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Jeremiah 10-19
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 10
1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, house of Israel.
2
This is what the LORD says: 'Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, Although the nations are terrified by them;
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For the customs of the peoples are futile; For it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
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They decorate the idol with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter.
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They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good.'
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There is none like You, LORD; You are great, and Your name is great in might.
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Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You.
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But they are altogether stupid and foolish; The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!
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Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Their clothing is of violet and purple; They are all the work of skilled people.
10
But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. The earth quakes at His wrath, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11
This is what you shall say to them: 'The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.'
12
It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.
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When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.
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Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his cast metal images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.
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They are worthless, a work of mockery; At the time of their punishment they will perish.
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The Portion of Jacob is not like these; For He is the Maker of everything, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of armies is His name.
17
Pick up your bundle from the ground, You who live under siege!
18
For this is what the LORD says: 'Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land At this time, And I will cause them distress, So that they may be found.'
19
Woe to me, because of my injury! My wound is incurable. But I said, 'This certainly is a sickness, And I must endure it.'
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My tent is destroyed, And all my ropes are broken. My sons have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to stretch out my tent again Or to set up my curtains.
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For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.
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The sound of a report! Behold, it is coming— A great roar from the land of the north— To make the cities of Judah A desolation, a haunt of jackals.
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I know, LORD, that a person’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps.
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Correct me, LORD, but with justice; Not with Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
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Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You, And on the families who do not call upon Your name; For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured him and consumed him, And have laid waste his settlement.
Chapter 11
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 'Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.'?’?' Then I replied, 'Amen, LORD.'
6
And the LORD said to me, 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.
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For I solemnly warned your fathers on the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning them persistently, saying, 'Listen to My voice.'
8
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart, each one of them; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’?'
9
Then the LORD said to me, 'A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10
They have turned back to the wrongdoings of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have followed 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
Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'Behold, I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.
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Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they certainly will not save them in the time of their disaster.
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For your gods are as many as your cities, Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars for burning incense to Baal.
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'So as for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster.
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What right has My beloved in My house When she has carried out many evil schemes? Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster, So that you can rejoice?'
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The LORD named you 'A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form'; With the noise of a great tumult He has set fire to it, And its branches are worthless.
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The LORD of armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering sacrifices to Baal.
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Moreover, the LORD made it known to me and I knew it; Then You showed me their deeds.
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But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, 'Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, And let’s cut him off from the land of the living, So that his name will no longer be remembered.'
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But, LORD of armies, who judges righteously, Who puts the feelings and the heart to the test, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have committed my cause.
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Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth, who are seeking your life, saying: 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you do not die by our hand';
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therefore, this is what the LORD of armies says: 'Behold, I am going to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine;
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and a remnant will not be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth—the year of their punishment.'
Chapter 12
1 Righteous are You, LORD, when I plead my case with You; Nevertheless I would discuss matters of justice with You: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease? 2 You have planted them, they have also taken root; They grow, they have also produced fruit. You are near to their lips But far from their mind. 3 But You know me, LORD; You see me And examine my heart’s attitude toward You. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter, And set them apart for a day of slaughter! 4 How long is the land to mourn, And the vegetation of the countryside to dry up? Due to the wickedness of those who live in it, Animals and birds have been snatched away, Because people have said, 'He will not see our final end.' 5 'If you have run with infantrymen and they have tired you out, How can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, How will you do in the thicket by the Jordan? 6 For even your brothers and the household of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously with you, Even they have called aloud after you. Do not believe them, though they say nice things to you.' 7 'I have forsaken My house, I have abandoned My inheritance; I have handed the beloved of My soul Over to her enemies. 8 My inheritance has become to Me Like a lion in the forest; She has roared against Me; Therefore I have come to hate her. 9 Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me? Are the birds of prey against her on every side? Go, gather all the animals of the field, Bring them to devour! 10 Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, They have trampled down My field; They have made My pleasant field A desolate wilderness. 11 It has been made a desolation; Desolate, it mourns before Me; The whole land has been made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart. 12 On all the bare heights in the wilderness Destroyers have come, For the sword of the LORD is devouring From one end of the land even to the other; There is no peace for anyone.
13
They have sown wheat but have harvested thorns, They have strained themselves to no profit. So be ashamed of your produce Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.'
14
This is what the LORD says concerning all My wicked neighbors who do harm to the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel: 'Behold, I am going to drive them out of their land, and I will drive the house of Judah out from among them.
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And it will come about that after I have driven them out, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.
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Then, if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people.
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But if they do not listen, then I will drive out that nation, drive it out and destroy it,' declares the LORD.
Chapter 13
1 This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.' 2 So I bought the undergarment in accordance with the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. 3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4 'Take the undergarment that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.' 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me. 6 After many days the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the undergarment which I commanded you to hide there.' 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the undergarment from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the undergarment was ruined, it was completely useless.
8
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9
'This is what the LORD says: ‘To the same extent I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
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This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless.
11
For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so that they might be My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.’
12
'Therefore you are to speak this word to them. ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Every jug is to be filled with wine.'?’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’
13
then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: 'Behold, I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!
14
Then I will smash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,' declares the LORD. 'I will not have compassion nor be troubled nor take pity so as to keep from destroying them.'?’?'
15
Listen and pay attention, do not be haughty; For the LORD has spoken.
16
Give glory to the LORD your God Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the mountains in the dark, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into gloom, And turns it into thick darkness.
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But if you do not listen to it, My soul will weep in secret for such pride; And my eyes will shed And stream down tears, Because the flock of the LORD has been taken captive.
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Say to the king and the queen mother, 'Take a lowly seat, For your beautiful crown Has come down from your head.'
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The cities of the Negev have been locked up, And there is no one to open them; All Judah has been taken into exile, Wholly taken into exile.
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'Raise your eyes and see Those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, Your beautiful sheep?
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What will you say when He appoints over you— And you yourself had taught them— Former companions to be head over you? Will sharp pains not take hold of you Like a woman in childbirth?
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If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ Because of the magnitude of your wrongdoing Your skirts have been removed And your heels have suffered violence.
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Can the Ethiopian change his skin, Or the leopard his spots? Then you as well can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.
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Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw To the desert wind.
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This is your lot, the portion measured to you From Me,' declares the LORD, 'Because you have forgotten Me And trusted in falsehood.
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So I Myself have stripped your skirts off over your face, So that your shame will be seen.
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As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings, The outrageous sin of your prostitution On the hills in the field, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?'
