Jeremiah 14-18
New American Standard Bible
2'Judah mourns And her gates languish; Her people sit on the ground in mourning garments, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3Their 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,
4Because 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.
5For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is no grass.
6The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail Because there is no vegetation.
7Though our wrongdoings testify against us, Lord, act for the sake of Your name! Our apostasies have indeed been many, We have sinned against You.
8Hope 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?
10This 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.'
11So the Lord said to me, 'Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people.
12When 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.'
13But 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.’?'
14Then 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.
15Therefore 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!
16And 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.
17You 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.
18If 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.’?'
19Have 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!
20We know our wickedness, Lord, The wrongdoing of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
21Do 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.
22Are 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.
3And 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.
4I 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.
5'Indeed, who will have pity on you, Jerusalem, Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6You 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!
7I 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.
8Their 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.
9She 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.
10Woe 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.
11The 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?
13I will give your wealth and your treasures As plunder without cost, For all your sins And within all your borders.
14Then 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.'
15You 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.
16Your 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.
17I 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.
18Why 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?
19Therefore, 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.
20Then 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.
21'So I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.'
Chapter 16
1The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.' 3For 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: 4They 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.'
5For 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.
6Both 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.
7People 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.
8Moreover, you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.'
9For 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.
10Now 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?’
11Then 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.
12You 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.
13So 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.’
14Therefore 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,’
15but, ‘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.
16Behold, 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.
17For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.
18I 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.'
19Lord, 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.'
20Can 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
1The 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, 2As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills. 3Mountain 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. 4And 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. 5This 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. 6For 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. 7Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose trust is the Lord. 8For 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? 10I, 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. 11As 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.' 12A glorious throne on high from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary. 13Lord, 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. 14Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise. 15Look, they keep saying to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!' 16But 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. 17Do not be a terror to me; You are my refuge in a day of disaster.
19This 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;
20and 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.
21This 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.
22You 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.
23Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks so as not to listen or accept discipline.
24But 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,
25then 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.
26They 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.
27But 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
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.' 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4But 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.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
6Am 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.
7At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it;
8if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it.
9Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;
10if 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.
11So 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!'?’
12But 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.
14Does 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?
15For 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,
16To make their land a desolation, An object of perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.
19Give Your attention to me, Lord, And listen to what my opponents are saying!
20Should 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.
21Therefore, 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.
22May 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.
23But 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!
King James Version
Chapter 14
1The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. 2Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
6And 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.
7O 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.
9Why 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.
10Thus 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.
11Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
12When 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.
14Then 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.
15Therefore 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.
16And 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.
17Therefore 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.
18If 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.
19Hast 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!
22Are 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
1Then 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. 2And 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. 3And 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. 4And 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.
6Thou 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.
7And 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.
9She 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.
10Woe 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.
11The 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.
14And 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.
15O 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.
18Why 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?
19Therefore 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.
Chapter 16
1The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying, 2Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. 3For 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; 4They 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.
5For 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.
6Both 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:
7Neither 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.
8Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9For 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.
10And 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?
11Then 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;
12And 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:
13Therefore 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.
14Therefore, 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;
15But, 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.
16Behold, 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.
17For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
18And 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.
20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21Therefore, 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
1The 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;
4And 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.
5Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
11As 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.
12A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
18Let 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.
19Thus 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;
20And 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:
21Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22Neither 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.
23But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24And 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;
25Then 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.
26And 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.
27But 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
1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4And 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.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
6O 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.
7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10If 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.
11Now 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.
12And 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.
17I 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.
18Then 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.
Christian Standard Bible
2Judah mourns; her city gates languish. Her people are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem’s cry rises up.
3Their 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.
4The ground is cracked since no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
5Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons her fawn since there is no grass.
6Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there are no green plants.
7Though our iniquities testify against us, Lord, act for your name’s sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against you.
8Hope 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?
9Why 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!
11Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of these people.
12If 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."
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.
16The 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."
18If 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.
19Have 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.
20We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, the iniquity of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against you.
21For your name’s sake, don’t despise us. Don’t disdain your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us; do not break it.
22Can 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.
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.
4I 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.
6You 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.
7I 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.
8I 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.
9The 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.
10Woe 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.
12Can anyone smash iron, iron from the north, or bronze?
13I will give up your wealth and your treasures as plunder, without cost, for all your sins in all your borders.
14Then 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.
