AFV2020 - 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 the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

1:3  It also came 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 exiling of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

1:4  And it came to pass, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

1:5  "Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I consecrated you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

1:6  Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak; for I am a youth."

1:7  But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

1:8  Do not be afraid of their faces; for I am with you to deliver you," said the LORD.

1:9  And the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

1:10  See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."

1:11  And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree."

1:12  And the LORD said to me, "You have seen well; for I will watch over My Word to perform it."

1:13  And the Word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot; and its face is from the north."

1:14  And the LORD said to me, "Out of the north the disaster will be set loose on all the inhabitants of the land.

1:15  For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north," says the LORD. "And they shall come, and they shall each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its wall all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

1:16  And I will pronounce My judgments against them regarding all their wickedness in that they have forsaken Me, and burning incense to other gods, and worshiping the works of their own hands.

1:17  You therefore must gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them.

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

1:19  And they shall fight against you; but they shall not overcome you. For I am with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you."

Chapter 2

2:1  And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2:2  "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothals, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

2:3  Israel was holiness to the LORD, and the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come on them," says the LORD.' ”

2:4  Hear the Word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

2:5  Thus says the LORD, "What injustice 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 the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of dry places, and of deep darkness, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man lived?'

2:7  And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My inheritance an abomination.

2:8  The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And they who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.

2:9  Therefore I will contend with you," says the LORD, "and against your children's children I will contend.

2:10  For pass over the coasts of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and carefully consider, and see if there has ever been such a thing as this.

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

2:12  Be amazed, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be utterly desolated," says the LORD,

2:13  "For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

2:14  Is Israel a servant? Or is he a servant of the house? Why has he become a prey?

2:15  The young lions roared against him; they gave their voice. And they made his land a waste; his cities are burned without inhabitant.

2:16  Also the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.

2:17  Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when He led you by the way?

2:18  And now what profit is there in going the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what have you to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

2:19  Your own evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you; therefore know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that My fear is not in you," says the Lord GOD of hosts.

2:20  "For of old time you broke your yoke and tore up your bonds; and you said, 'I will not serve,' yea, upon every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a harlot.

2:21  Yet I planted you a noble vine, wholly a true seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of an alien vine to Me?

2:22  For though you wash yourself with potash, and multiply soap for yourself, yet your iniquity is marked before Me," declares the Lord GOD.

2:23  "How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baalim'? See your way in the valley, know what you have done! You are a swift camel traversing its ways;

2:24  A wild donkey used to the wilderness; in the desire of her passion she snuffs at the wind; in her time of mating who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they will find her.

2:25  Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'There is no hope; no; for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'

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

2:27  Saying to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' 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 your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.

2:29  Why will you contend with Me? You all have sinned against Me," says the LORD.

2:30  "In vain I have stricken your children; they received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

2:31  O generation, see the Word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, 'We roam freely; we will come no more to You'?

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 you carefully plan your way to seek love. Therefore, even the wicked women you have taught your ways.

2:34  Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; though you did not catch them breaking in.

2:35  Yet, in spite of all these things you say, 'Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.' Behold, I will pass judgment on you because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

2:36  Why do you go about so much to change your way? You also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

2:37  Yes, you shall go out from this place, with your hands on your head. For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them."

Chapter 3

3:1  "They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again?' Would not then that land be greatly defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me," declares the LORD.

3:2  "Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see, where have you not been lain with? By the highways you have sat for them, like the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have defiled the land with your fornications and with your wickedness.

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

3:4  Will you not from this time cry to Me, 'My Father, You are the guide of my youth'?

3:5  You ask, 'Will He keep His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end?' Behold, this is how you talk, but you do evil, and have had your way."

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

3:7  And I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to Me!' But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

3:8  And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce to her, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and played the harlot also.

3:9  And it came to pass through the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and stocks.

3:10  And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with deception," says the LORD.

3:11  And the LORD said to me, "The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

3:12  Go and cry these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, O backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'and I will not cause My anger to fall on you; for I am merciful,' says the LORD, 'and I will not keep My anger forever.

3:13  Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God and have scattered your ways to strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,' " says the LORD.

3:14  "Turn, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am your husband; and I will take you one from a city, and two from 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 will be when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says the LORD, "they shall say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD!' Nor shall it come to mind; nor shall they remember it; nor shall they visit it; nor shall it be made any more.

3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. Nor 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 have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

3:19  But I said, 'How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance among the hosts of nations?' And I said, 'You shall call Me, "My Father," and shall not turn away from Me.'

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

3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places weeping and supplications of the children of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

3:22  "Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." "Behold, we come to You; for You are the LORD our God.

3:23  Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the high hills, from the multitude of mountains. Truly, in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

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

3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

Chapter 4

4:1  "If you will return, O Israel," says the LORD, "Return to Me. And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be removed,

4:2  And will swear, ' As the LORD lives,' in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; then the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory."

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

4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem; lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that none can put it out; because of the evil of your doings."

4:5  Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, "Blow the ram's horn in the land; cry, gather together, and say, 'Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities.'

4:6  Set up the banner toward Zion; flee for safety and do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction."

4:7  The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant.

4:8  Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us.

4:9  "And it shall come to pass at that day," says the LORD, "the king's heart will perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests will be amazed, and the prophets will be astounded."

4:10  Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace,' whereas a sword reaches to the soul."

4:11  At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind blows from the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse.

4:12  But, a wind more powerful than these shall come from Me. Now also I will utter judgments against them."

4:13  Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!

4:14  O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?

4:15  For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.

4:16  "Tell it to the nations: Behold! Proclaim against Jerusalem! Besiegers are going to come from a distant land; and they will set their voice against the cities of Judah.

4:17  Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around; because she rebelled against Me," says the LORD.

4:18  "Your way and your doings have brought these things upon you; this is your evil, how bitter it is! How it pierces into your heart."

4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram's horn, the alarm of war.

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

4:21  How long shall I see the banner of war and hear the sound of the ram's horn?

4:22  "For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."

4:23  I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, they had no light.

4:24  I looked on the mountains, and, lo, they quaked; and all the hills were shaken.

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

4:26  I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the face of the LORD, by His fierce anger.

4:27  For thus has the LORD said, "The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end.

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

4:29  Every city shall flee from the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and not a man shall dwell in them.

4:30  And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you dress with crimson, though you put on ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes large with paint, you shall make yourself beautiful in vain; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life.

4:31  For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, 'Woe to me now! For my life is given to the murderers.' ”

Chapter 5

5:1  "Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her.

5:2  And though they say, 'As the LORD lives;' surely they swear falsely."

5:3  O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have destroyed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.

5:4  Therefore I said, "Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

5:5  I will go up for myself to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD and the judgment of their God." But these had altogether broken the yoke and had torn off the bonds!

5:6  Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, and a wolf of the deserts shall rob them; a leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from them shall be torn in pieces because their sins are many and their backslidings are multiplied.

5:7  "How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and have sworn by them that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and gathered themselves by troops in a harlot's house.

5:8  They were like lusty, well-fed stallions in the morning; every one neighing after his neighbor's wife.

5:9  Shall I not punish for these things?" says the LORD. "And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

5:10  Go up upon her walls and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not the LORD'S.

5:11  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very deceitfully against Me," says the LORD.

5:12  They have lied against the LORD and said, "It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; nor shall we see sword nor famine.

5:13  And the prophets shall become as wind, for the word is not in them; thus it shall be done to them."

5:14  Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

5:15  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say.

5:16  Their quiver is as an open grave; they are all mighty men.

5:17  And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, your sons and your daughters they shall eat up. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified cities with the sword.

5:18  But even in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a complete end with you.

5:19  And it will be, when they shall ask, 'Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?' Then you shall answer them, 'Just as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.' ”

5:20  "Declare this in the house of Jacob, and cry it in Judah, saying,

5:21  'Now hear this, O foolish people and without understanding; who have eyes and see not; who have ears and hear not;

5:22  Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD. 'Will you not tremble at My presence, even I Who have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a never-ending decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though they toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though its waves roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

5:23  But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and are departed from Me.

5:24  And they do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season; He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest."

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

5:26  For among My people are found wicked ones; they lie in wait, as one who sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

5:27  Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich.

5:28  They have become fat, they have become sleek. Yea, they excel in evil deeds; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and they do not defend the right of the needy.

5:29  Shall I not punish for these things?' says the LORD. 'Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

5:30  An astounding and horrible thing has happened 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 you do at the end of it?' ”

Chapter 6

6:1  "O children of Benjamin, flee for safety out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the ram's horn in Tekoa, and set up a signal-fire over Beth Haccerem; for evil appears out of the north, and great destruction comes.

6:2  I will destroy the daughter of Zion, the beautiful and tender one.

6:3  The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch tents against her all around; they shall graze each one his portion."

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

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

6:6  For thus has the LORD of hosts said, "Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

6:7  As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; continually before Me are grief and wounds.

6:8  O Jerusalem, take warning, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land without people."

6:9  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; pass your hand again as a grape gatherer over the branches."

6:10  "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the Word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

6:11  Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in; pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken as well as the aged with fullness of days.

6:12  And their houses shall be turned over to others, together with their fields and wives; for I will stretch out My hand on the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD.

6:13  "For everyone from the least of them even to the greatest of them is greedy for gain; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone deals falsely.

6:14  They have also healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, 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 punish them, they shall be cast down," says the LORD.

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

6:17  Also I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Hearken to the sound of the ram's horn.' But they said, 'We will not hearken.'

6:18  Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

6:19  Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkened to My words, nor to My law, but have rejected it.

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

6:21  Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish."

6:22  Thus says the LORD, "Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the ends of the earth.

6:23  They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, arrayed in battle order like men for war against you, O daughter of Zion."

6:24  We have heard the report of it; our hands become feeble; anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, like a woman in labor.

6:25  Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear are on every side.

6:26  O daughter of my people put on sackcloth, and wallow in ashes; make mourning for yourself, as for an only son, a most bitter lament; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us.

6:27  "I have made you like an assayer, and an examiner among My people, that you may know and try their way.

6:28  They are all grievous revolters, walking in slanders; they are bronze and iron; they are all corrupters.

6:29  The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is melted by the fire; the refiner melts in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away.

6:30  Rejected silver men call them because the LORD has rejected them."

Chapter 7

7:1  The Word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

7:2  "Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this Word, and say, 'Hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.' ”

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

7:4  Do not trust in lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'

7:5  For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor;

7:6  If you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your hurt;

7:7  Then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.

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

7:9  Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know;

7:10  And then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?

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

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

7:13  And now because you have done all these works," says the LORD, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer;

7:14  Therefore I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

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

7:16  Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.

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

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

7:19  Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?"

7:20  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; "Behold, My anger and My fury shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be put out."

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

7:22  For I did not speak to your fathers, or command 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, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you.'