Chapter 14
1 That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah regarding the drought:
2
'Judah mourns And her gates languish; Her people sit on the ground in mourning garments, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3
Their nobles have sent their servants for water; They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their containers empty; They have been put to shame and humiliated, And they cover their heads,
4
Because the ground is cracked, For there has been no rain on the land. The farmers have been put to shame, They have covered their heads.
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For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is no grass.
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The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail Because there is no vegetation.
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Though our wrongdoings testify against us, LORD, act for the sake of Your name! Our apostasies have indeed been many, We have sinned against You.
8
Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a stranger in the land, Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
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Why are You like a confused person, Like a warrior who cannot save? Yet You are in our midst, LORD, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!'
10
This is what the LORD says to this people: 'So much they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their wrongdoing and call their sins to account.'
11
So the LORD said to me, 'Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people.
12
When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to put an end to them by the sword, famine, and plague.'
13
But I said, 'Oh, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’?'
14
Then the LORD said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds.
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Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!
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And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.
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You will say this word to them, ‘Let my eyes stream down tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound.
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If I go out to the country, There are those killed by the sword! Or if I enter the city, There are diseases from famine! For both prophet and priest Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’?'
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Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
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We know our wickedness, LORD, The wrongdoing of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
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Do not despise us, for the sake of Your own name; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
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Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, LORD our God? Therefore we wait for You, For You are the one who has done all these things.
Chapter 15
1 Then the LORD said to me, 'Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people. Send them away from My presence and have them go!
2
And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: 'Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.'?’
3
And I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,' declares the LORD: 'the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy.
4
I will make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
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'Indeed, who will have pity on you, Jerusalem, Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6
You who have forsaken Me,' declares the LORD, 'You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting!
7
I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways.
8
Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man, A destroyer at noon; I will suddenly bring down on her Shock and horror.
9
She who gave birth to seven sons withers away; Her breathing is labored. Her sun has set while it was still day; She has been shamed and humiliated. So I will turn over their survivors to the sword Before their enemies,' declares the LORD.
10
Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have people lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me.
11
The LORD said, 'I will certainly set you free for purposes of good; I will certainly make the enemy plead with you In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12
'Can anyone smash iron, Iron from the north, or bronze?
13
I will give your wealth and your treasures As plunder without cost, For all your sins And within all your borders.
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Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions Into a land that you do not know; For a fire has been kindled in My anger, And it will burn upon you.'
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You know, LORD; Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.
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Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, LORD God of armies.
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I did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, For You filled me with indignation.
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Why has my pain been endless And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?
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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'If you return, then I will restore you— You will stand before Me; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you, But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
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Then I will make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze; And though they fight against you, They will not prevail over you; For I am with you to save you And rescue you,' declares the LORD.
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'So I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.'
Chapter 16
1 The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, 2 'You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.' 3 For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who give birth to them, and their fathers who father them in this land: 4 'They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be mourned or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.'
5
For this is what the LORD says: 'Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,' declares the LORD, 'and My favor and compassion.
6
Both great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone make cuts on himself or have his head shaved for them.
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People will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother.
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Moreover, you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.'
9
For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: 'Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.
10
'Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
11
Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law.
12
You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.
13
So I will hurl you off this land to the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’
14
'Therefore behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’
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but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.
16
'Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,' declares the LORD, 'and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.
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For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.
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I will first repay them double for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and their abominations.'
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LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, 'Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility, and things of no benefit.'
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Can a person make gods for himself? But they are not gods!
21
'Therefore behold, I am going to make them know— This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they will know that My name is the LORD.'
Chapter 17
1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts And on the horns of their altars, 2 As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills. 3 Mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will turn over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, Your high places for sin throughout your borders. 4 And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever. 5 This is what the LORD says: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 For he will be like a bush in the desert, And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt that is not inhabited. 7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose trust is the LORD. 8 For he will be like a tree planted by the water That extends its roots by a stream, And does not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought, Nor cease to yield fruit. 9 'The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, To give to each person according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds. 11 As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the middle of his days it will abandon him, And in the end he will be a fool.' 12 A glorious throne on high from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary. 13 LORD, the hope of Israel, All who abandon You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, that is the LORD. 14 Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise. 15 Look, they keep saying to me, 'Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!' 16 But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd following after You, Nor have I longed for the disastrous day; You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips Was in Your presence. 17 Do not be a terror to me; You are my refuge in a day of disaster.
18
Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them a day of disaster, And crush them with double destruction!
19
This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and stand at the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem;
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and say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates.
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This is what the LORD says: 'Take care for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.
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You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers.
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Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks so as not to listen or accept discipline.
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'But it will come about, if you give your attention to Me,' declares the LORD, 'to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,
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then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
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They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the areas surrounding Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the LORD.
27
But if you do not listen to Me, to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set fire to its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not go out.'?’?'
Chapter 18
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 'Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.' 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
5
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6
'Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?' declares the LORD. 'Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.
7
At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it;
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if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it.
9
Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;
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if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said that I would bless it.
11
So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: 'Behold, I am forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now turn back, each of you from his evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds!'?’
12
But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will persist in the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13
'Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Just ask among the nations, Who ever heard anything like this? The virgin of Israel Has done a most appalling thing.
14
Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the open country alone? Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever dried up?
15
For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods. And they have stumbled in their ways, In the ancient roads, To walk on paths, Not on a highway,
16
To make their land a desolation, An object of perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.
17
Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face In the day of their disaster.’?'
18
Then they said, 'Come and let’s devise plans against Jeremiah. Certainly the Law is not going to be lost by the priest, nor advice by the wise, nor the divine word by the prophet! Come, and let’s strike at him with our tongue, and let’s pay no attention to any of his words.'
19
Give Your attention to me, LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying!
20
Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good in their behalf, So as to turn Your wrath away from them.
21
Therefore, give their children over to famine And turn them over to the power of the sword; And let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be slaughtered to death, Their young men struck and killed by the sword in battle.
22
May a cry be heard from their houses When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet.
23
But You, LORD, know All their deadly schemes against me; Do not forgive their wrongdoing Or wipe out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger!
Chapter 19
1 This is what the LORD says: 'Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests. 2 Then go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: 'Behold I am going to bring a disaster upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4 Since they have abandoned Me and have made this place foreign, and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My mind; 6 therefore, behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. 8 I will also turn this city into an object of horror and hissing; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and hiss because of all its disasters. 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.'?’
10
'Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you,
11
and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies says: 'To the same extent I will break this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury their dead in Topheth, because there is no other place for burial.
