.

38:21  But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that Jehovah has shown me:

38:22  Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's rulers. And those women shall say, Thy familiar friends have set upon thee, and have prevailed over thee. Since thy feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned back away.

38:23  And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy sons to the Chaldeans. And thou shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And thou shall cause this city to be burned with fire.

38:24  Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shall not die.

38:25  But if the rulers hear that I have talked with thee, and they come to thee, and say to thee, Declare to us now what thou have said to the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death, also what the king said to thee,

38:26  then thou shall say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house to die there.

38:27  Then all the rulers came to Jeremiah, and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived.

38:28  So Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

Chapter 39

39:1  And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.

39:2  In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.

39:3  And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, to wit, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

39:4  And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls, and he went out toward the Arabah.

39:5  But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him.

39:6  Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah.

39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon.

39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

39:9  Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the residue of the people that remained.

39:10  But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

39:11  Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,

39:12  Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm, but do to him even as he shall say to thee.

39:13  So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon.

39:14  And they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he dwelt among the people.

39:15  Now the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

39:16  Go, and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before thee in that day.

39:17  But I will deliver thee in that day, says Jehovah, and thou shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou are afraid.

39:18  For I will surely save thee, and thou shall not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey to thee, because thou have put thy trust in me, says Jehovah.

Chapter 40

40:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were carried away captive to Babylon.

40:2  And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, Jehovah thy God pronounced this evil upon this place,

40:3  and Jehovah has brought it, and done according as he spoke. Because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.

40:4  And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which are upon thy hand. If it seem good to thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well to thee, but if it seems ill to thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear. Behold, all the land is before thee, where it seems good and right to thee to go, there go.

40:5  Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back then to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people, or go wherever it seems right to thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go.

40:6  Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.

40:7  Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and sons, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon,

40:8  then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

40:9  And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

40:10  As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who shall come to us. But ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.

40:11  Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the sons of Ammon, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,

40:12  then all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered very much wine and summer fruits.

40:13  Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,

40:14  and said to him, Do thou know that Baalis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take thy life? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

40:15  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it. Why should he take thy life, that all the Jews who are gathered to thee should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?

40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shall not do this thing, for thou speak falsely of Ishmael.

Chapter 41

41:1  Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.

41:2  Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

41:3  Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, namely, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

41:4  And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it,

41:5  that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaven and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Jehovah.

41:6  And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went. And it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.

41:7  And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men who were with him.

41:8  But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Kill us not, for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he held back, and did not kill them among their brothers.

41:9  Now the pit in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain by the side of Gedaliah (the same was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel), Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.

41:10  Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the sons of Ammon.

41:11  But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

41:12  then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.

41:13  Now it came to pass that, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad.

41:14  So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.

41:15  But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the sons of Ammon.

41:16  Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, namely, the men of war, and the women, and the sons, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.

41:17  And they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt

41:18  because of the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

Chapter 42

42:1  Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near,

42:2  and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we pray thee, our supplication be presented before thee, and pray for us to Jehovah thy God, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us,

42:3  that Jehovah thy God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do.

42:4  Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to Jehovah your God according to your words, and it shall come to pass that whatever thing Jehovah shall answer you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.

42:5  Then they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not according to all the word with which Jehovah thy God shall send thee to us.

42:6  Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God.

42:7  And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah.

42:8  Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

42:9  and said to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him:

42:10  If ye will still abide in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up, for I relent of the evil that I have done to you.

42:11  Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid. Be not afraid of him, says Jehovah, for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

42:12  And I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

42:13  But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, so that ye do not obey the voice of Jehovah your God,

42:14  saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread, and we will dwell there-

42:15  Now therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: If ye indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there,

42:16  then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which ye are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt, and there ye shall die.

42:17  So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.

42:18  For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt. And ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. And ye shall see this place no more.

42:19  Jehovah has spoken concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Go ye not into Egypt. Know certainly that I have testified to you this day.