7:24  But they did not obey, nor bow their ear, but walked in their own counsels, in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.

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

7:26  Yet they did not hearken to Me, nor bow down their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

7:27  Thus you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not hearken to you; you shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

7:28  But you shall say to them, 'This is a nation which does not obey the voice of the LORD their God, nor receives correction; truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

7:29  Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the high places. For the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.'

7:30  For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.

7:31  They have built the high places of Tophet, 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 them, nor did it even come into My mind.

7:32  Therefore, behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Tophet, until there is no place left.

7:33  And the 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 the voice of gladness to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate."

Chapter 8

8:1  "At that time," says the LORD, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the heavens, whom they have loved and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth.

8:3  And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the LORD of hosts.

8:4  "And you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD; "Shall they fall and not arise? Shall one turn away and not repent?

8:5  Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a never-ending backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to repent.

8:6  I listened and heard, but they did not speak right; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned in their own courses, as the horse rushes into the battle.

8:7  Yea, the stork in heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their migration; but my people do not know the judgment of the LORD.

8:8  How do you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsely.

8:9  The wise men are ashamed, they are terrified, and are captured. Lo, they have turned away from the Word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?

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

8:11  For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace;' when there is no peace.

8:12  Were they ashamed when they had committed an 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 the LORD.

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

8:14  "Why do we sit still? Gather yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us perish there. For the LORD our God has doomed us and has given us poisonous water to drink because we have sinned against the LORD.

8:15  We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, but behold, trouble!

8:16  The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his stallions. For they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who live in it."

8:17  "For, behold, I will send serpents and vipers among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you," says the LORD.

8:18  When I would comfort myself against sorrow, even my heart is faint within me.

8:19  Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: " Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?" "Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with strange vanities?"

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

8:21  For the shattering of the daughter of my people have I been shattered (in heart). I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.

8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of My people not come?

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 for traveling men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

9:3  "And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. But they are not valiant for the truth on the earth; for they go from evil to evil, and they do not know Me," says the LORD.

9:4  "Everyone beware of his neighbor, and do not trust any brother! For every brother will supplant his neighbor, and will walk with slanders.

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

9:6  Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD.

9:7  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I will refine them and try them; for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?

9:8  Their tongue is a slaughtering arrow; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in ambush.

9:9  Shall I not visit them for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

9:10  I will take up a weeping and a wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness; because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; 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 a heap of ruins, a den of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah desolation, without a living soul."

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

9:13  And the LORD says, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, and have not walked in it,

9:14  But they have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them."

9:15  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water.

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

9:17  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Think carefully, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. And send for the wise women, that they may come;

9:18  And let them make haste and take up a weeping for us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and waters flow from our eyelids.

9:19  For a voice of weeping is heard out of Zion. 'How are we plundered! We are greatly ashamed because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.' ”

9:20  Yet hear the Word of the LORD, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters to weep, and each one teach her neighbor to mourn.

9:21  For death has come up into our windows, and has entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the street and the young men from the town squares.

9:22  Speak, "Thus says the LORD, 'Even the bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the fallen grain after the reaper; and none shall gather them.' ”

9:23  Thus says the LORD, "Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might; do not let the rich man glory in his riches;

9:24  But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these I delight," says the LORD.

9:25  "Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh.

9:26  Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair polled, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are not circumcised, and all the house of Israel, are not circumcised in heart."

Chapter 10

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

10:2  Thus says the LORD, "Do not learn the way of the heathen, and do not be terrified at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are terrified at them.

10:3  For the customs of the people are vain; for one cuts a tree out of the forest with the axe, the work of the hands of the workman.

10:4  They adorn it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not move.

10:5  They are upright as the palm tree , but cannot speak. They must surely be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil nor good, for it is not in them."

10:6  Therefore there is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and Your name is great in might.

10:7  Who would not fear You, O King of nations? For fear belongs to You because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.

10:8  But they are altogether foolish and animal-like; the tree is a doctrine of vanities.

10:9  Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the goldsmith. Violet and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful ones.

10:10  But the LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to stand His fury.

10:11  Thus you shall say to them, "The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens."

10:12  He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His judgment.

10:13  When He utters His voice, there is a noise of a multitude of waters in the heavens. "He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures."

10:14  Every man is stupid for lack of knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.

10:15  They are vanity, the work of delusion; in the time of their judgment they shall perish.

10:16  The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the LORD of hosts is His name.

10:17  Gather up your bundle from the ground, you who live in the siege.

10:18  For thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will sling out the people of the land at this time, and will distress them, so that they may find Me."

10:19  Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is grievous; but I said, "Truly this is a malady, and I must bear it."

10:20  "My tabernacle is ravaged, and all my cords are broken; My sons went away from me, and they are not. There is none to stretch out My tabernacle any more, and to set up My curtains.

10:21  For the pastors have become stupid, and have not sought the LORD, therefore they shall not be blessed, and all their flocks shall be scattered."

10:22  Behold, the noise of the rumor has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a den of jackals.

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

10:24  O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

10:25  Pour out Your fury on the nations who do not know You, and on the families who do not call on Your name; for they have eaten up Jacob and have devoured him, and have destroyed him, and have made his dwelling desolate.

Chapter 11

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

11:2  "Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem.

11:3  And say to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Cursed is the man who does not obey 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, from the iron furnace, saying, 'Obey My voice and do according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God;'

11:5  So that I may fulfill the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' as it is this day."’ " Then I answered and said, "Amen, O LORD."

11:6  Then the LORD said to me, "Declare all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Hear the words of this covenant, and do them,

11:7  For I earnestly forewarned your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and warning persistently, saying, "Obey My voice.”

11:8  Yet they did not obey nor bow down their ear, but walked each one in the imagination of his evil heart. So I will bring on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did not do them.' ”

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

11:10  They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words. And they went 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  Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to Me, I will not hear them.

11:12  Then shall the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

11:13  For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

11:14  And you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them when they call to Me in the time of their distress.

11:15  What has My beloved to do in My house, since she has committed lewdness with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.

11:16  The LORD called your name, a green olive tree, fair, with fine fruit. With the sound of a great storm He has set fire to it, and its branches are worthless.

11:17  For the LORD of hosts who planted you has spoken evil against you, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves to provoke Me to anger by offering incense to Baal."

11:18  And the LORD has given me knowledge of it, and I knew. Then You showed me their doings.

11:19  But I was like a docile lamb being brought to the slaughter. And I did not know that they had plotted devised plots against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more."

11:20  But, O LORD of hosts Who judges righteously, Who tries the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them. For to You I have committed my cause.

11:21  "Therefore thus says the LORD of the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, that you do not die by our hand.'

11:22  Therefore thus says the LORD 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 of them. For I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, in the year of their judgment.' ”

Chapter 12

12:1  Righteous are You, O LORD, that I might plead with You; yet let me speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they happy who deal treacherously?

12:2  You have planted them; yea, they take root. They grow, yea, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their reins.

12:3  But You, O LORD, know me. You have seen me and tried my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and devote them for the day of slaughter.

12:4  How long shall the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither from the evil of those who dwell in it? The beasts and the birds have been destroyed because they said, "He shall not see our final end."

12:5  "If you have run with footmen, and they wore you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if you feel secure in the land of peace, how then will you do in the thick brush of the Jordan?

12:6  For even your brethren and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you. Yea, they have called aloud against you. Do not believe them, even if they speak good things to you.

12:7  I have forsaken My house; I have left My inheritance. I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.

12:8  My inheritance is to Me as a lion in the forest; she cries out against Me; therefore I have hated her.

12:9  My inheritance is like a speckled bird to Me; the birds all around are against her. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.

12:10  Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled 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 on all the high places through the wilderness; for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh shall have peace.

12:13  They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns. They wear themselves out, but they do not profit. And they shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD."

12:14  Thus says the LORD, "Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

12:15  And it shall come to pass after I have plucked them out, I will return and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, each man to his inheritance 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 the LORD lives;' as they taught the people to swear by Baal; then they shall be built in the midst of My people.

12:17  But if they will not obey, I will utterly uproot and destroy that nation," says the LORD.

Chapter 13

13:1  Thus says the LORD to me, "Go and buy for yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water."

13:2  So I bought a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.

13:3  And the Word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

13:4  "Take the girdle that you bought, which is on your loins, and arise. Go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock."

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

13:6  And it came to pass at the end of many days the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there."

13:7  Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And, behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was not good for anything.

13:8  Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

13:9  "Thus says the LORD, 'In this way I will spoil 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 walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.

13:11  For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,' says the LORD; 'so that they might 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 you will speak unto them this word, 'Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, "Every wineskin shall be filled with wine." ' And they shall say to you, 'Do we not surely know that every wineskin is filled with wine?'

13:13  Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will fill all the people of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

13:14  And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together," says the LORD. "I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, to keep them from their destruction." ’ ”

13:15  Hear and give ear; do not be proud; for the LORD has spoken.

13:16  Give glory to the LORD your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, making it gross darkness.

13:17  But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride. And my eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.

13:18  Say to the king and to the queen mother, "Humble yourselves, sit down; for your greatness shall come down, even the crown of your glory."

13:19  The cities of the south have been shut up, and none shall open them; Judah has been exiled, all of it has been wholly exiled.

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

13:21  What will you say when He shall set as head over you former friends whom you yourselves have trained against you? Shall not pangs of sorrow seize you, like a woman in travail?

13:22  And if you say in your heart, "Why do these things come upon me?" It is because of the greatness of your iniquity; your skirts are lifted up, and your heels suffer violence.

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

13:24  "Therefore I will scatter them as chaff driven away by the wind of the wilderness.

13:25  This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you," says the LORD, "because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.

13:26  Therefore I also have stripped off your skirts over your face, that your shame may appear.

13:27  I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the wickedness of your whoredoms, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean? When will it ever be?"

Chapter 14

14:1  The Word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the matter of droughts.

14:2  "Judah mourns, and its gates languish. Her people are mourning on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

14:3  And their nobles have sent their little ones for the water; they came to the cisterns, and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

14:4  Because the ground was cracked, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed; they covered their heads.

14:5  Yea, the doe also calved in the field and forsook it because there was no grass.

14:6  And the wild donkeys stood in the high places; they panted for air like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass."

14:7  O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, act for Your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You.

14:8  O the Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a traveler turning in to lodge for a night?

14:9  Why should You be as a man confused, as one mighty, but who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us!

14:10  Thus says the LORD to this people; "Even so they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins."

14:11  Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people for good.

14:12  When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague."

14:13  Then I said, "Ah, O Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets are saying to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine; but I will give you true peace in this place.' ”

14:14  And the LORD 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 false vision and a worthless divination, and a thing of no value, and the deceit of their heart.

14:15  Therefore the LORD says this 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, neither them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their own wickedness upon them.'

