Jeremiah chapter 1
Jeremiah's Calling and Mission
1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.
2 The word of the Lord came to him in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It also came to him in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5 “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.”
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, I appoint you this day over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
11 The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”
13 The word of the Lord came to me a second time: “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling pot, and its surface is turned northward.”
14 Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.
15 For I am summoning all the families of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord; And they will come, and each one will set up his camp at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and by all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
16 And because of all their wickedness, I will pronounce my judgments against those who have forsaken me, who have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the work of their own hands.
17 So gird up your loins, arise, and speak to them all that I command you; do not be afraid of them, lest I make you faint before them.
18 For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against this whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.
Jeremiah Chapter 2
Jehovah and the apostasy of Israel
1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “ Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: I remember you, the faithfulness of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who devoured them were guilty; disaster came upon them,’ declares the Lord.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.
5 Thus says the Lord: ‘What fault did your fathers find in me, that they went far from me and followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and no one, a land of drought and the shadow of death, a land where no one travels and where no one lives?”’”
7 I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruit and its bounty; but you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?” and those who handled the law did not know me; the shepherds rebelled against me, and the prophets prophesied in the name of Baal and followed worthless idols.
9 Therefore I will contend with you again, declares the Lord, and with your children’s children I will plead my case.
10 For go over to the coasts of Kittim and see; send to Kedar and consider carefully, and see if anything like this has ever happened.
11 Has any nation ever changed its gods, even though they are not gods? Yet my people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled, you heavens, at this, and shudder with great horror, declares the Lord.
13 For my people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a slave? Why has he become prey?
15 The young lions roared at him, they raised their voices and ravaged his land; his cities are burned down, without inhabitant.
16 Even the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your crown.
17 Did not this happen to you because you forsook the Lord your God, who led you in the way?
18 Now then, what do you have on the way to Egypt, that you should drink water from the Nile? And what do you have on the way to Assyria, that you should drink water from the Euphrates?
19Your wickedness will punish you, and your rebellions will condemn you. Know then and see how evil and bitter it is that you have forsaken the Lord your God and that the fear of me is no longer in you, says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
20 For long ago you broke your yoke and your bonds, and you said, “I will not serve.” Yet on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down like a prostitute.
21 I planted you from a choice vine, wholly of true seed. How then have you turned to me like a wild vine?
22 Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord God.
23 How can you say, “I am not unclean; I have never gone after the Baals”? Look at your ways in the valley, know what you have done, swift camel that strays from its path,
24 wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in its heat. Who can restrain its lust? All who seek it will not grow weary, for in the time of its mating they will find it.
25 Keep your feet from going barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, “There is no remedy at all, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.”
26 As a thief is ashamed when he is caught, so will the house of Israel be ashamed—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
27 who say to a piece of wood, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave me birth.” For they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces; and in the time of their trouble they say, “Arise and save us!”
28 Where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your affliction; for as many as your cities, O Judah, were your gods.
29 Why do you contend with me? All of you have transgressed against me, declares the Lord.
30 In vain I have struck your children; They have not received correction. Your sword devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion.
31 O generation, heed the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why then have my people said, “We are free; we will come to you no more”?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her wedding gown? Yet my people have forgotten me for countless days.
33 Why do you adorn your way to find love? You have taught your ways even to the wicked.
34 Even on your skirts was found the blood of the poor and innocent. You found them not guilty of any transgression; yet in all these things you say,
35 “ I am innocent; surely his anger has turned away from me.” Behold, I will enter into judgment with you, because you said, “I have not sinned.”
36 Why do you turn aside, changing your ways? You will also be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 You will also leave there with your hands on your head, for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trusted, and you will not prosper through them.
Jeremiah Chapter 3
1 They say, “If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be utterly defiled?” But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to me, declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and see where you have not played the harlot. You sat by the roads, waiting for them like an Arab in the desert, and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and wickedness.
3 Therefore the rains have been withheld, and the spring showers have failed; you have had the forehead of a prostitute, and you refused to be ashamed.
4 Will you not at least from now on call me, “My Father, the guide of my youth”?
5 Will he harbor his anger forever? Will he keep it to himself? Behold, you have spoken and done all the wickedness you could.
Jehovah urges Israel and Judah to repentance
6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every spreading tree and has played the harlot there.
7 I said, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw it.
8 She saw that because faithless Israel had played the harlot, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce. Yet her faithless sister Judah did not fear; she too went and played the harlot.
9 Because she considered her harlotry a trivial matter, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and wood.
10 Yet her faithless sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense, declares the Lord.
11 The Lord said to me, ‘Faithless Israel has proven righteous in comparison to faithless Judah.’”
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: “Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever.
13 Acknowledge your guilt, for you have transgressed against the Lord your God and have played the harlot with foreigners under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord.
14 Return, faithless children, declares the Lord, for I am your husband; I will take you, one from a town and two from a clan, and I will bring you to Zion.
15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 When you have increased greatly in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord,’ for It will not come into their minds, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will another one be made.
17 At that time Jerusalem will be called the Throne of the Lord, and all nations will come to it in the name of the Lord in Jerusalem; they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
18 In those days the people of Judah will go to the people of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
19 I asked, “How can I make you my children and give you the desirable land, the rich inheritance of the nations?” And I said, “You will call me ‘My Father’ and you will never turn away from following me.”
20 But as a faithless wife deserts her husband, so you have dealt treacherously against me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.
21 A voice was heard on the high places, the weeping and supplications of the children of Israel; for they have gone astray in their ways, they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.”
23 Surely the hills are a vain thing, and the noise on the mountains a futility; surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 Confusion has consumed the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks, their herds, their sons, and their daughters.