12
This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,' declares the LORD, 'so as to make this city like Topheth.
13
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly lights and poured out drink offerings to other gods.'?’?'
14
Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the courtyard of the LORD’S house and said to all the people,
15
'This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to listen to My words.’?'
King James Version
Chapter 10
1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. 6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. 7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. 8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities. 9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men. 10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. 14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
17
Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18
For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
19
Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
20
My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22
Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
23
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
24
O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25
Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
Chapter 11
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, 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 them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: 5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD. 6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not. 9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which 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
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
12
Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13
For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
15
What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
16
The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
17
For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
18
And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
19
But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
20
But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
21
Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
22
Therefore thus saith 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:
23
And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
Chapter 12
1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? 2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. 3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end. 5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? 6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
7
I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8
Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
9
Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
10
Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11
They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
12
The spoilers are come upon all 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.
13
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
14
Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that 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.
15
And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16
And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
17
But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
Chapter 13
1 Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. 2 So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins. 3 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, 4 Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. 5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6 And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there. 7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing. 8 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 9 Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
12
Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13
Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
14
And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
15
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
16
Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
17
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.
18
Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.
19
The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
20
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
21
What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
22
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
24
Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
25
This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
26
Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
27
I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?
Chapter 14
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. 2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. 4 Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. 5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. 6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass. 7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. 8 O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.
10
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
11
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
12
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
13
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
14
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
15
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
16
And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
17
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
18
If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
19
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20
We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
21
Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
22
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.
Chapter 15
1 Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. 2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine,to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. 3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. 5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? 6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. 7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways. 8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city. 9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
10
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
11
The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12
Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
13
Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14
And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
15
O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
16
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
17
I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
19
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
20
And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
21
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
Chapter 16
1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, 2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; 4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: 7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
10
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath 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?
11
Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12
And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
13
Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
14
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
15
But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17
For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
18
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
19
O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
20
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
Chapter 17
1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; 2 Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. 3 O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders. 4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
5
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
6
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
11
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
12
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
14
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
15
Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
16
As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
17
Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
18
Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19
Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20
And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21
Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22
Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25
Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.
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 meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.
27
But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
Chapter 18
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12
And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
13
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
14
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
15
Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
16
To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
17
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18
Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19
Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
20
Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22
Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23
Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
Chapter 19
1 Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; 2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto 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; 5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
10
Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
12
Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
13
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
14
Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house; and said to all the people,
15
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 10
1 Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, house of Israel.
2
This is what the Lord says: Do not learn the way of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them,
3
for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
4
He decorates it with silver and gold. It is fastened with hammer and nails, so it won't totter.
5
Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm -- and they cannot do any good.
6
Lord, there is no one like you. You are great; your name is great in power.
7
Who should not fear you, King of the nations? It is what you deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
8
They are both stupid and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
9
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. The work of a craftsman and of a goldsmith's hands is clothed in blue and purple, all the work of skilled artisans.
10
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at his wrath, and the nations cannot endure his fury.
11
You are to say this to them: "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens."
12
He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and spread out the heavens by his understanding.
13
When he thunders, the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, and he causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from his storehouses.
14
Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them.
15
They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.
16
Jacob's Portion is not like these because he is the one who formed all things. Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of Armies is his name.
17
Gather up your belongings from the ground, you who live under siege.
18
For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am flinging away the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.
19
Woe to me because of my brokenness -- I am severely wounded! I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."
20
My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.
21
For the shepherds are stupid: They don't seek the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.
22
Listen! A noise--it is coming -- a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.
23
I know, Lord, that a person's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.
24
Discipline me, Lord, but with justice -- not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.
25
Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't recognize you and on the families that don't call on your name, for they have consumed Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off and made his homeland desolate.
Chapter 11
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 "Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. 3 Tell them, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace." I declared, "Obey me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God,"
5
in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.' "I answered, "Amen, Lord."
6
The Lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: 'Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.'
7
For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again, 'Obey me.'
8
Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do."
9
The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.
10
They have returned to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to obey my words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant I made with their ancestors.
11
"Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to me, but I will not hear them.
12
Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.
13
Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah, and the altars you have set up to Shame --altars to burn incense to Baal--as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.
14
"As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to me at the time of their disaster.
15
What right does my beloved have to be in my house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meat prevent your disaster so you can celebrate?
16
The Lord named you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. He has set fire to it, and its branches are consumed with the sound of a mighty tumult.
17
"The Lord of Armies who planted you has decreed disaster against you, because of the disaster the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves when they angered me by burning incense to Baal."
18
The Lord informed me, so I knew. Then you helped me to see their deeds,
19
for I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit; let's cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will no longer be remembered."
20
But, Lord of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to you.
21
Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth who intend to take your life. They warn, "Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will certainly die at our hand."
22
Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: "I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.
23
They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment."
Chapter 12
1 You will be righteous, Lord, even if I bring a case against you. Yet, I wish to contend with you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the treacherous live at ease? 2 You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their conscience. 3 As for you, Lord, you know me; you see me. You test whether my heart is with you. Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter and set them apart for the day of killing. 4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of its residents, animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, "He cannot see what our end will be." 5 If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6
Even your brothers--your own father's family -- even they were treacherous to you; even they have cried out loudly after you. Do not have confidence in them, though they speak well of you.
7
I have abandoned my house; I have deserted my inheritance. I have handed the love of my life over to her enemies.
8
My inheritance has behaved toward me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against me. Therefore, I hate her.
9
Is my inheritance like a hyena to me? Are birds of prey circling her? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to devour her.
10
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled my plot of land. They have turned my desirable plot into a desolate wasteland.
11
They have made it a desolation. It mourns, desolate, before me. All the land is desolate, but no one takes it to heart.
12
Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the Lord has a sword that devours from one end of the earth to the other. No one has peace.
13
They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves but have no profit. Be put to shame by your harvests because of the Lord's burning anger.
14
This is what the Lord says: "Concerning all my evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to my people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them.
15
After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
16
If they will diligently learn the ways of my people--to swear by my name, 'As the Lord lives,' just as they taught my people to swear by Baal--they will be built up among my people.
17
However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation."This is the Lord's declaration.
Chapter 13
1 This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it on. But do not put it in water." 2 So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.
3
Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:
4
"Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates and hide it in a rocky crevice."
5
So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6
A long time later the Lord said to me, "Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there."
7
So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined--of no use at all.
8
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
9
"This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.
10
These evil people, who refuse to listen to me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and bow in worship--they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.
11
Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to me"--this is the Lord's declaration--"so that they might be my people for my fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.