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

14:18  If I go out into the field, then I see those killed with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, the sicknesses of famine! Yes, both the prophet and the priest have gone up into a land that they do not know.' ”

14:19  Have You utterly rejected Judah? Or has Your soul hated Zion? Why have You stricken us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for the time of healing, and behold, trouble!

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

14:21  Do not abhor us for Your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; remember, do not break Your covenant with us.

14:22  Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles who can make rain fall? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not You, O LORD our God? Then we will wait for You; for You do all these things.

Chapter 15

15:1  Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My soul could not be toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go out.

15:2  And it will be, if they say to you, 'Where shall we go?' Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Those who are for death, to death; and those for the sword, to the sword; and those for the famine, to the famine; and those for the captivity, to the captivity." ’

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

15:4  And I will make them a horror to all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

15:5  For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall weep over you? Or who shall turn aside to ask about your welfare?

15:6  You have forsaken Me," says the LORD; "you have gone backward; therefore I will stretch out My hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting.

15:7  And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, since they do not turn from their ways.

15:8  I have made their widows more numerous than 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 terror to fall on them suddenly.

15:9  "She who bore seven languishes; she has breathed out her life; her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies," says the LORD.

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

15:11  The LORD said, "Truly it shall be well with your remnant. Truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

15:12  Can one break iron, iron or bronze from the north?

15:13  Your wealth and your treasures I will give for spoil without price, but for all your sins, even in all your borders.

15:14  And I will make you pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know. For a fire has been kindled in My anger; it shall burn against you."

15:15  O LORD, You know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on those who seek to hurt me. Do not take me away even in the slowness of Your anger; know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.

15:16  Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your Word was to me the joy and gladness of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

15:17  I did not sit in the circle of revelers, nor rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand; for You have filled me with indignation.

15:18  Why has my pain been without end, and why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Why have you become like a failing brook to Me?

15:19  Therefore thus says the LORD, "If you return, then I will bring you again; you shall stand before Me. And if you shall speak what is precious and not what is worthless, you shall be as My mouth. Let them turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

15:20  And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not overcome you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you," says the LORD.

15:21  "And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the evil ones."

Chapter 16

16:1  The Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

16:2  "You shall not take a wife for yourself, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place."

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

16:4  "They shall die grievous deaths of diseases; they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried. But they shall be as dung on the face of the earth. And they shall be destroyed by the sword and by famine; and their bodies shall be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth."

16:5  For thus says the LORD, "Do not enter into the house of mourning; do not go to weep nor moan over them. For I have taken away My peace from this people," says the LORD, "even lovingkindness and mercies.

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

16:7  Nor shall anyone offer food to them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead. Nor shall anyone give them the cup of comfort to drink for their father or for their mother.

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

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

16:10  And it shall come to pass, when you declare to this people all these words, and they shall say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

16:11  Then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD, 'and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law.

16:12  And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without hearkening to Me;

16:13  Even I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor.'

16:14  Therefore, behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be said, 'As the LORD lives, Who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;'

16:15  But, 'As the LORD lives, Who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where He had driven them.' And I will bring them again into their lands that I gave to their fathers.

16:16  Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they will fish them. And afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

16:17  For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.

16:18  But first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with the dead bodies of their abominable things."

16:19  O LORD, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth, and shall say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them."

16:20  Shall a man make gods to himself when they are not gods?

16:21  "Therefore, behold, I will make them know; this time I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the LORD."

Chapter 17

17:1  "The sin of Judah is engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond; it is carved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars;

17:2  While their children remember their altars and their Asherim beside every green tree on the high hills.

17:3  O My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth and all your treasures for spoil, and your high places because of sin, throughout all your borders.

17:4  And you, even of yourself, have let go of the inheritance which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in My anger, which shall burn forever."

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

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

17:7  Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD.

17:8  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters; it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green; and he is not worried in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit.

17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

17:11  As the quail that hatches eggs it has not laid; in the same way he who gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the middle of his days, and in his end he shall be a fool."

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

17:13  O LORD, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. "Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the LORD, the Fountain of living waters."

17:14  Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved; for You are my praise.

17:15  Behold, they say to me, "Where is the Word of the LORD? Let it come now!"

17:16  As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd to follow after You; nor have I desired the woeful day; You surely know it. That which came out of my lips was manifest before You.

17:17  Do not be a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of evil.

17:18  Let those who persecute me be ashamed, but do not let me be ashamed; let them be afraid, but do not let me be afraid. Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.

17:19  Thus the LORD said to me, "Go and stand in the gates of the children 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 the Word of the LORD, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the people of Jerusalem who enter in by these gates!

17:21  Thus says the LORD, "Take heed to yourselves, and carry no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

17:22  Nor carry out a burden from your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.

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

17:24  And it shall be, if you diligently hearken to Me," says the LORD, "to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy, to do no work in it;

17:25  Then kings and rulers sitting on the throne of David shall enter into the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their rulers, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever.

17:26  And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the LORD.

17:27  But if you will not hearken to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to carry a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be put out." ’ ”

Chapter 18

18:1  The Word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

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

18:3  Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was working at his wheel.

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

18:5  Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

18:6  "O house of Israel, can I not do with you even as this potter?" says the LORD. "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hands, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

18:7  If at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it;

18:8  If that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

18:9  And if at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it;

18:10  If it does evil in My sight, that it not obey My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good."

18:11  "Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the people of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." ’ ”

18:12  And they said, "There is no hope; but we will walk after our own ways, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart."

18:13  Therefore thus says the LORD, "Ask now among the nations; who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

18:14  Does the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold waters that come from another place cease to flow?

18:15  Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in by-paths, not on the highway,

18:16  To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by shall be astonished, and will shake his head.

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

18:18  Then they said, "Come and let us plot schemes against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words."

18:19  Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to what my accusers are saying against me.

18:20  Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You to do good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them.

18:21  Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour them out upon the hands of the sword. And let their wives be bereaved, and be widows, and their men be slain to death; let their young men be struck by the sword in battle.

18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You suddenly bring a raiding party on them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet.

18:23  Yet, LORD, You know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight, but let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

Chapter 19

19:1  Thus says the LORD, "Go and get a potter's earthen jar, and assemble some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests.

19:2  And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom by the entry of Potsherd Gate. And there declare the words that I shall tell you.

19:3  And say, 'Hear the Word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and people of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which shall cause the ears of him who hears it to tingle.

19:4  Because they have forsaken Me, and have profaned this place and have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents.

19:5  They have also built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded nor spoke, nor did it come into My mind.

19:6  Therefore, behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The Valley of Slaughter.

19:7  And I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem come to nothing in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives. And 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 a waste and a hissing. Everyone who passes by shall be astonished and shall hiss because of all its plagues.

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

19:10  Then you shall break the jar before the eyes of the men who go with you,

19:11  And shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury them in Tophet until there is no place left to bury.

19:12  I will do this to this place," says the LORD, "and to its people, and make this city as Tophet.

19:13  And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as defiled as the place of Tophet because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of the heavens, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods." ’ ”

19:14  Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of the LORD'S house, and said to all the people,

19:15  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it because they have hardened their necks so that they might not hear My words.' ”

Chapter 20

20:1  When Pashhur the son of Immer the priest heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

20:2  Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the LORD.

20:3  And it came to pass on the next day, Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Terror from All Around.

20:4  For thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall behold it. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will exile them into Babylon, and kill them with the sword.

20:5  And I will give all the wealth of this city, and its produce, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, even I will give it into the hand of their enemies; who will strip them and take them, and bring them to Babylon.

20:6  And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. And you shall come to Babylon, and you shall die there, and shall be buried there; you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.' ”

20:7  O LORD, You have enticed me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I, and You have prevailed. I am in derision all the day; everyone laughs at me.

20:8  For whenever I speak, I cry out, I cry violence and ruin; for the Word of the LORD has been a reproach and a cause of mocking to me all day.

20:9  But if I say, "I will not mention Him, nor speak in His name any more," then His Word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I could not stop.

20:10  For I heard the mocking of many, "Terror is all around!" "Denounce! Yea, let us denounce him!" Every man of my peace is watching for my fall, saying, "Perhaps he will be lured away, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him."

20:11  But the LORD is with me like a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not overcome me. They shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not be blessed. Their everlasting shame shall never be forgotten.

20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, who tries the righteous and sees the reins and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them. For I have committed my cause to You.

20:13  Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD; for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

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

20:15  Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, "A man child is born to you;" making him very glad.

20:16  And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;

20:17  Because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me.

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

Chapter 21

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

21:2  "Please inquire of the LORD for us. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that he may withdraw from us."

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

21:4  'Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, "Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls. And I will gather them together in the middle 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 fury, and in great wrath.

21:6  And I will strike the people of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great plague.

21:7  And afterward," says the LORD, "I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who are left in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy." '

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

21:9  He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague. But he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are all around you, he shall live, and his life shall be his prize.

21:10  For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good," says the LORD. "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, say, 'Hear the Word of the LORD.

21:12  O house of David, thus says the LORD, "Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn so that none can put it out because of the evil of your doings.

21:13  Behold, I am against you, O dweller of the valley, and rock of the plain," says the LORD; "Those who say, 'Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our homes?'

21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings," says the LORD; "and I will kindle a fire in the forest of it, and it shall devour all things around it." ’ ”

Chapter 22

22:1  Thus says the LORD, "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there.

22:2  And say, 'Hear the Word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

22:3  Thus says the LORD, "Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the oppressor's hand. And do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

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

22:5  But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation." ’ ”

22:6  For thus says the LORD to the king of Judah's house, "You are Gilead to Me, and the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.

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

22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each one to his neighbor, 'Why has the LORD done this to this great city?'

22:9  Then they shall answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.' ”

22:10  Weep not for the dead, nor moan for him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

22:11  For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place, "He shall not return here any more.

22:12  But he shall die in the place where they have exiled him and shall see this land no more."

22:13  "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms without justice; who uses his neighbor's service without pay, and he gives him naught for his work;

22:14  Who says, 'I will build myself a great house and spacious rooms'—and cuts out windows for himself, and puts in a cedar ceiling, and paints it with vermilion.

22:15  Shall you reign because you surround yourself with cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Was this not the way to know Me?" says the LORD.

22:17  "But your eyes and your heart are for nothing but for your own covetousness, and to shed innocent blood, and for cruelty, and to do violence."

22:18  Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, "They shall not mourn for him, saying, 'Ah, my brother!' or, 'Ah, my sister!' They shall not mourn for him, saying, 'Ah, lord!' or, 'Ah, his splendor!'

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 your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim, for all your lovers are destroyed.

22:21  I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, 'I will not hear.' This has been your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed My voice.

22:22  The wind shall eat up all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated for all your wickedness.