42:20  For ye have dealt deceitfully against your own souls. For ye sent me to Jehovah your God, saying, Pray for us to Jehovah our God, and according to all that Jehovah our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it.

42:21  And I have this day declared it to you. But ye have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah your God in anything for which he has sent me to you.

42:22  Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where ye desire to go to sojourn there.

Chapter 43

43:1  And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, with which Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

43:2  then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, spoke, saying to Jeremiah, Thou speak falsely. Jehovah our God has not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there.

43:3  But Baruch the son of Neriah set upon thee against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.

43:4  So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah.

43:5  But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who were returned from all the nations where they had been driven to sojourn in the land of Judah,

43:6  the men, and the women, and the sons, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah,

43:7  and they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah. And they came to Tahpanhes.

43:8  Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

43:9  Take great stones in thy hand, and hide them in mortar in the brickwork, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah,

43:10  and say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid, and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

43:11  And he shall come, and shall smite the land of Egypt, such as are for death, to death, and such as are for captivity, to captivity, and such as are for the sword, to the sword.

43:12  And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go forth from there in peace.

43:13  He shall also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh that is in the land of Egypt. And the houses of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.

Chapter 44

44:1  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

44:2  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah. And, behold, this day they are a desolation. And no man dwells therein

44:3  because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, that they knew not, neither they, nor ye, nor your fathers.

44:4  However I sent all my servants the prophets to you, rising up early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate.

44:5  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.

44:6  Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.

44:7  Therefore now thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do ye commit this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you none remaining,

44:8  in that ye provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where ye have gone to sojourn, that ye may be cut off, and that ye may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

44:9  Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

44:10  They are not humbled even to this day. Neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.

44:11  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.

44:12  And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall. They shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

44:13  For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence,

44:14  so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there. For none shall return except such as shall escape.

44:15  Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

44:16  As for the word that thou have spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken to thee.

44:17  But we will certainly perform every word that has gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

44:18  But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

44:19  And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?

44:20  Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,

44:21  The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your rulers, and the people of the land, did Jehovah not remember them, and did it not come into his mind?

44:22  So that Jehovah could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

44:23  Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day.

44:24  Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt:

44:25  Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.

44:26  Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says Jehovah, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the lord Jehovah lives.

44:27  Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them.

44:28  And those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number. And all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs.

44:29  And this shall be the sign to you, says Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

44:30  Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.

Chapter 45

45:1  The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these word in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

45:2  Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to thee, O Baruch:

45:3  Thou said, Woe is me now! For Jehovah has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.

45:4  Thus thou shall say to him, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, that which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, and this in the whole land.

45:5  And do thou seek great things for thyself? Seek them not, for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says Jehovah, but thy life I will give to thee for a prey in all places where thou go.

Chapter 46

46:1  The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

46:2  Of Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

46:3  Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

46:4  Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets. Furbish the spears. Put on the coats of mail.

46:5  Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward. And their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and do not look back. Terror is on every side, says Jehovah.

46:6  Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.

46:7  Who is this that rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?

46:8  Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. And he says, I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.

46:9  Go up, ye horses, and rage, ye chariots. And let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.

46:10  For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries. And the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood, for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

46:11  Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain do thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.

46:12  The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry. For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; they are fallen, both of them together.

46:13  The word that Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

46:14  Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes. Say ye, Stand forth, and prepare thee, for the sword has devoured round about thee.

46:15  Why are thy strong ones swept away? They stood not, because Jehovah drove them.

46:16  He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another. And they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

46:17  They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise. He has let the appointed time pass by.

46:18  As I live, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

46:19  O thou daughter who dwells in Egypt, prepare thyself to go into captivity. For Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.

46:20  Egypt is a very fair heifer, but destruction out of the north has come, it has come.

46:21  Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their visitation.

46:22  The sound thereof shall go like the serpent, for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

46:23  They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.

46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

46:25  Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.

46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. And afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says Jehovah.

46:27  But fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah, for I am with thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee. But I will correct thee in measure, and will in no way leave thee unpunished.

Chapter 47

47:1  The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza.