12
"Say this to them: 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine.' Then they will respond to you, 'Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine? '
13
And you will say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land--the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem--with drunkenness.
14
I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike--this is the Lord's declaration. I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep me from destroying them.' "
15
Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken.
16
Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. You wait for light, but he brings darkest gloom and makes total darkness.
17
But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord's flock has been taken captive.
18
Say to the king and the queen mother: Take a humble seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.
19
The cities of the Negev are under siege; no one can help them. All of Judah has been taken into exile, taken completely into exile.
20
Look up and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?
21
What will you say when he appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won't labor pains seize you, as they do a woman in labor?
22
And when you ask yourself, "Why have these things happened to me? " it is because of your great guilt that your skirts have been stripped off, your body exposed.
23
Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil.
24
I will scatter you like drifting chaff before the desert wind.
25
This is your lot, what I have decreed for you -- this is the Lord's declaration -- because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.
26
I will pull your skirts up over your face so that your shame might be seen.
27
Your adulteries and your lustful neighing, your depraved prostitution on the hills, in the fields -- I have seen your abhorrent acts. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You are unclean -- for how long yet?
Chapter 14
1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2
Judah mourns; her city gates languish. Her people are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem's cry rises up.
3
Their nobles send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns; they find no water; their containers return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
4
The ground is cracked since no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
5
Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons her fawn since there is no grass.
6
Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there are no green plants.
7
Though our iniquities testify against us, Lord, act for your name's sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against you.
8
Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are you like a resident alien in the land, like a traveler stopping only for the night?
9
Why are you like a helpless man, like a warrior unable to save? Yet you are among us, Lord, and we bear your name. Don't leave us!
10
This is what the Lord says concerning these people: Truly they love to wander; they never rest their feet. So the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
11
Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of these people.
12
If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague."
13
And I replied, "Oh no, Lord God! The prophets are telling them, 'You won't see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you lasting peace in this place.' "
14
But the Lord said to me, "These prophets are prophesying a lie in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.
15
"Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them, and who say, 'There will never be sword or famine in this land.' By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.
16
The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them--they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them."
17
You are to speak this word to them: Let my eyes overflow with tears; day and night may they not stop, for my dearest people have been destroyed by a crushing blow, an extremely severe wound.
18
If I go out to the field, look--those slain by the sword! If I enter the city, look--those ill from famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.
19
Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you detest Zion? Why do you strike us with no hope of healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
20
We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors; indeed, we have sinned against you.
21
For your name's sake, don't despise us. Don't disdain your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us; do not break it.
22
Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the skies alone give showers? Are you not the Lord our God? We therefore put our hope in you, for you have done all these things.
Chapter 15
1 Then the Lord said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before me, my compassions would not reach out to these people. Send them from my presence, and let them go.
2
If they ask you, 'Where will we go? ' tell them: This is what the Lord says: Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword. Those destined for famine, to famine; those destined for captivity, to captivity.
3
"I will ordain four kinds of judgment for them"--this is the Lord's declaration--"the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land to devour and destroy.
4
I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5
Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will show sympathy toward you? Who will turn aside to ask about your well-being?
6
You have left me." This is the Lord's declaration. "You have turned your back, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you. I am tired of showing compassion.
7
I scattered them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I made them childless; I destroyed my people. They would not turn from their ways.
8
I made their widows more numerous than the sand of the seas. I brought a destroyer at noon against the mother of young men. I suddenly released on her agitation and terrors.
9
The mother of seven grew faint; she breathed her last breath. Her sun set while it was still day; she was ashamed and humiliated. The rest of them I will give over to the sword in the presence of their enemies." This is the Lord's declaration.
10
Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man who incites dispute and conflict in all the land. I did not lend or borrow, yet everyone curses me.
11
The Lord said: Haven't I set you loose for your good? Haven't I punished you in a time of trouble, in a time of distress with the enemy?
12
Can anyone smash iron, iron from the north, or bronze?
13
I will give up your wealth and your treasures as plunder, without cost, for all your sins in all your borders.
14
Then I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.
15
You know, Lord; remember me and take note of me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In your patience, don't take me away. Know that I suffer disgrace for your honor.
16
Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I bear your name, Lord God of Armies.
17
I never sat with the band of revelers, and I did not celebrate with them. Because your hand was on me, I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.
18
Why has my pain become unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You truly have become like a mirage to me -- water that is not reliable.
19
Therefore, this is what the Lord says: If you return, I will take you back; you will stand in my presence. And if you speak noble words, rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. It is they who must return to you; you must not return to them.
20
Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save you and rescue you. This is the Lord's declaration.
21
I will rescue you from the power of evil people and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
Chapter 16
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Do not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land: 4 They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the soil's surface. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.
5
"For this is what the Lord says: Don't enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don't go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed my peace from these people as well as my faithful love and compassion." This is the Lord's declaration.
6
"Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
7
Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A consoling drink won't be given him for the loss of his father or mother.
8
Do not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink.
9
For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride.
10
"When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, 'Why has the Lord declared all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? '
11
Then you will answer them, 'Because your ancestors abandoned me--this is the Lord's declaration--and followed other gods, served them, and bowed in worship to them. Indeed, they abandoned me and did not keep my instruction.
12
You did more evil than your ancestors. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying me.
13
So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your ancestors have not known. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.'
14
"However, look, the days are coming"--the Lord's declaration--"when it will no longer be said, 'As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,'
15
but rather, 'As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.' For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.
16
"I am about to send for many fishermen"--this is the Lord's declaration--"and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,
17
for my gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from me, and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight.
18
I will first repay them double for their iniquity and sin because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their abhorrent and detestable idols."
19
Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our ancestors inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all."
20
Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.
21
"Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know my power and my might; then they will know that my name is the Lord."
Chapter 17
1 The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron stylus. With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, by the green trees on the high hills -- 3 my mountains in the countryside. I will give up your wealth and all your treasures as plunder because of the sin of your high places in all your borders. 4 You will, on your own, relinquish your inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have set my anger on fire; it will burn forever.
5
This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the Lord.
6
He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.
7
The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.
8
He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn't fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.
9
The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable--who can understand it?
10
I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.
11
He who makes a fortune unjustly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the middle of his life his riches will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.
12
A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13
Lord, the hope of Israel, all who abandon you will be put to shame. All who turn away from me will be written in the dirt, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water.
14
Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.