22:23  O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs come to you, the pain as of a woman giving birth!

22:24  As I live," says the LORD, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pull you out of there!

22:25  And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

22:26  And I will cast you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born. And there you shall die.

22:27  But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return."

22:28  Is this man Coniah a despised broken jar? Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they do not know?

22:29  O earth, earth, earth! Hear the Word of the LORD!

22:30  Thus says the LORD, "Write this man down as childless, a man who will not be blessed in his days. For no man of his seed shall be blessed, sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah."

Chapter 23

23:1  "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture," says the LORD.

23:2  Therefore thus says the LORD, God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed My people, "You have scattered My flock, and have driven them away, and have not taken care of them. Behold, I will bring upon you the evil of your doings," says the LORD.

23:3  "But 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 fold. And they shall be fruitful and multiply.

23:4  And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be afraid; nor shall they lack anything," says the LORD.

23:5  "Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall do justice and righteousness in the earth.

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, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

23:7  Therefore, behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that they shall no more say, 'The LORD lives, Who brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt;'

23:8  But, 'The LORD lives, Who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries where He had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land."

23:9  As for 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 the LORD and because of the words of His holiness.

23:10  For the land is full of adulterers. Because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and they wield power unjustly.

23:11  "For both prophet and priest are ungodly; yea, in My house I have found their evil," says the LORD.

23:12  "So their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall in their way; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their judgment," says the LORD.

23:13  "And I have seen repulsive things in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.

23:14  I have also seen in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his evil; they are all of them like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

23:15  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets, 'Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land.' ”

23:16  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you vain; they speak a vision from their own heart, not out of the mouth of the LORD.

23:17  They still say to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You shall have peace!" ' And they say to everyone who walks after the imagination of his own heart, 'No evil shall come upon you!' ”

23:18  For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD to see and hear His Word? Who has attended to His Word and heard it?

23:19  Behold, the tempest of the LORD has gone forth in fury, a whirling tempest. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

23:20  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until He has executed and until He has performed the purposes of His heart; in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.

23:21  "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

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

23:23  Am I a God Who is near," says the LORD, "and not a God afar off?

23:24  Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him?" says the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and earth?" says the LORD.

23:25  "I have heard what the prophets 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 and who are prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

23:27  They scheme to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell, each one to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten 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 chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD.

23:29  "Is not My Word like a fire?" says the LORD; "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

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

23:31  Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, 'He says,' when I did not say.

23:32  Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams and tell them, and cause My people to go astray by their lies and by their wantonness. Yet I did not send them nor command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD.

23:33  "And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' You shall then say to them, 'What oracle? I will even forsake you, says the LORD.'

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

23:35  Thus you shall say each one to his neighbor, and each one to his brother, "What has the LORD answered? And what has the LORD spoken?"

23:36  And you shall mention the oracle of the LORD no more. For every man's word becomes his own oracle; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

23:37  Thus you shall say to the prophet, "What has the LORD answered you? And what has the LORD spoken?"

23:38  But since you say, "The oracle of the LORD," therefore thus says the LORD, "Because you say this word, 'The oracle of the LORD'—after I have sent to you saying, 'You shall not say, "The oracle of the LORD" '—

23:39  Therefore, behold, I, even I, will completely forget you, and I will forsake you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers, and cast you out of 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  The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD (after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled 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 first ripe figs. And the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

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

24:4  Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

24:5  "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will acknowledge the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

24:6  For I will set My eyes on 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 the LORD; 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 like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad,' surely thus says the LORD, 'so I will deliver up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his rulers, and the rest of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt;

24:9  And I will even make them a horror for evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, 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 plague among them until they are destroyed from 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. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;

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

25:3  "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, that is the twenty-third year, the Word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you, speaking again and again. But you have not hearkened.

25:4  And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, again and again and sending them again and again; but you have not hearkened nor bowed down your ear to hear.

25:5  They all said, 'Turn again now, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers forever and ever.

25:6  And do not go after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no harm.' ”

25:7  "Yet you have not hearkened to Me," says the LORD, "so that you might provoke Me with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.

25:8  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not heard My words,

25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and will bring them against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations all around you. And I will completely destroy them, and make them a waste, and a hissing, and everlasting ruins.

25:10  And I will take away from them the voice of rejoicing 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 candle.

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 be, when seventy years are fulfilled I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, and the land of the Chaldeans,' says the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

25:13  And I will bring on that land all My words which I have spoken against it, 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 them slaves, also. And I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.' ”

25:15  For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to me, "Take the wine cup of this wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I shall send you to drink it.

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

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

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

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 Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the rest 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 isles beyond the sea,

25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the uppermost corners.

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

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 on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

25:27  "Therefore you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you." '

25:28  And it shall come to pass if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "You shall certainly drink.

25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name; and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth," says the LORD of hosts.'

25:30  And prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, 'The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth.

25:31  A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD."

25:32  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be stirred up from the farthest corners of the earth.

25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground.

25:34  Howl, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, you lords of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

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

25:36  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the lords of the flock shall be heard; for the LORD has spoiled their pasture.

25:37  And the peaceful pastures are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

25:38  Like the lion, He has left His den; for their land is wasted 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 came from the LORD, saying,

26:2  "Thus says the LORD, 'Stand in the court of the LORD'S house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not keep back a word.

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

26:4  And you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "If you 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 have been sending to you again and again, but you 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  So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

26:8  Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, "You shall surely die!

26:9  Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be wasted, without inhabitant'?" And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

26:10  When the rulers of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD'S house.

26:11  And the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and to all the people, saying, " Let a death sentence be for this man, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears."

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

26:13  Therefore now make your ways and your doings good, and obey the voice of the LORD your God. And the LORD will repent of the evil that He has pronounced against you.

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

26:15  But know for certain that if you put me to death you shall surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants. For truly the LORD 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 to die; for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."

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

26:18  "Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest." ’

26:19  Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah indeed put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD, and pray to the LORD, and the LORD repented of the evil which He had spoken against them? Thus we might bring great evil against ourselves."

26:20  And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who 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 tried to put him to death. But when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.

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

26:23  And they brought Urijah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and threw 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 the LORD, saying,

27:2  "Thus says the LORD to me, 'Make bonds and yokes for yourself, and put them on your neck.

27:3  And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

27:4  And command them to say to their masters, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus you shall say to your masters,

27:5  'I have made the earth, man, and the animals on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed 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 I have also given him the beast of the field to serve him.

27:7  And all 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 enslave him.

27:8  And it shall be, the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,' says the LORD, 'with the sword and with the famine, and with the plague, until I have destroyed them by his hand.

27:9  Therefore, do not hearken to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, "You 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 you should perish.

27:11  But the nations who bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain in their own land,' says the LORD. 'And they shall work it and dwell in it.' " ’ ”

27:12  I also 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 you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

27:14  Therefore do not hearken to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.' For they prophesy a lie to you.

27:15  For I have not sent them," says the LORD; "yet they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you."

27:16  Also I spoke to the priests and to all the people, saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'Do not hearken to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, "Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon." For they prophesy a lie to you.

27:17  Do not hearken to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. For why should this city be laid waste?' ”

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

27:19  For thus says the LORD of hosts, concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels which remain in this city,

27:20  Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled 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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem,

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

Chapter 28

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

28:2  "Thus says the LORD 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 again bring into this place all the vessels of the LORD'S house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried them 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 into Babylon,' says the LORD. '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 the LORD,

28:6  Even the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen. May the LORD do so. May the LORD confirm your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD'S house, and all that is exiled from Babylon into this place.

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

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

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

28:10  Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke 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 the LORD, 'Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the time of two full years.' " And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

28:12  Then the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

28:13  "Go and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "You have broken the yokes of wood, but you shall make for them yokes of iron."

28:14  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve 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. The LORD has not sent you, but you make this people to trust in a lie.

28:16  Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will drive you from off the face of the earth. You shall die this year because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.' ”

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

Chapter 29

29:1  And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon.

29:2  (After Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the officials, the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem.)

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

29:4  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I caused to be exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon,

29:5  'Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

29:6  Take wives and beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be multiplied there and not become few.

29:7  And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be exiled, and pray to the LORD for it. For in its peace you shall have peace.’ ”

29:8  "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your prophets and your diviners in your midst deceive you, nor hearken to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

29:9  For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,' says the LORD.

29:10  For thus says the LORD, 'When according to My Word seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and confirm My good Word to you, to bring you back to this place.

29:11  For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you,' says the LORD; 'purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

29:12  Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will hearken to you.

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

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

29:15  "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised us up prophets in Babylon;'

29:16  Therefore thus says the LORD of the king who sits on the throne of David, and of all the people who dwell in this city, and of your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity;

29:17  Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the plague, and will make them like worthless figs which cannot be eaten because they are so rotten.

29:18  And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and will make them an astonishment to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and a waste, 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 the LORD, 'which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, again and again; but you would not hear,' says the LORD."

29:20  "Therefore hear the Word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon;

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

29:22  And this curse shall be used because of them by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,"

29:23  Because they have committed vile deeds in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them; for I am He who knows and am a witness,' says the LORD."

29:24  "You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

29:25  'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, "You have sent letters in your 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  'The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be officers in the house of the LORD, over every madman who prophesies, that you should put him into the stocks and into the collar.

29:27  Now therefore why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?

29:28  For this cause he sent to us in Babylon, saying, "This exile is long. Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit."’ ” ’ ”

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

29:30  And the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

29:31  "Send to all the exiles, saying, 'Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to trust in a lie,"

29:32  Therefore thus says the LORD, "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 which I shall do for My people," says the LORD, "because he has taught rebellion against the LORD." ’ ”

Chapter 30

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

30:2  "Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

30:3  For, lo, the days come,' says the LORD, 'that I will turn back the captivity of My people Israel and Judah,' says the LORD. 'And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ”

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

30:5  "For thus says the LORD, 'We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

30:6  Ask now, and see whether a man is giving birth? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, 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  For it shall be in that day,' says the LORD of hosts, 'I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers shall no longer enslave him,

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

30:10  And you, O My servant Jacob, do not fear,' says the LORD. 'Do not be terrified, O Israel. For lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be at rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

30:11  For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to save you. Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will not utterly destroy you.'

30:12  For thus says the LORD, 'Your bruise is incurable, and your wound is grievous.

30:13  There is none to plead your cause; for your ulcer there can be no healing medicines for you.

30:14  All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you. For I have wounded you with the punishment of a merciless enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are so many.

30:15  Why do you cry over your affliction? Your pain is incurable, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many, I have done these things to you.

30:16  So all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your enemies, every one of them, shall go into captivity. And they who rob you shall be robbed, and all who strip you I will strip.

30:17  For I will give health back to you, and will heal you of your wounds,' says the LORD; 'because they called you an outcast, saying, "This is Zion; no one cares for her." ’

30:18  Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I turn back the captivity of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her ruins, and the palace shall remain in its own place.