15You 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.
16Your 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.
17I 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.
18Why 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.
20Then 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.
21I will rescue you from the power of evil people and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
Chapter 16
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2"Do not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. 3For 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: 4They 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.
7Food 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.
8Do not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink.
9For 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?’
11Then you will answer them, ‘Because your fathers 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.
12You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying me.
13So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. 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,’
15but 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,
17for my gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from me, and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight.
18I 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 fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all."
20Can 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
1The 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, 2while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, by the green trees on the high hills — 3my 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. 4You 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.
5This 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.
6He 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.
7The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.
8He 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.
9The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?
10I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.
11He 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.
12A 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.
14Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.
15Hear how they keep challenging me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!"
16But 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.
17Don’t become a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18Let 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.
19This 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.
20Announce to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21This 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.
22Do 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.
23They 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,
25kings 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.
26Then 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 thank offerings to the house of the Lord.
27But 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
1This 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." 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. 4But 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.
5The 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.
7At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.
8However, 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.
9At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.
10However, 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.
11So 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.’
12But 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.’"
13Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Ask among the nations, who has heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing.
14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
15Yet 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.
16They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by it will be appalled and shake their heads.
17I 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.
19Pay attention to me, Lord. Hear what my opponents are saying!
20Should 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.
21Therefore, 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.
22Let 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.
23But 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.
New Living Translation
Chapter 14
1This 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.
3The 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.
4The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain. The farmers are deeply troubled; they, too, cover their heads.
5Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass in the field.
6The 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.'
7The 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.
8O 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?
9Are 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!'
11Then the Lord said to me, 'Do not pray for these people anymore.
12When 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.'
14Then 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.
15Therefore, 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!
16As 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.
17Now, 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.
18If 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.'
19Lord, 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.
20Lord, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you.
21For 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.
3I 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.
4Because 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?
6You 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.
7I 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.
8There 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.
9The 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!'
11The 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.
12Can a man break a bar of iron from the north, or a bar of bronze?
13At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.
14I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever. '
15Then 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.
16When 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.
17I 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.
18Why 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.'
19This 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!
20They 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!
21Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.'
Chapter 16
1The Lord gave me another message. He said, 2Do not get married or have children in this place. 3For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: 4They 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.'
5This 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.
6Both 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.
7No 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.
8And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all.
9For 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.
11Then 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.
12And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.
13So 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!’
14But 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.’
15Instead, 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.
16But 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.
17I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.
18I 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.'
19Lord, 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.
20Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!'
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. 2Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill. 3So 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. 4The 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.'
5This 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.
6They 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.
8They 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?
10But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.'
11Like 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.
12But we worship at your throne — eternal, high, and glorious!
13O 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.
14O 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!
15People scoff at me and say, 'What is this ‘message from the Lord’ you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?'
16Lord, 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.
17Lord, don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.
18Bring 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!
19This 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.
20Say 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.
21This is what the Lord says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.
22Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,
23but 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,
25then 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.
26And 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.
Chapter 18
1The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.' 3So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4But 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.
5Then the Lord gave me this message:
6O 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.
7If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,
8but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.
9And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,
10but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.
13So 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!
14Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?
15But 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.
16Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement.
17I 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.'
19Lord, hear me and help me! Listen to what my enemies are saying.
20Should 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.
21So 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!
22Let 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.
23Lord, 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.
English Standard Version
2 "Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
3Her 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.
4Because of the ground that is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
5Even 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?
9Why 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."
10Thus 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."
11The Lord said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people.
12Though 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."
13Then 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.’"
14And 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.
15Therefore 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.
16And 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.
21Do not spurn us, for your name 's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.
22Are 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
1Then 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! 2And 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.’
3I 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.
4And 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.
8I 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."
10Woe 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.
11The 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?
12Can 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.
14I 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.
16Your 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.
18Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
19Therefore 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
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2"You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3For 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: 4They 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.
6Both 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.
7No 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.
8You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.
9For 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?’
11then 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,
12and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.
13Therefore 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,’
15but ‘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.
17For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
18But 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.
20Can 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, 2while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3on 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. 4You 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."
5Thus 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."
9The 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."
11Like 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.
12A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13O 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!"
16I 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.
17Be 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!
19Thus 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,
20and 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.
21Thus 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.
22And 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.
23Yet 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,
25then 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.
26And 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.