47:2  Thus says Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. And the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail

47:3  at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels. The fathers do not look back to their sons for feebleness of hands,

47:4  because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains. For Jehovah will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.

47:5  Baldness has come upon Gaza. Ashkelon is brought to naught, the remnant of their valley. How long will thou cut thyself?

47:6  O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard. Rest, and be still.

47:7  How can thou be quiet, since Jehovah has given thee a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore. He has appointed it there.

Chapter 48

48:1  Of Moab. Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is taken. Misgab is put to shame and broken down.

48:2  The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O madmen, shall be brought to silence. The sword shall pursue thee.

48:3  The sound of a cry from Horonaim: Desolation and great destruction!

48:4  Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

48:5  For they shall go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping, for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

48:6  Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.

48:7  For, because thou have trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his rulers together.

48:8  And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as Jehovah has spoken.

48:9  Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away. And her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.

48:10  Cursed be he who does the work of Jehovah negligently, and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.

48:11  Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.

48:12  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off. And they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.

48:13  And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.

48:14  How can ye say, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?

48:15  Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.

48:16  The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hastens fast.

48:17  All ye who are round about him, bemoan him, and all ye who know his name, say, How the strong staff has broken, the beautiful rod!

48:18  O thou daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against thee. He has destroyed thy strongholds.

48:19  O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes. Say, What has been done?

48:20  Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down. Wail and cry, tell ye it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.

48:21  And judgment has come upon the plain country: upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath,

48:22  and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim,

48:23  and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,

48:24  and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

48:25  The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Jehovah.

48:26  Make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against Jehovah. And Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

48:27  For was not Israel a derision to thee? Was he found among thieves? For as often as thou speak of him, thou wag the head.

48:28  O ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of an abyss.

48:29  We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud, his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.

48:30  I know his wrath, says Jehovah, that it is nothing. His boastings have wrought nothing.

48:31  Therefore I will wail for Moab, yea, I will cry out for all Moab. For they shall mourn the men of Kir-heres.

48:32  With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah. Thy branches passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.

48:33  And gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses. None shall tread with shouting. The shouting shall be no shouting.

48:34  From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.

48:35  Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Jehovah, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.

48:36  Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished.

48:37  For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. Upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

48:38  On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a vessel of which none delights, says Jehovah.

48:39  How it is broken down! How they do wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So Moab shall become a derision and a horror to all who are round about him.

48:40  For thus says Jehovah: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.

48:41  Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

48:42  And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Jehovah.

48:43  Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, says Jehovah.

48:44  He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For I will bring upon him, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says Jehovah.

48:45  Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon. For a fire has gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

48:46  Woe to thee, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone, for thy sons are taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity.

48:47  Yet I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Chapter 49

49:1  Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says Jehovah: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?

49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall possess those who possessed him, says Jehovah.

49:3  Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah. Gird you with sackcloth. Lament, and run to and fro among the fences. For Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his rulers together.

49:4  Why do thou glory in the valleys, thy flowing valley? O backsliding daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?

49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, from all who are round about thee. And ye shall be driven out every man straight forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives.

49:6  But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, says Jehovah.

49:7  Of Edom. Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?

49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan. For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I shall visit him.

49:9  If grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?

49:10  But I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors, and he is not.

49:11  Leave thy fatherless sons; I will preserve them alive. And let thy widows trust in me.

49:12  For thus says Jehovah: Behold, those to whom it did not pertain to drink of the cup shall assuredly drink. And are thou he who shall go altogether unpunished? Thou shall not go unpunished, but thou shall surely drink.

49:13  For I have sworn by myself, says Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

49:14  I have heard news from Jehovah. And an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

49:15  For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, and despised among men.

49:16  As for thy formidableness, the pride of thy heart has deceived thee, O thou who dwells in the clefts of the rock, who holds the height of the hill. Though thou should make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from there, says Jehovah.

49:17  And Edom shall become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues of it.

49:18  As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, says Jehovah, no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in it.