30:19  And out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the voice of those who rejoice. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also honor them, and they shall not be disdained.

30:20  Also their children shall be as they were before, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all who oppress them.

30:21  And their ruler shall be of themselves, and their governor shall come from among them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach Me. For who is this who pledged his heart to come near to Me?' says the LORD.

30:22  'And you shall be My people, and I will be your God.’ ”

30:23  Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD'S wrath goes forth, a sweeping whirlwind; it shall whirl on the head of the wicked.

30:24  The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return until He has done it, and until He has fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it.

Chapter 31

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

31:2  Thus says the LORD, "The people who were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I will go to give him rest."

31:3  The LORD has appeared to me from afar, saying, "Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

31:4  Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel. You shall again put on your drums, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

31:5  You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.

31:6  For there shall be a day that the watchmen on Mount Ephraim shall cry, 'Arise and let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God!’ ”

31:7  For thus says the LORD, "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations. Cry out, give praise and say, 'O LORD, save Your people, the remnant of Israel.'

31:8  Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the corners of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; a great company shall return there.

31:9  They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn."

31:10  "Hear the Word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off. And say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd keeps his flock.'

31:11  For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of the one stronger than he.

31:12  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not pine away any more at all.

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

31:14  And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness," says the LORD.

31:15  Thus says the LORD, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children because they are not."

31:16  Thus says the LORD, "Hold back your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded," says the LORD. "And they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

31:17  And there is hope for your future," says the LORD, "that your children shall come again to their own border.

31:18  I have surely heard Ephraim mourning to himself, saying, 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bull not broken in; turn me, and I shall be turned. For You are the LORD my God.

31:19  Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was taught, I struck on my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, I even blushed because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'

31:20  Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? For as often as I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him," says the LORD.

31:21  "Set up way marks, make sign posts for yourself. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way that you went. Return again, O virgin of Israel, return to these your cities.

31:22  How long will you go to and fro, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land; a woman shall court a man."

31:23  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Again they shall speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring them back from their captivity: 'The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness and mountain of holiness.'

31:24  And farmers, and those going forth with flocks, shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities of it together.

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

31:26  On this I awoke and looked up; and my sleep was sweet to me.

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

31:28  And it shall come to pass, as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so I will watch over them to build, and to plant," says the LORD.

31:29  "In those days they shall not say any more, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.'

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

31:31  Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "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 I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them," says the LORD;

31:33  "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days," says the LORD, "I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

31:34  And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD;' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," says the LORD. "For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more."

31:35  Thus says the LORD, 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 when its waves roar; (the LORD of hosts is His name),

31:36  "If those ordinances depart from Me," says the LORD, "the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever."

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

31:38  "Behold, the days come, "says the LORD, "that the city shall be built to the LORD from the Tower of Hananeel to the Corner Gate.

31:39  And the measuring line shall yet go before it to the hill Gareb, and shall go around to Goath.

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

Chapter 32

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

32:2  For then the king of Babylon's army besieged 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 you prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD, "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 face to face, and see him eye to eye,

32:5  And he shall lead Zedekiah into Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him," says the LORD. "And though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not be blessed." ’ ”

32:6  And Jeremiah said, "The Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

32:7  'Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, "Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth; for the right to redeem it is yours, to buy it." ’

32:8  So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the Word of the LORD and said to me, "Please buy my field in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the right to redeem is yours. Buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the Word of the LORD.

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

32:10  And I wrote it in the document, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed the silver in the scales.

32:11  So I took the deed of the purchase, that which was sealed according to the terms and conditions and the open copy.

32:12  And I gave the document of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, before the eyes of Hanameel my uncle's son, and before the eyes of the witnesses who wrote in the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.

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

32:14  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Take these documents, the purchase document, the one sealed and the unsealed document, and put them in an earthen vessel so that they may last for a long time.'

32:15  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be owned again in this land.’ ”

32:16  And after I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,

32:17  "Ah, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too great for You.

32:18  You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is His name,

32:19  Great in counsel and mighty in work; for Your eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

32:20  For You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among men; and have made You a name, as at this day;

32:21  And have brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror.

32:22  And You have given them this land, which You 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 did not obey Your voice, nor did they walk in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this evil to come on them.

32:24  Behold, the siege mounds have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the plague. And what You have spoken has come to pass; and, behold, You saw it.

32:25  And You have said to me, O Lord GOD, 'Buy the field for money, and take witnesses;' for the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans."

32:26  Then the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

32:27  "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

32:28  Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

32:29  And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come up and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on 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 children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands,' says the LORD.

32:31  'For this city has been to Me as a cause of My anger and of My fury 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 children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, 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; though I taught them, again and again, 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, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to sacrifice their sons and daughters 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 the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city—of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague'—

32:37  'Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands where I have driven them in My anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath. 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 their good and for the good of their children after them.

32:40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, rather, to do them good. But I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.

32:41  Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will truly plant them in this land with all My heart and all My whole soul.'

32:42  For thus says the LORD, 'As I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

32:43  And fields shall be bought in this land of which you say, "It is a desert without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."

32:44  Men shall buy fields for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south. For I will cause them to return from their captivity,' says the LORD."

Chapter 33

33:1  And the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

33:2  "Thus says the LORD, the Maker of the earth, the LORD who formed it in order to establish it; the LORD is His name,

33:3  'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and inscrutable things which you do not know.'

33:4  For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are torn down to defend against the siege mounds and against the sword:

33:5  'They come to fight against the Chaldeans, yet those houses will be filled with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My fury, and because of all their wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.

33:6  Behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them and will show them the riches of peace and truth.

33:7  And I will cause the return from captivity of Judah and the return from captivity of Israel, 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, and by which they have transgressed against Me.

33:9  And it shall be for Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear of all the good that I do to them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the peace that I bring to it.'

33:10  Thus says the LORD, 'Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is a 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 shall say, "Praise the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for His steadfast love endures forever;" and the voice of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land, as at the first,' says the LORD.

33:12  Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Again in this place which is a desert without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall be a home of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

33:13  In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the valley, 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, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him who tallies them,' says the LORD.

33:14  'Behold, the days come,' says the LORD, 'that I will establish the good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

33:15  In those days, and at that time, I will cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up to David. And He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

33:16  In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name with which she shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'

33:17  For thus says the LORD, 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,

33:18  Nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle grain offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.’ ”

33:19  And the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

33:20  "Thus says the LORD, 'If you can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night at their appointed time,

33:21  Then also My covenant with David My servant may be broken, that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and My covenant with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.

33:22  As the host of the heavens cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

33:23  Moreover the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

33:24  "Do you not consider what this people are saying, 'The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has even cast them off'? So they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

33:25  Thus says the LORD, 'If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not given the ordinances of the heavens and the earth,

33:26  Then I will cast away the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I will bring them back from their captivity, and have mercy on them.’ ”

Chapter 34

34:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth (because his hand rules) and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and against all its cities; saying,

34:2  "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

34:3  And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. And your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.' " ’

34:4  Yet hear the Word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah: Thus says the LORD of you, 'You shall not die by the sword.

34:5  You shall die in peace; and as the burnings of spices for your fathers, the former kings which were before you, so they shall burn spices for you. And they will mourn you, saying, "Ah, lord!" For I have spoken the word, says the LORD.’ ”

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 fought against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah; against Lachish, and against Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

34:8  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,

34:9  That each man should let his male slave, and each man his female slave— if a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman—go free, that none should enslave a Jew, his brother among them.

34:10  And all the rulers obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant allowed them to go free, each man his male slave, and each man his female slave, so that not any should be enslaved among them any more; and they obeyed and let them go.

34:11  But afterward they turned and took back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had set free and enslaved them again as male slaves and female slaves.

34:12  So the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

34:13  "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,

34:14  "At the end of seven years each man should let go free his brother, a Hebrew, who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you." But your fathers did not hearken to Me, nor incline their ears.

34:15  And you had turned today, and had done right in My sight to call for liberty, each man to his neighbor. And you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.

34:16  But you turned back and defiled My name, and each of you has taken back his male slave and his female slave whom you had set free to do as they pleased. But you forced them again to become your male and your female slaves.'

34:17  Thus says the LORD, 'You have not hearkened to Me to proclaim liberty each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor! Behold, I proclaim freedom for you,' says the LORD, 'to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine. And I will cause you to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

34:18  And I will give the men who have sinned against My covenant, who have not done the words of the covenant which they made before Me when they divided the calf in two and passed between its parts;

34:19  The rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the officials, 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 heaven 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 lives, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, who has withdrawn from you.

34:22  Behold, I will command,' says the LORD, 'and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it and capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desert without a soul to live in it."

Chapter 35

35:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was near the chamber of the rulers, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.

35:5  And I set pots full of wine, and cups, before the sons of the house of the Rechabites. And I said to them, "Drink wine!"

35:6  But they said, "We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, 'You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons forever.

35:7  Nor shall you build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have anything; but all your days you shall live in tents, so that you may live many days in the land where you are strangers.'

35:8  So we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;

35:9  Nor to build houses for us to live in. Nor do we have vineyard, nor field, nor seed.

35:10  But we have lived in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

35:11  But it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, 'Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the Chaldean army, and for fear of the Syrian army.' So we are living at Jerusalem."

35:12  Then came the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying,

35:13  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Go and tell the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, "Will you not receive instruction to hearken to My words?" says the LORD.

35:14  "The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, have been kept. For to this day they do not drink any, but obey their father's commandment. Yet I have spoken to you, again and again, but you did not hearken to Me.

35:15  I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, 'Return now each man from his evil way, and make your doings good, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers.' But you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to Me.

35:16  Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have done the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people has not hearkened to Me,

35:17  Therefore, thus says the LORD, God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the evil that I have spoken against them. Because I have spoken to them, but they have not hearkened; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.’ ”

35:18  And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done according to all that he has commanded you;

35:19  Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack 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, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

36:2  "Take for yourself a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, 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 plan to do to them, that they may each man turn from his evil way, so 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 the LORD, which He had spoken to him, on a roll of a book.

36:5  And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am restricted. I cannot go into the house of the LORD.

36:6  Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house on the day of fasting. And also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.

36:7  It may be they will present their prayer before the LORD, and will return, each one from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has spoken against this people."

36:8  And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book, the words of the LORD in the LORD'S house.

36:9  And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.

36:10  And Baruch read from the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance to the New Gate of the LORD'S house, in the ears of all the people.

36:11  When Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD out of the book,

36:12  Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's room. And, lo, all the rulers sat there, even 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 Michaiah 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 the scroll in your hand from which you 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  And it came to pass when they had heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear 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 you write all these words at his mouth?"