15
Hear how they keep challenging me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come! "
16
But I have not run away from being your shepherd, and I have not longed for the fatal day. You know my words were spoken in your presence.
17
Don't become a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18
Let my persecutors be put to shame, but don't let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but don't let me be terrified. Bring on them the day of disaster; shatter them with total destruction.
19
This is what the Lord said to me, "Go and stand at the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem.
20
Announce to them, 'Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21
This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath day.
22
Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your ancestors.
23
They wouldn't listen or pay attention but became obstinate, not listening or accepting discipline.
24
" 'However, if you listen to me--this is the Lord's declaration--and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,
25
kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David; they will ride in chariots and on horses with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.
26
Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thanksgiving sacrifices to the house of the Lord.
27
But if you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem and not be extinguished.' "
Chapter 18
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 "Go down at once to the potter's house; there I will reveal my words to you." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.
5
The word of the Lord came to me:
6
"House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? "--this is the Lord's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
7
At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.
8
However, if that nation about which I have made the announcement turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.
9
At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.
10
However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening to me, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.
11
So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem, 'This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.'
12
But they will say, 'It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.' "
13
Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Ask among the nations, who has heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing.
14
Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
15
Yet my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads, and make them walk on new paths, not the highway.
16
They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by it will be appalled and shake their heads.
17
I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them my back and not my face on the day of their calamity.
18
Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or a word from the prophet. Come, let's denounce him and pay no attention to all his words."
19
Pay attention to me, Lord. Hear what my opponents are saying!
20
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your anger from them.
21
Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22
Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
23
But you, Lord, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their iniquity; do not blot out their sin before you. Let them be forced to stumble before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Chapter 19
1 This is what the Lord says: "Go, buy a potter's clay jar. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests 2 and go out to Ben Hinnom Valley near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. 3 Say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder 4 because they have abandoned me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.
6
" 'Therefore, look, the days are coming--this is the Lord's declaration--when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.
7
I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who intend to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.
8
I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and scoff because of all its wounds.
9
I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other's flesh in the distressing siege inflicted on them by their enemies who intend to take their life.'
10
"Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people going with you,
11
and you are to proclaim to them, 'This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.
12
That is what I will do to this place--this is the declaration of the Lord--and to its residents, making this city like Topheth.
13
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth--all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the stars in the sky and poured out drink offerings to other gods.' "
14
Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord's temple, and proclaimed to all the people,
15
"This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: 'I am about to bring on this city--and on all its cities--every disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying my words.' "
New Living Translation
Chapter 10
1 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O Israel!
2
This is what the LORD says: 'Do not act like the other nations, who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them.
3
Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
4
They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.
5
Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.'
6
LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power.
7
Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone! Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world, there is no one like you.
8
People who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood!
9
They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen who make their idols. Then they dress these gods in royal blue and purple robes made by expert tailors.
10
But the LORD is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations cannot stand up to his wrath.
11
Say this to those who worship other gods: 'Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth and from under the heavens.'
12
But God made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens.
13
When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.
14
The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.
15
Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
16
But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including Israel, his own special possession. The LORD of Heaven's Armies is his name!
17
Pack your bags and prepare to leave; the siege is about to begin.
18
For this is what the LORD says: 'Suddenly, I will fling out all you who live in this land. I will pour great troubles upon you, and at last you will feel my anger.'
19
My wound is severe, and my grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.
20
My home is gone, and no one is left to help me rebuild it. My children have been taken away, and I will never see them again.
21
The shepherds of my people have lost their senses. They no longer seek wisdom from the LORD. Therefore, they fail completely, and their flocks are scattered.
22
Listen! Hear the terrifying roar of great armies as they roll down from the north. The towns of Judah will be destroyed and become a haunt for jackals.
23
I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.
24
So correct me, LORD, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.
25
Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you--on the peoples that do not call upon your name. For they have devoured your people Israel; they have devoured and consumed them, making the land a desolate wilderness.
Chapter 11
1 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 'Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of my covenant with them. 3 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who does not obey the terms of my covenant! 4 For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt, 'If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God.'
5
I said this so I could keep my promise to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey--the land you live in today.'' Then I replied, 'Amen, LORD! May it be so.'
6
Then the LORD said, 'Broadcast this message in the streets of Jerusalem. Go from town to town throughout the land and say, 'Remember the ancient covenant, and do everything it requires.
7
For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, 'Obey me!' I have repeated this warning over and over to this day,
8
but your ancestors did not listen or even pay attention. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in this covenant.''
9
Again the LORD spoke to me and said, 'I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
10
They have returned to the sins of their forefathers. They have refused to listen to me and are worshiping other gods. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.
11
Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries.
12
Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and burn incense before them. But the idols will not save them when disaster strikes!
13
Look now, people of Judah; you have as many gods as you have towns. You have as many altars of shame--altars for burning incense to your god Baal--as there are streets in Jerusalem.
14
'Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress.
15
'What right do my beloved people have to come to my Temple, when they have done so many immoral things? Can their vows and sacrifices prevent their destruction? They actually rejoice in doing evil!
16
I, the LORD, once called them a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit. But now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire, leaving them charred and broken.
17
'I, the LORD of Heaven's Armies, who planted this olive tree, have ordered it destroyed. For the people of Israel and Judah have done evil, arousing my anger by burning incense to Baal.'
18
Then the LORD told me about the plots my enemies were making against me.
19
I was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I had no idea that they were planning to kill me! 'Let's destroy this man and all his words,' they said. 'Let's cut him down, so his name will be forgotten forever.'
20
O LORD of Heaven's Armies, you make righteous judgments, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.
21
This is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who wanted me dead. They had said, 'We will kill you if you do not stop prophesying in the LORD's name.'
22
So this is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies says about them: 'I will punish them! Their young men will die in battle, and their boys and girls will starve to death.
23
Not one of these plotters from Anathoth will survive, for I will bring disaster upon them when their time of punishment comes.'
Chapter 12
1 LORD, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy? 2 You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts. 3 But as for me, LORD, you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered!
4
How long must this land mourn? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. For the people have said, 'The LORD doesn't see what's ahead for us!'
5
'If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
6
Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.
7
'I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
8
My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.
9
My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!
10
'Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
11
They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.
12
On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the LORD devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape!
13
My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the LORD.'
14
Now this is what the LORD says: 'I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them.
15
But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession.
16
And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives' (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.
17
But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!'
Chapter 13
1 This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.' 2 So I bought the loincloth as the LORD directed me, and I put it on.