49:19  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation. For I will suddenly make them run away from it. And he who is chosen, him I will appoint over it. For who is like me, and who will appoint a time for me, and who is the shepherd who will stand before me?

49:20  Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.

49:21  The earth trembles at the noise of their fall. There is a cry; the noise of it is heard in the Red Sea.

49:22  Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

49:23  Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad, for they have heard evil news. They are melted away. There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

49:24  Damascus has grown feeble. She turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.

49:25  How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?

49:26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Jehovah of hosts.

49:27  And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

49:28  Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote. Thus says Jehovah: Arise ye. Go up to Kedar, and destroy the sons of the east.

49:29  They shall take their tents and their flocks. They shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels. And they shall cry to them, Terror on every side!

49:30  Flee ye. Wander far off. Dwell in the depths, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, says Jehovah. For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.

49:31  Arise, get you up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without worry, says Jehovah, that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone.

49:32  And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil. And I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their hair cut off. And I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Jehovah.

49:33  And Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn therein.

49:34  The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

49:35  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

49:36  And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds. And there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

49:37  And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life. And I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says Jehovah. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.

49:38  And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and rulers, says Jehovah.

49:39  But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam, says Jehovah.

Chapter 50

50:1  The word that Jehovah spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

50:2  Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard, publish, and conceal not. Say, Babylon is taken. Bel is put to shame. Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame; her idols are dismayed.

50:3  For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein. They are fled. They are gone, both man and beast.

50:4  In those days, and in that time, says Jehovah, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together. They shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God.

50:5  They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces toward it, saying, Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.

50:6  My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting-place.

50:7  All who found them have devoured them, and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.

50:8  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.

50:9  For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country, and they shall set themselves in array against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.

50:10  And Chaldea shall be a prey. All who prey upon her shall be satisfied, says Jehovah.

50:11  Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye who plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses,

50:12  your mother shall be utterly put to shame. She who bore you shall be confounded. Behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

50:13  Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

50:14  Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye who bend the bow. Shoot at her; spare no arrows. For she has sinned against Jehovah.

50:15  Shout against her round about. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks are fallen. Her walls are thrown down. For it is the vengeance of Jehovah. Take vengeance upon her. As she has done, do to her.

50:16  Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn each one to his people, and they shall flee each one to his own land.

50:17  Israel is a hunted sheep, the lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.

50:18  Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

50:19  And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

50:20  In those days, and in that time, says Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found. For I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

50:21  Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them, says Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

50:22  A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

50:23  How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

50:24  I have laid a snare for thee, and thou are also taken, O Babylon, and thou were not aware. Thou are found, and also caught, because thou have striven against Jehovah.

50:25  Jehovah has opened his armory, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation, for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, has a work in the land of the Chaldeans.

50:26  Come against her from the utmost border. Open her store-houses. Cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.

50:27  Kill all her bullocks. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.

50:28  The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple.

50:29  Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her round about; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.

50:30  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Jehovah.

50:31  Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, for thy day has come, the time that I will visit thee.

50:32  And the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are round about him.

50:33  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together, and all who took them captive hold them firm; they refuse to let them go.

50:34  Their Redeemer is strong. Jehovah of hosts is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

50:35  A sword is upon the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her rulers, and upon her wise men.

50:36  A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall become fools. A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.

50:37  A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mixed people who are in the midst of her, and they shall become as women. A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed.

50:38  A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols.

50:39  Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein. And it shall no more be inhabited forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

50:40  As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, says Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in it.

50:41  Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the outermost parts of the earth.

50:42  They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

50:43  The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

50:44  Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation. For I will suddenly make them run away from it, and he who is chosen, him I will appoint over it. For who is like me, and who will appoint a time for me, and who is the shepherd who can stand before me?

50:45  Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he has taken against Babylon, and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.

50:46  At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.

Chapter 51

51:1  Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.

51:2  And I will send strangers to Babylon, who shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

51:3  Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. And spare ye not her young men. Destroy ye utterly all her host.