36:18  Then Baruch answered them, "He spoke all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."

36:19  And the rulers said to Baruch, "Go hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are."

36:20  And they went in to the king into the court. But they laid up the roll in the room of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.

36:21  So the king sent Jehudi to bring the roll. And he took it out of the room 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  And the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month; also with a fire burning in the hearth before him.

36:23  And it came to pass when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the scribe's knife and threw it into the fire in the hearth, until all the scroll was burned up by the fire that was in the hearth.

36:24  Yet the king and all his servants who heard these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments.

36:25  But Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had pleaded with the king that he should not burn the scroll, but he would not listen to them.

36:26  And the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of the king, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD hid them.

36:27  Then the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,

36:28  "Take for yourself another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

36:29  And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, 'Thus says the LORD, "You have burned this scroll, saying, 'Why have you written in it, saying, "The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause man and beast to cease from there?" ’ ”

36:30  Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, "He shall have no one to sit on 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 on them, and on the people of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have spoken against them; but they did not hearken." ’ ”

36:32  Then Jeremiah took another scroll 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 many words like them were added besides.

Chapter 37

37:1  And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar 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 the LORD 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 the LORD our God for us."

37:4  And Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison.

37:5  And Pharaoh's army had come out from Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who besieged Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

37:6  Then the Word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

37:7  "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'You shall say this 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 capture it, and burn it with fire." ’

37:9  Thus says the LORD, 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us." For they shall not depart.

37:10  For though you had stricken the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, each man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.' ”

37:11  And it came to pass when the army of Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of fear of Pharaoh's army,

37:12  Then Jeremiah went 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 commander of the guard named Irijah was there, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are falling away to the Chaldeans."

37:14  Then Jeremiah said, "A lie! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans." But he did not listen to him; so Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the rulers.

37:15  And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison, the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.

37:16  When Jeremiah had entered into the dungeon, and into the cells, then Jeremiah remained there many days.

37:17  And Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. And the king asked him secretly in his palace, and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?" And Jeremiah said, "There is. And He said, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."

37:18  And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "How have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you 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  Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king; I beg you, let my petition come before you, do not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there."

37:21  And Zedekiah the king commanded that they should put Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him a piece of bread out of the bakers' street daily, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

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 Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying,

38:2  "Thus says the LORD, 'He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as a prize, and shall live.'

38:3  Thus says the LORD, 'This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, and he shall capture it.' ”

38:4  And the princes said to the king, "We beseech you, let this man be put to death. For in this way 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 does not seek the good of this people, but their ruin."

38:5  Then Zedekiah the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand. For the king cannot do a thing against you."

38:6  And they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison. And they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And there was no water in the pit, only mire. So Jeremiah sank into the mire.

38:7  And Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, of the officials in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit (the king was then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),

38:8  Ebed-Melech went 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 thrown into the pit. And he is likely to die of hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city."

38:10  Then the king commanded Ebed- Melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet up out of the pit 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 worn out clothes and worn out rags from there, and let them down by ropes into the pit to Jeremiah.

38:12  And Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Now put the worn out clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes." And Jeremiah did so.

38:13  So they drew up Jeremiah with ropes and took him up out of the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

38:14  And Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him, into the third gate in the house of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you a thing. Do not hide anything from me."

38:15  Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not hearken to me."

38:16  Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, "As the LORD lives, Who made for us this soul, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life."

38:17  Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'If you will surely surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire. And you shall live, and your house.

38:18  But if you will not surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then this city shall be given into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you 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 to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and lest they abuse me."

38:20  But Jeremiah said, "They shall not deliver you. I beseech you, obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to you; so it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.

38:21  But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that the LORD has shown to me:

38:22  'And, behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought out to the king of Babylon's rulers, and they shall say, "Your trusted friends have misled you, and have prevailed against you. Your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away."

38:23  And they shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. And you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.' ”

38:24  Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no man know of these words, and you shall not die.

38:25  But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, 'Declare to us now what you have said to the king; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you;'

38:26  Then you shall say to them, 'I presented my petition before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.' ”

38:27  Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they quit speaking with him; for the matter was not known.

38:28  So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

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, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem. And they besieged it.

39:2  In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made into the city.

39:3  And all the rulers of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, the chief of the officers, Nergal- Sharezer, chief soothsayer, and all the rest of the rulers of the king of Babylon.

39:4  And it came to pass when Zedekiah, the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went out from the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went toward the Arabah.

39:5  But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And they took him, and made him go up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment on him.

39:6  Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah. Also the king of Babylon killed all the princes of Judah.

39:7  And he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with chains, 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 exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to him with the rest of the people that remained.

39:10  But Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the Guard, left some of the poor people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

39:11  And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard, saying,

39:12  "Take him, and set your eyes on him, and do not do anything evil to him. But do with him even as he shall say to you."

39:13  So Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard sent, and Nebu-Shasban chief of the officers, and Nergal-Sharezer, chief soothsayer, and all the king of Babylon's rulers,

39:14  Even they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he lived among the people.

39:15  And the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

39:16  "Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will bring My words on this city for evil and not for good. And they shall be done in that day before you.

39:17  But I will deliver you in that day," says the LORD. "And you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

39:18  For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be as a prize to you because you have put your trust in Me," says the LORD.' "

Chapter 40

40:1  This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzaradan 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 being exiled to Babylon.

40:2  And the Captain of the Guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "The LORD your God has spoken this evil against this place.

40:3  And the LORD has brought it just as He said He would because they have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come on you.

40:4  And now, behold, I set you free today from the chains on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come. And I will keep my eye on you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me into Babylon, stay. Behold, all the land is before you. Wherever it seems good and pleasing for you to go, go there."

40:5  And before he was ready to depart, Nebuzaradan said, "Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems right to you to go." So the Captain of the Guard gave him food and a gift, and let him go.

40:6  Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah. And he lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

40:7  And when all the commanders 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 entrusted to him men, and women, and children, and many of the poor of the land, of those who were not exiled to Babylon;

40:8  Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai of Netopha, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

40:9  And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, "Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

40:10  As for me, behold, I will live at Mizpah to represent you before them, who have come to us. But you go gather wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken."

40:11  Also when all the Jews in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and 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 wine and summer fruits in abundance.

40:13  And Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah.

40:14  And they said to him, "You certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to kill you." 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, "Please let me go. And I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know. Why should he kill you so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?"

40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You shall not do this thing. For you speak falsely of Ishmael."

Chapter 41

41:1  And it came to pass in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and the rulers 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 arose, and the ten men who were with him, and struck 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, 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 killed Gedaliah (and no one knew it),

41:5  Some men from Shechem came from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, with their beards shaved, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.

41:6  And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he walked. And it came to pass as he met them, he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam."

41:7  And it came to pass when they came into the middle of the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, he and the men with him, and they threw them into the middle of the pit.

41:8  But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, "Do not kill us, for we have treasures 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  And the pit in which Ishmael had thrown all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had killed because of Gedaliah, was the one which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

41:10  Then Ishmael took captive all the rest 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 entrusted to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took captive and left to go over to the Ammonites.

41:11  But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces 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 they found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.

41:13  And it came to pass when all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, then they were glad.

41:14  So all the people that Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and went back, and came to Johanan the son of Kareah.

41:15  But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.

41:16  Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. They took mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the officials, whom he had brought again from Gibeon.

41:17  And they departed and lived in the Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, in order to go to 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 in the land.

Chapter 42

42:1  Then all the commanders 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 they said to Jeremiah the prophet, "We beseech you, let our supplication be pleasing to you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, even for all this remnant, (for we are left but a few out of many, as your eyes behold us,)

42:3  That the LORD your God may show us the way in which we may walk, and the thing that we may do."

42:4  And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall be, all the word the LORD shall answer, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you."

42:5  And they said to Jeremiah, "Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do even according to all things for which the LORD your God shall send you to us.

42:6  Whether it is good, or whether it is evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to Whom we send you; so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."

42:7  And it came to pass after ten days, the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

42:8  And he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest.

42:9  And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to Whom you sent me to present your petition before Him,

42:10  'If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and will not pull you down. And I will plant you and will not pluck you up. For I repent of the evil that I have done to you.

42:11  Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him,' says the LORD. 'For I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

42:12  And I will show compassion to you, so that he may have compassion on you and cause you to return to your own land.'

42:13  But if you say, 'We will not dwell in this land, nor obey the voice of the LORD your God,'

42:14  Saying, 'No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, or hear the sound of the ram's horn, or hunger for bread; and there we will dwell;'

42:15  Then now hear the Word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'If you surely set your faces to go into Egypt, and go to live there,

42:16  Then it will come to pass, the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt. And the famine that you dread shall follow after you there in Egypt; and you shall die there.

42:17  So it shall be to all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. And none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.'

42:18  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'As My anger and My fury has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My fury be poured forth upon you when you shall enter into Egypt. And you shall be a curse, and a wonder, and a shame, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.'

42:19  The LORD has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, 'Do not go into Egypt.' Know certainly that I have warned you this day.

42:20  For you dealt deceitfully against your souls when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it.'

42:21  And I have declared it to you today; but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor anything for which He has sent me to you.

42:22  And therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, in the place where you desire to go to live."

Chapter 43

43:1  And it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

43:2  Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, spoke then, saying to Jeremiah, "You speak falsely! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'Do not go to Egypt to live there.'

43:3  But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and to exile us to Babylon."

43:4  So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the LORD to live in the land of Judah.

43:5  But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations (where they had been driven) to dwell in the land of Judah;

43:6  Men, and women, and children, 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  So they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. So they came to Tahpanhes.

43:8  And the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

43:9  "Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah.

43:10  And say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden. And he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

43:11  And when he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt. And whoever is for death shall go to death; and whoever is for captivity, shall go into captivity; and whoever is for the sword, to the sword.

43:12  And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the leaders of Egypt. And he shall burn them and take them captive. And he shall adorn himself with the land of Egypt, like a shepherd puts on his robe; and he shall go out from there in peace.

43:13  He shall also break the obelisks of The House of the Sun which is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the leaders of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire." ' ”

Chapter 44

44:1  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who live in the land of Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

44:2  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. And, behold, today they are a desolation, and no one lives there,

44:3  Because of their evil which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods whom they knew not, they, you, nor your fathers.

44:4  But I sent to you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate!"

44:5  But they did not hearken, nor incline their ear to turn from their evil, and burn no incense to other gods.

44:6  Therefore My fury and My anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted, desolate as at this day.'

44:7  Therefore now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and babe, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

44:8  In that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

44:9  Have you 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 have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

44:10  They are not humbled to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes which I have set before you and before your fathers.'

44:11  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, and 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 live there; and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be destroyed 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 a curse, a wonder, and a shame, 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 plague,

44:14  So that none of the remnant of Judah who has gone into the land of Egypt to live there shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to live there. For none shall return except those who escape.' ”

44:15  And all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah. And they said,

44:16  "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken to you.