3
Then the LORD gave me another message:
4
'Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.'
5
So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD had instructed me.
6
A long time afterward the LORD said to me, 'Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.'
7
So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing.
8
Then I received this message from the LORD:
9
'This is what the LORD says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem.
10
These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth--good for nothing!
11
As a loincloth clings to a man's waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the LORD. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory--an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.
12
'So tell them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: May all your jars be filled with wine.' And they will reply, 'Of course! Jars are made to be filled with wine!'
13
'Then tell them, 'No, this is what the LORD means: I will fill everyone in this land with drunkenness--from the king sitting on David's throne to the priests and the prophets, right down to the common people of Jerusalem.
14
I will smash them against each other, even parents against children, says the LORD. I will not let my pity or mercy or compassion keep me from destroying them.''
15
Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
16
Give glory to the LORD your God before it is too late. Acknowledge him before he brings darkness upon you, causing you to stumble and fall on the darkening mountains. For then, when you look for light, you will find only terrible darkness and gloom.
17
And if you still refuse to listen, I will weep alone because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD's flock will be led away into exile.
18
Say to the king and his mother, 'Come down from your thrones and sit in the dust, for your glorious crowns will soon be snatched from your heads.'
19
The towns of the Negev will close their gates, and no one will be able to open them. The people of Judah will be taken away as captives. All will be carried into exile.
20
Open up your eyes and see the armies marching down from the north! Where is your flock--your beautiful flock--that he gave you to care for?
21
What will you say when the LORD takes the allies you have cultivated and appoints them as your rulers? Pangs of anguish will grip you, like those of a woman in labor!
22
You may ask yourself, 'Why is all this happening to me?' It is because of your many sins! That is why you have been stripped and raped by invading armies.
23
Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you have always done evil.
24
'I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the desert winds.
25
This is your allotment, the portion I have assigned to you,' says the LORD, 'for you have forgotten me, putting your trust in false gods.
26
I myself will strip you and expose you to shame.
27
I have seen your adultery and lust, and your disgusting idol worship out in the fields and on the hills. What sorrow awaits you, Jerusalem! How long before you are pure?'
Chapter 14
1 This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD, explaining why he was holding back the rain:
2
'Judah wilts; commerce at the city gates grinds to a halt. All the people sit on the ground in mourning, and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.
3
The nobles send servants to get water, but all the wells are dry. The servants return with empty pitchers, confused and desperate, covering their heads in grief.
4
The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain. The farmers are deeply troubled; they, too, cover their heads.
5
Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass in the field.
6
The wild donkeys stand on the bare hills panting like thirsty jackals. They strain their eyes looking for grass, but there is none to be found.'
7
The people say, 'Our wickedness has caught up with us, LORD, but help us for the sake of your own reputation. We have turned away from you and sinned against you again and again.
8
O Hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble, why are you like a stranger to us? Why are you like a traveler passing through the land, stopping only for the night?
9
Are you also confused? Is our champion helpless to save us? You are right here among us, LORD. We are known as your people. Please don't abandon us now!'
10
So this is what the LORD says to his people: 'You love to wander far from me and do not restrain yourselves. Therefore, I will no longer accept you as my people. Now I will remember all your wickedness and will punish you for your sins.'
11
Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not pray for these people anymore.
12
When they fast, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.'
13
Then I said, 'O Sovereign LORD, their prophets are telling them, 'All is well--no war or famine will come. The LORD will surely send you peace.''
14
Then the LORD said, 'These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.
15
Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine!
16
As for the people to whom they prophesy--their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters--all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them.
17
Now, Jeremiah, say this to them: 'Night and day my eyes overflow with tears. I cannot stop weeping, for my virgin daughter--my precious people--has been struck down and lies mortally wounded.
18
If I go out into the fields, I see the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy. If I walk the city streets, I see people who have died of starvation. The prophets and priests continue with their work, but they don't know what they're doing.'
19
LORD, have you completely rejected Judah? Do you really hate Jerusalem? Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing? We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.
20
LORD, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you.
21
For the sake of your reputation, LORD, do not abandon us. Do not disgrace your own glorious throne. Please remember us, and do not break your covenant with us.
22
Can any of the worthless foreign gods send us rain? Does it fall from the sky by itself? No, you are the one, O LORD our God! Only you can do such things. So we will wait for you to help us.
Chapter 15
1 Then the LORD said to me, 'Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn't help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight!
2
And if they say to you, 'But where can we go?' tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: ''Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.'
3
'I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,' says the LORD. 'I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left.
4
Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
5
'Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?
6
You have abandoned me and turned your back on me,' says the LORD. 'Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.
7
I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities and take away the children you hold dear. I will destroy my own people, because they refuse to change their evil ways.
8
There will be more widows than the grains of sand on the seashore. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of young men. I will cause anguish and terror to come upon them suddenly.
9
The mother of seven grows faint and gasps for breath; her sun has gone down while it is still day. She sits childless now, disgraced and humiliated. And I will hand over those who are left to be killed by the enemy. I, the LORD, have spoken!'
10
Then I said, 'What sorrow is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay--yet they all curse me.'
11
The LORD replied, 'I will take care of you, Jeremiah. Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf in times of trouble and distress.
12
Can a man break a bar of iron from the north, or a bar of bronze?
13
At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.
14
I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.'
15
Then I said, 'LORD, you know what's happening to me. Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors! Please give me time; don't let me die young. It's for your sake that I am suffering.
16
When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven's Armies.
17
I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins.
18
Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.'
19
This is how the LORD responds: 'If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!
20
They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the LORD, have spoken!
21
Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.'
Chapter 16
1 The LORD gave me another message. He said, 2 'Do not get married or have children in this place. 3 For this is what the LORD says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: 4 They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.'
5
This is what the LORD says: 'Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.
6
Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness.
7
No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead--not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.
8
'And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all.
9
For this is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.
10
'When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, 'Why has the LORD decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the LORD our God?'
11
'Then you will give them the LORD's reply: 'It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word.
12
And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.
13
So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night--and I will grant you no favors!'
14
'But the time is coming,' says the LORD, 'when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.'
15
Instead, they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.' For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.
16
'But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,' says the LORD. 'I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves.
17
I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.
18
I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.'
19
LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, 'Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols.
20
Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!'
21
The LORD says, 'Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the LORD.
Chapter 17
1 'The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel--engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars. 2 Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill. 3 So I will hand over my holy mountain--along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines--as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. 4 The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.'
5
This is what the LORD says: 'Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.