51:4  And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

51:5  For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life. Be not cut off in her iniquity, for it is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.

51:7  Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunken. The nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad.

51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her. Take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

51:9  We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each one into his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

51:10  Jehovah has brought forth our righteousness. Come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.

51:11  Make sharp the arrows. Hold firm the shields. Jehovah has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.

51:12  Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon. Make the watch strong. Set the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For Jehovah has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

51:13  O thou who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end has come, the measure of thy covetousness.

51:14  Jehovah of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with the canker-worm, and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

51:15  He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

51:16  When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

51:17  Every man has become brutish, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

51:18  They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they shall perish.

51:19  The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of hosts is his name.

51:20  Thou are my battle-axe and weapons of war. And with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms,

51:21  and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider,

51:22  and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides in it, and with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the youth, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin,

51:23  and with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces governors and deputies.

51:24  And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Jehovah.

51:25  Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, which destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

51:26  And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shall be desolate forever, says Jehovah.

51:27  Set ye up a standard in the land. Blow the trumpet among the nations. Prepare the nations against her. Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.

51:28  Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors of it, and all the deputies of it, and all the land of their dominion.

51:29  And the land trembles and is in pain, for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

51:30  The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling-places are set on fire. Her bars are broken.

51:31  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.

51:32  And the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.

51:33  For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.

51:34  Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has cast me out.

51:35  The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, the inhabitant of Zion shall say. And, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, Jerusalem shall say.

51:36  Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee. And I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.

51:38  They shall roar together like young lions. They shall growl as lions' whelps.

51:39  When they are heated, I will make their feast. And I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says Jehovah.

51:40  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

51:41  How Sheshach is taken, and the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

51:42  The sea has come up upon Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

51:43  Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass thereby.

51:44  And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. And the nations shall not flow any more to him. Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

51:45  My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves each man from the fierce anger of Jehovah.

51:46  And let not your heart faint. Neither fear ye for the news that shall be heard in the land. For news shall come one year, and after that in another year, news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

51:47  Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the graven images of Babylon. And her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

51:48  Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon. For the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says Jehovah.

51:49  As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

51:50  Ye who have escaped the sword, go ye; do not stand still. Remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

51:51  We are confounded, because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces. For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house.

51:52  Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

51:53  Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me destroyers shall come to her, says Jehovah.

51:54  The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

51:55  For Jehovah lays Babylon waste, and destroys the great voice out of her, and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered.

51:56  For the destroyer has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces. For Jehovah is a God of recompenses; he will surely requite.

51:57  And I will make drunk her rulers and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.

51:58  Thus says Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. And the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire, and they shall be weary.

51:59  The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain.

51:60  And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

51:61  And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou come to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words.

51:62  And say, O Jehovah, thou have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever.

51:63  And it shall be, when thou have made an end of reading this book, that thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.

51:64  And thou shall say, Thus Babylon shall sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Chapter 52

52:1  Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

52:2  And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

52:3  For it came to pass through the anger of Jehovah, in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

52:4  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem, and encamped against it. And they built forts against it round about.

52:5  So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

52:6  In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

52:7  Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden, (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about), and they went toward the Arabah.

52:8  But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.

52:9  Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him.

52:10  And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah.

52:11  And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

52:12  Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

52:13  And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Even every great house, he burned with fire.

52:14  And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

52:15  Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

52:16  But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

52:17  And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

52:18  The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away.

52:19  And the cups, and the fire pans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls-that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver-the captain of the guard took away.

52:20  The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah-the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

52:21  And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed it, and the thickness of it was four fingers; it was hollow.

52:22  And a capital of brass was upon it. And the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass. And the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.

52:23  And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. All the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network round about.

52:24  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.

52:25  And from the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war, and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

52:26  And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

52:27  And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

52:28  This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: In the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews.

52:29  In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons.

52:30  In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.

52:31  And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison.

52:32  And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

52:33  and changed his prison garments. And he ate bread before him continually all the days of his life.

52:34  And for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.