44:17  But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own 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 stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured 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 our cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our men?"

44:20  And Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer:

44:21  "The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your rulers, and the people of the land; did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into His mind?

44:22  Yea, so that the LORD could no longer hold back because of the evil of your doings because of the abominations which you have committed! So your land is a desolation, and a wonder, and a curse, without anyone in it, as it is today.

44:23  Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as at this day."

44:24  And Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, "Hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah that is in the land of Egypt.

44:25  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely fulfill our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her." You will surely fulfil your vows and surely carry out your vows.'

44:26  Therefore hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah that lives in the land of Egypt. 'Behold, I have sworn by My great name,' says the LORD, 'that My name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord GOD lives."

44:27  Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good. And all the men of Judah in the land of Egypt shall be destroyed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them.

44:28  Yet the small number that escapes the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah (who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there) shall know whose word shall stand, Mine or theirs.

44:29  And this shall be the sign to you,' says the LORD, 'that I will punish you in this place so that you may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil.'

44:30  Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I am giving 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 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy that sought his life.' ”

Chapter 45

45:1  The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words 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 the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch,

45:3  'You said, "Woe is me now, for the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning and I find no rest." '

45:4  Thus you shall say to him, 'The LORD says this, "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even all the land.

45:5  And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh," says the LORD. "But I will give your life to you as a prize, in all places where you go." ' ”

Chapter 46

46:1  The Word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations;

46:2  Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

46:3  "Set in order the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

46:4  Harness the horses, and mount the steeds. Yea, stand with helmets, polish the spears; put on body armor.

46:5  Why have I seen that they are afraid, turned backward? And their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled for refuge, and they do not look back. Terror is all around," says the LORD.

46:6  "Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. They stumbled and fell in the north, by the side of the river Euphrates.

46:7  Who is this rising up like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters?

46:8  Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters surge about like the rivers. And he says, 'I will go up and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and its people.'

46:9  Come up, O horses; and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.

46:10  For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself of His foes. And the sword shall devour, and it shall be filled and made drunk with their blood, for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

46:11  Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt. In vain shall you use many medicines, for you shall not be cured.

46:12  The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land. For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they have both fallen together."

46:13  The word spoken by the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, of the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to strike the land of Egypt.

46:14  "Declare it in Egypt, and cry it in Migdol, and make it heard in Noph and in Tahpanhes. Say, 'Stand fast and get ready, the sword shall devour all around you.'

46:15  Why are your mighty valiant men swept away? They did not stand because the LORD has thrust them down.

46:16  He made many fall; yea, one fell on top of another. And they said, 'Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressing sword.'

46:17  They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a big noise; he let pass the appointed time.'

46:18  As I live," says the King Whose name is the LORD of hosts, "Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel is by the sea, so he shall come.

46:19  O daughter dwelling in Egypt, get ready to go into captivity. For Noph shall be waste and desolate without inhabitant.

46:20  Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north surely comes.

46:21  Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation.

46:22  Its sound is like that of a serpent as it goes, for they shall go in force and come against her with axes like woodcutters.

46:23  They shall cut down her forest," says the LORD, "though it cannot be searched; because they are more numerous than the locusts and cannot be counted.

46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north."

46:25  The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, "Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings; even Pharaoh and all 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 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. And afterward it will be inhabited, as in the days of old," says the LORD.

46:27  "But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and be not afraid, O Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar off, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return and be at rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

46:28  Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD, "for I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you. But I will not make a full end of you, but correct you in measure; yet I will not leave you wholly unpunished."

Chapter 47

47:1  The Word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.

47:2  Thus says the LORD, "Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land and all its fullness; the city and those who dwell in it. And the men shall cry, and all the people of the land shall howl.

47:3  At the noise of the stamping of the hooves of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their sons because of feebleness of hands;

47:4  Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every survivor who helps. For the LORD will plunder the Philistines, the rest of the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

47:5  Baldness has come on Gaza. Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself?

47:6  O sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself into your sheath; rest and be still.

47:7  How can it be quiet, since the LORD has given it a command? He has set it there against Ashkelon, and against the seashore."

Chapter 48

48:1  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, against Moab, "Woe to Nebo, for it is ravaged! Kirjathaim is shamed and captured. The fortress is shamed and razed.

48:2  There shall be no more praise of Moab. In Heshbon they have plotted evil against it, saying, 'Come and let us cut it off from being a nation.' Also you shall be silenced, O madmen; the sword shall pursue you.

48:3  A voice of crying shall be heard from Horonaim, 'Plundering and great destruction.'

48:4  Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

48:5  For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping they shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim they have heard the anguish cry of destruction.

48:6  Flee, save your lives, and be like a juniper in the wilderness.

48:7  For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you shall also be captured. And Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his rulers.

48:8  And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape. Also the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.

48:9  Give wings to Moab so that it may flee and get away; for its cities shall be desolate, without an inhabitant in them.

48:10  Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed is 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 exile. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

48:12  Therefore behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will send pourers to him, who shall tilt him up, and they shall empty his vessels and shatter their jars.

48:13  And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their hope.

48:14  How do you say, 'We are mighty and strong men for war'?

48:15  Moab is plundered and men have come up to her cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter," says the King Whose name is the LORD of hosts.

48:16  "The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.

48:17  All of you who are around him, mourn for him. And all of you who know his name, say, 'How the strong scepter is broken, the glorious staff!'

48:18  O daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory and sit in thirst. For the destroyer of Moab shall come upon you; he shall destroy your strongholds.

48:19  O dweller of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, 'What is happening?'

48:20  Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down. Howl and cry! Tell it in Arnon that Moab is stripped.

48:21  And judgment has come on the plain country; on Holon, and on Jahzah, and on Mephaath,

48:22  And on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth Diblathaim,

48:23  And on Kirjathaim, and on Beth Gamul, and on Beth Meon,

48:24  And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on 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 the LORD.

48:26  "Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against the LORD. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be a mockery.

48:27  For was not Israel a mockery to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head in scorn.

48:28  O you who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and live in the rocks, and be like the dove making her nest in the sides of the mouth of the pit.

48:29  We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and his elevated heart."

48:30  "I know his wrath," says the LORD, "but it is futile; idle boasts accomplish nothing.

48:31  So I will wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab, and shall mourn for the men of Kir Heres.

48:32  O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea; they reach to the sea of Jazer. A destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits and on your grape crop.

48:33  And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses; none shall tread the grapes with shouting; their shouting shall not be joyful shouting.

48:34  From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh, and to Jahaz, they have uttered their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a heifer three years old. For the waters of Nimrim also shall be desolate.

48:35  And, I will cause him who offers sacrifices in the high places to cease in Moab," says the LORD, "and him who burns incense to his gods.

48:36  Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kir Heres because the riches that he has gotten have perished.

48:37  For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped. On all the hands shall be cuttings and on the loins sackcloth.

48:38  On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is weeping everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure," says the LORD.

48:39  "They shall howl, saying, 'How is it broken down! How has Moab turned the back with shame!' So Moab shall become a derision, and a dismay to all those around him."

48:40  For thus says the LORD, "Behold, he shall fly like an eagle and shall spread his wings over Moab.

48:41  Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized; and the mighty men's hearts in Moab shall be at that day like 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 the LORD.

48:43  Terror, and the pit and the snare, shall be on you, O Moabite," says the LORD.

48:44  "He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit; and he who goes up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their judgment," says the LORD.

48:45  "In the shadow of Heshbon, the fugitives stand without strength, and a flame out of the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the foreheads of Moab and the noisy boasters.

48:46  Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish; for your sons are taken away into exile, and your daughters into captivity.

48:47  But I will turn back the captivity of Moab in the latter days," says the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Chapter 49

49:1  Thus says the LORD to the sons of Ammon, "Has Israel no sons? Or has he no heir? Why does Malcam take possession of Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come," says the LORD, "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 of ruins, and her outlying villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall drive out those who drove him out," says the LORD.

49:3  "Wail, O Heshbon; Ai is spoiled! Cry, daughters of Rabbah; clothe yourselves with sackcloth, mourn, and run to and fro inside the walls! For Malcam shall go into exile; his priests and his rulers together.

49:4  Why do you glory in your valley, your flowing valleys, O backsliding daughter? She trusted in her treasures, saying, 'Who shall come to attack me?'

49:5  Behold, I will bring a terror upon you," says the Lord GOD of hosts, "from all those who are around you. And you shall be driven out, each man straight before him; and there shall be none to gather up the fugitives.

49:6  And afterward I will bring back the children of Ammon from exile," says the LORD.

49:7  Thus says the LORD of hosts to Edom, "Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?

49:8  Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O people of Dedan. For I will bring the calamity of Esau on him in the time that I will punish him.

49:9  If the gatherers of grapes come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves come by night, they will destroy only until they have 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 children are destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors, and he is no more.

49:11  Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in Me."

49:12  For thus says the LORD, "Behold, if those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.

49:13  For I have sworn by Myself," says the LORD, "that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes."

49:14  I have heard a message from the LORD, and a herald is sent to the nations, saying, "Gather together and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

49:15  For lo, I will make you small among the nations, despised among men.

49:16  The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there," says the LORD.

49:17  "Also Edom shall be a desolation. Everyone who goes by it shall be amazed and shall hiss at all its plagues.

49:18  As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and her neighbors," says the LORD, "no man shall remain there, nor shall a son of man live in it.

49:19  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against the home of the strong. But I will suddenly make him run away from her. And whoever is chosen, will I appoint over it? For who is like Me? And who will summon Me? And who is that shepherd who is able to stand against Me?

49:20  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD which He has taken against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the people of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them away. Surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them.

49:21  The earth quakes at the noise of their fall; the sound of her cry was heard at the Red Sea.

49:22  Behold, like an eagle he will soar and swoop down and spread his wings against Bozrah. And in that day the heart of the mighty men of Edom shall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs.

49:23  Concerning Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard evil reports. They are melted away; there is trouble in the sea; it cannot be quiet.

49:24  Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.

49:25  How is the city of praise left unrepaired, the city of my joy!

49:26  So her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silenced in that day," says the LORD of hosts.

49:27  "And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall burn up the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

49:28  Thus says the LORD concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike, "Arise, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

49:29  They shall take away their tents and their flocks. They shall take their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels to themselves. And they shall cry to them, 'Fear is on every side.'

49:30  Flee, go far away, go deep to dwell; O people of Hazor," says the LORD; "for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has plotted a plan against you.

49:31  Arise, go up to the nation that is at ease, who dwells securely," says the LORD, "which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells alone.

49:32  And their camels shall be a prize, and the multitude of their livestock a prey. And I will scatter them unto all winds, those who are in the farthest corners. And I will bring their calamity from all sides of it," says the LORD.