27But 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
1The 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." 3So I went down to the potter 's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4And 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.
5Then 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.
7If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
8and 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.
9And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,
10and 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.
11Now, 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.’
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.
14Does 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,
16making 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."
18Then 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."
19Hear 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.
21Therefore 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.
23Yet 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.
New International Version
2"Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
3The 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.
4The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads.
5Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
6Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of food."
7Although our sins testify against us, do something, Lord, for the sake of your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against you.
8You 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?
9Why 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!
11Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of this people.
12Although 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."
14Then 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.
15Therefore 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.
16And 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.
18If 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.’ "
19Have 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.
20We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you.
21For 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.
22Do 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.
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.
4I 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?
6You have rejected me," declares the Lord. "You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back.
7I 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.
8I 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.
9The 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.
10Alas, 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.
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.
14I 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.
16When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.
17I 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.
18Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails.
19Therefore 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.
20I 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
1Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2"You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place." 3For 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."
5For 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.
7No 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.
9For 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?’
11then 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.
12But 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.
13So 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,’
15but 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.
17My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
18I 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."
20Do 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. 2Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. 3My 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. 4Through 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."
6That 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.
11Like 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.
12A 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.
14Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
15They keep saying to me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it now be fulfilled!"
16I 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.
17Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18Let 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.
19This 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.
20Say 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.
21This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
22Do 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.
23Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.
24But 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,
25then 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.
26People 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.
27But 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
1This 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." 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4But 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.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me.
6He 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.
7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,
8and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
9And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,
10and 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.’
12But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’ "
13Therefore 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.
14Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing?
15Yet 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.
16Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.
17Like 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."
19Listen to me, Lord; hear what my accusers are saying!
20Should 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.
21So 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.
22Let 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.
23But 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.
New King James Version
2“Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.
4Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads.
5Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass.
6And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”
7O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name’s sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You.
8 O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!
11Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people, for their good.
12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
14And the Lord said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.
15Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’
17“Therefore you shall say this word to them: ‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
18If I go out to the field, Then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, Then behold, those sick from famine! Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”
19 Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
20We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness And the iniquity of our fathers, For we have sinned against You.
21Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait for You, Since You have made all these.
3“And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5“For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
6 You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord, “You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting!
7And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways.
8Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, Against the mother of the young men, A plunderer at noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly.
9“She languishes who has borne seven; She has breathed her last; Her sun has gone down While it was yet day; She has been ashamed and confounded. And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword Before their enemies,” says the Lord.
10 Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me.
11The Lord said: “Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
12Can anyone break iron, The northern iron and the bronze?
13Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, Because of all your sins, Throughout your territories.
14And I will make you cross over with your enemies Into a land which you do not know; For a fire is kindled in My anger, Which shall burn upon you.”
15O Lord, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation.
18Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail?
19Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them.
20And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” says the Lord.
21“I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”
Chapter 16
1The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” 3For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4“They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies.
6Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.
7Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother.
8Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
10“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’
11then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
14“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
15but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
19O Lord, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
20Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?
21“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My 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; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars, 2While their children remember Their altars and their wooden images By the green trees on the high hills. 3O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, And your high places of sin within all your borders. 4And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”
5Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.
6For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
9“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
10I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
11“ As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool.”
12A glorious high throne from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary.
13O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the Lord, The fountain of living waters.”
14Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.
15Indeed they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!”
16As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You.
17Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom.
18 Let them be ashamed who persecute me, But do not let me be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, But do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, And destroy them with double destruction!
19Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20and say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.
21Thus says the Lord: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.
24“And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully,” says the Lord, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it,
25then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.
26And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord.
Chapter 18
1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
7The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
8if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
9And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
10if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
13Therefore thus says the Lord: “Ask now among the Gentiles, Who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon, Which comes from the rock of the field? Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15“Because My people have forgotten Me, They have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face In the day of their calamity.”
19Give heed to me, O Lord, And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20 Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You To speak good for them, To turn away Your wrath from them.
21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, And pour out their blood By the force of the sword; Let their wives become widows And bereaved of their children. Let their men be put to death, Their young men be slain By the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses, When You bring a troop suddenly upon them; For they have dug a pit to take me, And hidden snares for my feet.
23Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel Which is against me, to slay me. Provide no atonement for their iniquity, Nor blot out their sin from Your sight; But let them be overthrown before You. Deal thus with them In the time of Your anger.