6
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.
7
'But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.
8
They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
9
'The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
10
But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.'
11
Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools.
12
But we worship at your throne--eternal, high, and glorious!
13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
14
O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!
15
People scoff at me and say, 'What is this 'message from the LORD' you talk about? Why don't your predictions come true?'
16
LORD, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. I have not urged you to send disaster. You have heard everything I've said.
17
LORD, don't terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.
18
Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me, but don't let me experience shame and dismay. Bring a day of terror on them. Yes, bring double destruction upon them!
19
This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in and out, and then in each of the other gates.
20
Say to all the people, 'Listen to this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem.
21
This is what the LORD says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath day.
22
Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,
23
but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or accept my discipline.
24
''But if you obey me, says the LORD, and do not carry on your trade at the gates or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy,
25
then kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will always ride in and out among the people of Judah in chariots and on horses, and this city will remain forever.
26
And from all around Jerusalem, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the western foothills and the hill country and the Negev, the people will come with their burnt offerings and sacrifices. They will bring their grain offerings, frankincense, and thanksgiving offerings to the LORD's Temple.
27
''But if you do not listen to me and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.''
Chapter 18
1 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 'Go down to the potter's shop, and I will speak to you there.' 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
5
Then the LORD gave me this message:
6
'O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.
7
If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,
8
but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.
9
And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,
10
but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.
11
'Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.''
12
But the people replied, 'Don't waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.'
13
So this is what the LORD says: 'Has anyone ever heard of such a thing, even among the pagan nations? My virgin daughter Israel has done something terrible!
14
Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?
15
But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.
16
Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement.
17
I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.'
18
Then the people said, 'Come on, let's plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don't need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let's spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.'
19
LORD, hear me and help me! Listen to what my enemies are saying.
20
Should they repay evil for good? They have dug a pit to kill me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your anger.
21
So let their children starve! Let them die by the sword! Let their wives become childless widows. Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be killed in battle!
22
Let screaming be heard from their homes as warriors come suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit for me and have hidden traps along my path.
23
LORD, you know all about their murderous plots against me. Don't forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die before you. Deal with them in your anger.
Chapter 19
1 This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and buy a clay jar. Then ask some of the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you. 2 Go out through the Gate of Broken Pots to the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and give them this message. 3 Say to them, 'Listen to this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will bring a terrible disaster on this place, and the ears of those who hear about it will ring!
4
''For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wickedness. The people burn incense to foreign gods--idols never before acknowledged by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children.
5
They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!
6
So beware, for the time is coming, says the LORD, when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7
''For I will upset the careful plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.
8
I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there.
9
I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone. Then those trapped inside will eat their own sons and daughters and friends. They will be driven to utter despair.'
10
'As these men watch you, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought.
11
Then say to them, 'This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies says: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the bodies here in Topheth, the garbage dump, until there is no more room for them.
12
This is what I will do to this place and its people, says the LORD. I will cause this city to become defiled like Topheth.
13
Yes, all the houses in Jerusalem, including the palace of Judah's kings, will become like Topheth--all the houses where you burned incense on the rooftops to your star gods, and where liquid offerings were poured out to your idols.''
14
Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, the garbage dump where he had delivered this message, and he stopped in front of the Temple of the LORD. He said to the people there,
15
'This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: 'I will bring disaster upon this city and its surrounding towns as I promised, because you have stubbornly refused to listen to me.''
English Standard Version
Chapter 10
1 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,
3
for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
4
They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
5
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
6
There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
7
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.
8
They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!
9
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.
10
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
11
Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12
It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
13
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
14
Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.
15
They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16
Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
17
Gather up your bundle from the ground, O you who dwell under siege!
18
For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it.”
19
Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, “Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it.”
20
My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains.
21
For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
22
A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!— a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.
23
I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24
Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
25
Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
Chapter 11
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, LORD.”
6
And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.
7
For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.
8
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
9
Again the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10
They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.
11
Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.
12
Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble.
13
For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.
14
“Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.
15
What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?
16
The LORD once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed.
17
The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”
18
The LORD made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.
19
But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”
20
But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.
21
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”—
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,
23
and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”
Chapter 12
1 Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? 2 You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart. 3 But you, O LORD, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter. 4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, “He will not see our latter end.” 5 “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? 6 For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.” 7 “I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. 8 My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her. 9 Is my heritage to me like a hyena’s lair? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour. 10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart. 12 Upon all the bare heights in the desert destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no flesh has peace. 13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD.” 14 Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15 And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. 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,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. 17 But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD.”Chapter 13
1 Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, 4 “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6 And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
8
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
9
“Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10
This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
11
For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
12
“You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’
13
Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
14
And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”
15
Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken.
16
Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.
17
But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
18
Say to the king and the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.”
19
The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.
20
“Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?
21
What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you like those of a woman in labor?
22
And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things come upon me?’ it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.
23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
24
I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.
25
This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.
26
I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.
27
I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?”
Chapter 14
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2
“Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
3
Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns; they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.
4
Because of the ground that is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
5
Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
6
The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.
7
“Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.
8
O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9
Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.”
10
Thus says the LORD concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”
11
The LORD said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people.
12
Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”
13
Then I said: “Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”
14
And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.
15
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.
16
And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.
17
“You shall say to them this word: ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.
18
If I go out into the field, behold, those pierced by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge.’”
19
Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
20
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.
21
Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.
22
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.
Chapter 15
1 Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! 2 And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’
3
I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4
And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.
5
“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6
You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting.
7
I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.
8
I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly.
9
She who bore seven has grown feeble; she has fainted away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, declares the LORD.”
10
Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.
11
The LORD said, “Have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress?
12
Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?
13
“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.
14
I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
15
O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.
16
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
17
I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.
18
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
19
Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.
20
And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the LORD.
21
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
Chapter 16
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.
5
“For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD.
6
Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.
7
No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother.
8
You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.
9
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10
“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
11
then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,
12
and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.
13
Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
14
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’
15
but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
16
“Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
17
For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
18
But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
19
O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.
20
Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!”
21
“Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD.”
Chapter 17
1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
5
Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6
He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
7
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
8
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
10
“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
11
Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.
12
A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
14
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.
15
Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!”
16
I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness. You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face.
17
Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18
Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed; bring upon them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction!
19
Thus said the LORD to me: “Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,
20
and say: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.
21
Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
22
And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.
23
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.
24
“‘But if you listen to me, declares the LORD, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,
25
then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever.
26
And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
27
But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.”