49:33  "And Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals and a desolation forever. No man shall live there, nor any son of man dwell in it."

49:34  The Word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

49:35  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

49:36  And I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven upon Elam, and will scatter them toward all these winds. And there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

49:37  For I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies and before those who seek their life. And I will bring evil on them, even My fierce anger,' says the LORD. 'And I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them;

49:38  And I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy the king and the princes from there,' says the LORD.

49:39  'But it shall be in the latter days, I will bring back the exiles of Elam,' says the LORD."

Chapter 50

50:1  The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

50:2  "Declare among the nations, and cause them to hear, and lift up a banner. Cause them to hear, do not hide it; say, 'Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; her images are shamed, her idols are broken in pieces.'

50:3  For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land a desert, and none shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall depart, both man and beast.

50:4  In those days, and at that time," says the LORD, "the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek the LORD their God.

50:5  They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces there, saying, 'Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant never to 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 have found them have devoured them. And their enemies said, 'We are not guilty because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.'

50:8  Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.

50:9  For, lo, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon a company of great nations from a northern land. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there. Their arrows shall be as those of a skillful, mighty man; who does not return empty-handed.

50:10  And Chaldea shall be a prize; all who plunder her shall be satisfied," says the LORD.

50:11  "Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O destroyers of My inheritance; because you frolic about like a heifer in the grass, and neigh like mighty horses;

50:12  Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; she who bore you shall turn pale. Behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

50:13  Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be appalled and hiss at all her plagues.

50:14  Set yourselves in battle array against Babylon all around; all you who bend the bow, shoot at her. Hold back no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.

50:15  Shout against her all around. She has given up her hand in defeat; her bulwarks have fallen, her walls have been thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the LORD, take vengeance upon her. Just as she has done, do to her.

50:16  Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the pressing sword they shall turn, each one to his people; and they shall flee, each one to his own land.

50:17  Israel is as scattered sheep, driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon crunched his bones."

50:18  Therefore thus says the LORD 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 again bring Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.

50:20  In those days, and at that time," says the LORD, "the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and it shall not be found; 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 people of Pekod. Slay and utterly destroy after them," says the LORD, "and do according to all that I have commanded you.

50:22  A sound of battle is in the land, and great destruction.

50:23  How the hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

50:24  I have laid a trap for you, and you are also captured, O Babylon, and you were unaware. You were found and also caught because you have fought against the LORD.

50:25  The LORD has opened His armory, and has brought forth the weapons of His fury. For this is a work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

50:26  Come against her from the border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her completely. Let nothing of her be left.

50:27  Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.

50:28  The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of His temple.

50:29  Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend a bow, camp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been arrogant against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

50:30  So her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be silenced in that day," says the LORD.

50:31  "Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one," says the Lord GOD of hosts; "for your day has come, the time that I will punish you.

50:32  And the most arrogant shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall burn up everything all around him."

50:33  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together. And all who captured them held them fast; they refused to let them go.

50:34  Their Redeemer is strong; The LORD of hosts, is His name. He shall thoroughly plead their cause, so that He may give rest to the land, but unrest to the people of Babylon.

50:35  A sword is upon the Chaldeans," says the LORD, "and upon the people of Babylon, and upon her rulers, and upon her wise men.

50:36  A sword is upon the liars, and they shall become fools. A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be afraid.

50:37  A sword is upon their horses and their chariots, and upon all the mixed people in her midst; and they shall become as women. A sword is upon her treasuries, and they shall be robbed.

50:38  A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act insanely with idols.

50:39  So the beasts of the desert shall dwell there with jackals. And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell in her again. And it shall no more be inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

50:40  As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors," says the LORD, "no man shall live there; neither shall any son of man live in it.

50:41  Behold, a people shall come from the north, even a great nation; and many kings shall be stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.

50:42  They lay hold on a bow and spear; they are cruel and will not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses arrayed like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon.

50:43  The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands became feeble. Anguish took hold of him, and pangs like those of a woman in labor.

50:44  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the home of the strong. But I will make them suddenly run away from her. And whoever is chosen, will I appoint over her? For who is like Me? And will appoint Me the time? And who is that shepherd who will stand against Me?"

50:45  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Babylon; and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the least of the flock shall drag them away; surely He shall make their pasture desolate because of them.

50:46  At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth quakes, and a cry is heard among the nations.

Chapter 51

51:1  Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those dwelling in the heart of My foes a destroying wind.

51:2  And I will send strangers to Babylon who will sift her and will empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her all around.

51:3  Do not let the archer bend his bow; nor lift himself up in his armor. And do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

51:4  Thus the dead shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, those who are thrust through in her streets.

51:5  For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken by his God, by the LORD of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel."

51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and each man deliver his soul. Be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; He will give to her a just reward.

51:7  Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, which made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations rage.

51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.

51:9  We would have healed Babylon, but she would not be healed. Forsake her and let us go, each one into his own country; for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the skies.

51:10  The LORD has brought forth our righteousness; come and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

51:11  Sharpen the arrows; gather the shields; the LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan against Babylon is to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of His temple.

51:12  Set up a banner against the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up the watchmen; prepare the ambushes. For the LORD has both planned and done that which He has spoken against the people of Babylon.

51:13  O you who live on many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, and the measure of your covetousness.

51:14  The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, "Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they shall lift up a shout against you."

51:15  He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

51:16  When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; He causes the mists to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning with rain and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.

51:17  Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by graven idols. For his molded image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.

51:18  They are vanity, the work of delusion; in the time of their judgment they shall perish.

51:19  The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. The LORD of hosts is His name.

51:20  "You are My battle axe and weapons of war; for with you I will shatter nations; and with you I will destroy kingdoms.

51:21  And with you I will shatter the horse and his rider; and with you I will shatter the chariot and his rider.

51:22  Also with you I will shatter man and woman; and with you I will shatter old and young; and with you I will shatter the young man and the maid.

51:23  I will also shatter the shepherd and his flock with you. And with you I will shatter the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you I will shatter heads and rulers.

51:24  And I will repay to Babylon, and all the people of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight," says the LORD.

51:25  "Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain," says the LORD, "who destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out My hand upon you and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain.

51:26  And they shall not take a stone from you for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be a desolation forever," says the LORD.

51:27  Set up a banner in the land; blow a ram's horn among the nations; prepare the nations against her. Call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz together against her; set a commander against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough locusts.

51:28  Consecrate nations against her, with the kings of the Medes, her governors and all her rulers, and all the land of his kingdom.

51:29  And the land shall tremble and writhe. For every purpose of the LORD shall be done against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.

51:30  The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they have remained in strongholds; their power has failed. They have become like women; they have burned her houses; her bars are broken.

51:31  A runner shall run to meet a runner, and a herald to a herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city is captured from one end to the other end;

51:32  And that the fords are stopped. And they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war are terrified.

51:33  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; at the time it is trampled. Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come for her.

51:34  Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel. He has swallowed me up like a jackal; he has filled his belly with good things; he has thrown me out;

51:35  The violence done to me and to my flesh shall be on Babylon," the dweller in Zion shall say. "And, my blood shall be upon the people of Chaldea," Jerusalem shall say.

51:36  Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

51:37  And Babylon shall become desolate heaps, a home for jackals, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant.

51:38  They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl like lions' cubs.

51:39  When they are inflamed I will prepare their feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may rejoice and sleep a neverending sleep, and never awaken," says the LORD.

51:40  "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

51:41  How Sheshach is captured! And how the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!

51:42  The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.

51:43  Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass by it.

51:44  And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. And the nations shall not flow together any more to him; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

51:45  My people, go out of her midst; and let each man deliver his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.

51:46  And let not your heart faint, nor fear the rumor that shall be heard in the land. A rumor shall come one year—and after that a rumor shall come in another year; and violence shall be in the land, ruler against ruler.

51:47  Therefore, behold, the days come that I will punish the idols of Babylon. And all her land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.

51:48  And the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall shout for Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north," says the LORD.

51:49  As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.

51:50  You who have escaped the sword, go out; do not stand still. Remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

51:51  We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; shame has covered our faces, for foreigners have come into the holy places of the LORD'S house.

51:52  Wherefore, behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will punish her idols, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

51:53  Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers shall come to her from Me," says the LORD.

51:54  A sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,

51:55  For the LORD will destroy Babylon, and the great voice will perish out of her. And her waves will roar like great waters; the noise of their voice is given,

51:56  Because the destroyer has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are captured. Every one of their bows is broken, for the LORD, God of vengeance, shall surely repay.

51:57  And I will make her rulers drunk, also her wise ones, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a never-ending sleep and not awaken," says the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts.

51:58  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "The broad walls of Babylon shall be completely broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and nations shall weary themselves only for fire."

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 into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was an officer of peace.

51:60  So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon.

51:61  And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all those words aloud,

51:62  Then you shall say, 'O LORD, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be a desolation forever.'

51:63  And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.

51:64  And you shall say, 'In this way shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on 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 evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

52:3  For it was because of the anger of the LORD that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end He 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, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it all around.

52:5  So the city was under attack until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

52:6  And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

52:7  Then a breach was made into the city, and all the men of war fled and went forth out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. (And the Chaldeans completely encircled the city.) And they went by the way of the plain.

52:8  But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him.

52:9  And they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgments against 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 chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

52:12  And in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, Captain of the Guard, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

52:13  And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house. And he burned with fire all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men.

52:14  And all the army of the Chaldeans with the Captain of the Guard broke down all Jerusalem's walls all around.

52:15  And Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard exiled some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

52:16  But Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard left some of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for farmers.

52:17  Also the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of the LORD, and carried all the bronze from them to Babylon.

52:18  They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which the priests ministered.

52:19  And the Captain of the Guard took away the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups; what was gold, in gold; and what was silver, in silver.

52:20  The two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the bronze of all these vessels was without weight.

52:21  And the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And a line of twelve cubits went around it, and the thickness of it was four fingers. It was hollow.

52:22  And a capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with the network and pomegranates on the capitals all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also, and the pomegranates, were like these.

52:23  And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a side; all the pomegranates on the network were a hundred all around.

52:24  And the Captain of the Guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

52:25  He also took out of the city an officer who was in charge of the men of war; and seven men from those who were near the king's person, who were found in the city; and the chief scribe of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle 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 struck them and slaughtered them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was exiled out of their own land.

52:28  This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews;

52:29  In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he exiled from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons;

52:30  In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard exiled seven hundred and forty-five persons of the Jews. All the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

52:31  And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth of the month, Evil- Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out from prison,

52:32  And spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

52:33  And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him all the days of his life.

52:34  And his allowance, a continual allowance, was given him from the king of Babylon, a daily portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.