Chapter 18
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
5
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
6
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
7
If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
8
and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
9
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,
10
and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
11
Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’
12
“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13
“Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14
Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?
15
But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,
16
making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
17
Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.”
18
Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”
19
Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries.
20
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
21
Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22
May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet.
23
Yet you, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Chapter 19
1 Thus says the LORD, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’
10
“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you,
11
and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury.
12
Thus will I do to this place, declares the LORD, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.
13
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—all the houses on whose roofs offerings have been offered to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.’”
14
Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, 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:
15
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words.”
New International Version
Chapter 10
1 Hear what the LORD says to you, people of Israel.
2
This is what the LORD says: 'Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.
3
For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4
They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
5
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.'
6
No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.
7
Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
8
They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9
Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple-- all made by skilled workers.
10
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
11
Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.''
12
But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13
When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14
Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.
15
They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
16
He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the people of his inheritance-- the LORD Almighty is his name.
17
Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege.
18
For this is what the LORD says: 'At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.'
19
Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, 'This is my sickness, and I must endure it.'
20
My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped. My children are gone from me and are no more; no one is left now to pitch my tent or to set up my shelter.
21
The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.
22
Listen! The report is coming-- a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.
23
LORD, I know that people's lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.
24
Discipline me, LORD, but only in due measure-- not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.
25
Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland.
Chapter 11
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. 3 Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant-- 4 the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.' I said, 'Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.
5
Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey'--the land you possess today.' I answered, 'Amen, LORD.'
6
The LORD said to me, 'Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: 'Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them.
7
From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, 'Obey me.'
8
But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.''
9
Then the LORD said to me, 'There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem.
10
They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.
11
Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.
12
The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes.
13
You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.'
14
Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.
15
What is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice.'
16
The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.
17
The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.
18
Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.
19
I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, 'Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.'
20
But you, LORD Almighty, who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.
21
Therefore this is what the LORD says about the people of Anathoth who are threatening to kill you, saying, 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands'--
22
therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.
23
Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.'
Chapter 12
1 You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? 2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. 3 Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! 4 How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, 'He will not see what happens to us.' 5 If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
6
Your relatives, members of your own family-- even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
7
I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies.
8
My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She roars at me; therefore I hate her.
9
Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
10
Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
11
It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares.
12
Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe.
13
They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the LORD's fierce anger.'
14
This is what the LORD says: 'As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them.
15
But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country.
16
And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives'--even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal--then they will be established among my people.
17
But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,' declares the LORD.
Chapter 13
1 This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.' 2 So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.
3
Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time:
4
Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.'
5
So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me.
6
Many days later the LORD said to me, 'Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.'
7
So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
8
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
9
This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10
These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt--completely useless!
11
For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'
12
Say to them: 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.' And if they say to you, 'Don't we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?'
13
then tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem.
14
I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.''
15
Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
16
Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.
17
If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD's flock will be taken captive.
18
Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.'
19
The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.
20
Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted?
21
What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?
22
And if you ask yourself, 'Why has this happened to me?'-- it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.
23
Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
24
I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.
25
This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,' declares the LORD, 'because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.
26
I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen--
27
your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?'
Chapter 14
1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2
Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
3
The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads.
4
The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads.
5
Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
6
Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of food.'
7
Although our sins testify against us, do something, LORD, for the sake of your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against you.
8
You who are the hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night?
9
Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, LORD, and we bear your name; do not forsake us!
10
This is what the LORD says about this people: 'They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.'
11
Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not pray for the well-being of this people.
12
Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.'
13
But I said, 'Alas, Sovereign LORD! The prophets keep telling them, 'You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.''
14
Then the LORD said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.
15
Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, 'No sword or famine will touch this land.' Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine.
16
And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.
17
Speak this word to them: ''Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for the Virgin Daughter, my people, has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow.
18
If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine. Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.''
19
Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you despise Zion? Why have you afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.
20
We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you.
21
For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it.
22
Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.
Chapter 15
1 Then the LORD said to me: 'Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go!
2
And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: ''Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.'
3
I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,' declares the LORD, 'the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy.
4
I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5
Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will stop to ask how you are?
6
You have rejected me,' declares the LORD. 'You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back.
7
I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.
8
I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At midday I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men; suddenly I will bring down on them anguish and terror.
9
The mother of seven will grow faint and breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies,' declares the LORD.
10
Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
11
The LORD said, 'Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.
12
Can a man break iron-- iron from the north--or bronze?
13
Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without charge, because of all your sins throughout your country.
14
I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.'
15
LORD, you understand; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering--do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
16
When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty.
17
I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.
18
Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails.
19
Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
20
I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,' declares the LORD.
21
I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.'
Chapter 16
1 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 2 You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.' 3 For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: 4 They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.'
5
For this is what the LORD says: 'Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,' declares the LORD.
6
Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead.
7
No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead--not even for a father or a mother--nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.
8
And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.
9
For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.
10
When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?'
11
then say to them, 'It is because your ancestors forsook me,' declares the LORD, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.
12
But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me.
13
So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'
14
However, the days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when it will no longer be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,'
15
but it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.
16
But now I will send for many fishermen,' declares the LORD, 'and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.
17
My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
18
I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.'
19
LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, 'Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.
20
Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!'
21
Therefore I will teach them-- this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD.
Chapter 17
1 Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. 2 Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. 3 My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country. 4 Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.'
5
This is what the LORD says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
7
But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
8
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.'
9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
10
I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.'
11
Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.
12
A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13
LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.
14
Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
15
They keep saying to me, 'Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!'
16
I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you.
17
Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18
Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.
19
This is what the LORD said to me: 'Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
20
Say to them, 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates.
21
This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
22
Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
23
Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.
24
But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it,
25
then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
26
People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
27
But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.''
Chapter 18
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message.' 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5
Then the word of the LORD came to me.
6
He said, 'Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?' declares the LORD. 'Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
7
If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,
8
and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
9
And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,
10
and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11
Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.'
12
But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.''
13
Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel.
14
Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing?
15
Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up.
16
Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.
17
Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.'
18
They said, 'Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says."
19
Listen to me, LORD; hear what my accusers are saying!
20
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember that I stood before you and spoke in their behalf to turn your wrath away from them.
21
So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle.
22
Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
23
But you, LORD, know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Chapter 19
1 This is what the LORD says: 'Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3 and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 4 For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. 6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7
'In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals.
8
I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds.
9
I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.'
10
Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching,
11
and say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
12
This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.
13
The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth--all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.''
14
Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD's temple and said to all the people,
15
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.''
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The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® Copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New American Standard Bible Copyright© 1960 - 2020 by The Lockman Foundation.
Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.