25 We lie in our shame, and our reproach covers us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.
Jeremiah Chapter 4
1 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the Lord, “return to me. If you will put away your detestable practices from before me and not wander about aimlessly,
2 and if you will swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by him and will glory in him.”
3 For thus says the Lord to all the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fields, but do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskin of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Judah is threatened with invasion
5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the trumpet throughout the land!” Cry out, gather together, and say, “Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.”
6 Raise a standard in Zion, flee, do not delay; for I am bringing disaster from the north, even great destruction.
7 A lion has come up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations is on the march; he has gone out from his place to make your land desolate; your cities will be laid waste and without inhabitant.
8 Therefore put on sackcloth, wail, and wail, for the anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.
9 In that day, declares the Lord, the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will melt away, the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astounded.
10 Then I said, “Alas, alas, Lord God!” Truly you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, “You will have peace,” when the sword has pierced even to the soul.
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A dry wind from the heights of the desert came to the daughter of my people, not to winnow or to cleanse.
12 A wind more fierce than this will come to me, and now I will pronounce judgments against them.”
13 Behold, he will come up like a cloud, and his chariot like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are given over to plunder!
14 Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
15 For a voice brings tidings from Dan, and proclaims disaster from the hill country of Ephraim.
16 Say to the nations, “Behold, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: Watchmen are coming from a distant land, and they will raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
17 Like watchmen in the field they stood around her, because she rebelled against me,” declares the Lord.
18 Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you; this is your guilt, and bitterness will pierce your heart.
19 My heart, my heart! I am in anguish; my heart is restless within me; I will not keep silent; For you have heard the sound of the trumpet, O my soul, the alarm of war.
20 Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed; for the whole land is laid waste; suddenly my tents are destroyed, in a moment my curtains are torn down.
21 How long must I see the banner, or hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 For my people are foolish; they do not know me; they are senseless children, and they have no understanding; they are skilled in doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.
23 I looked at the earth, and behold, it was formless and empty; the heavens, and their light was gone.
24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills were laid waste.
25 I looked, and there were no people, and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful fields were deserted, and all their cities lay desolate before the Lord, before the fierceness of his anger.
27 For thus says the Lord: “The whole land shall be laid waste, yet I will not utterly destroy it.
28 Therefore the land shall mourn, and the heavens above shall grow dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed it, and I will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.”
29 At the sound of the horsemen and archers the whole city fled; they went into the thickets of the forests, and climbed the cliffs; all the cities were deserted, and no one was left in them.
30 And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you paint your eyes with antimony, in vain you beautify yourself; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.
31 For I heard a voice like that of a woman in labor, anguish like that of a woman giving birth for the first time, the voice of the daughter of Zion wailing and stretching out her hands, saying, “Woe to me now!” that my soul faints because of the murderers.
Jeremiah Chapter 5
The wickedness of Jerusalem and Judah
1 Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around, and consider; search through its squares to see if you can find anyone who does what is right, who seeks the truth, and I will forgive it.
2 Though they say, “As surely as the Lord lives,” they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone; they refused to repent.
4 But I said, “Surely these are the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.”
5 I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. But they too have broken the yoke and tore off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them, a wolf from the desert will destroy them, a leopard will lie in wait for their cities; whoever goes out of them will be torn to pieces. For their rebellions have multiplied, their backslidings have increased.
7 How can I forgive you for this? Their children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I fed them, yet they committed adultery and gathered in prostitutes’ houses.
8 Like well-fed horses, each one neighs after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for this? declares the Lord. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
10 Go up to their walls and tear them down, but not completely; strip the battlements from their walls, for they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have utterly rebelled against me, declares the Lord.
12 They have denied the Lord and said, “He is not,” and no disaster will come upon us, nor will we see sword or famine.
13 But the prophets will be like wind, for there is no word in them; so it will be done to them.
14 Therefore, this is what the Lord God Almighty says: Because you have spoken this word, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people the wood, and it will consume them.
15 “ See, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, Israel,” declares the Lord, “a mighty nation, an ancient nation, whose language you do not know, and whose speech you cannot understand.
16 Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty warriors.
17 They will eat your harvest and your bread; they will eat your sons and your daughters; they will eat your flocks and your herds; they will eat your vines and your fig trees. The sword will turn your fortified cities, in which you trust, to nothing.
18 Nevertheless, I will not completely destroy you in those days,” declares the Lord.
19And when they say, “Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?” then you shall say to them, “Just as you forsook me and served other gods in your own land, so you will serve foreigners in a foreign land.”
20 Proclaim this in the house of Jacob, and let it be heard in Judah, saying:
21 “Hear this, you foolish and heartless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
22 Do you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Do you not tremble before me, who made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting boundary that it cannot cross? Storms may rise, but they cannot prevail; their waves may roar, but they cannot pass it.
23 Yet this people has a false and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They did not say in their hearts, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both autumn and spring rains, in its season, and keeps for us the appointed times of harvest.’
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26 For the wicked are found among my people; They lay in wait like one who sets snares; they set traps to catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; thus they grew great and rich.
28 They grew fat and sleek, and surpassed the deeds of the wicked; they did not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless; yet they prospered, and they did not plead the cause of the poor.
29 Shall I not punish this? declares the Lord; and shall I not avenge myself on such a nation?
30 A dreadful and ugly thing has been done in the land:
31 The prophets prophesied lies, and the priests ruled by their hand; and my people loved it so. What then will you do when the end comes?
Jeremiah Chapter 6
The judgment against Jerusalem and Judah
1 Flee, you Benjamites, from Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and send up smoke as a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster has been seen from the north—great destruction.
2 I will destroy the beautiful and delicate daughter of Zion.
3 Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each one grazing in his own place.
4 Declare war against her; rise up and let us attack her at midday. Woe to us! For the day is drawing to a close, the evening shadows are lengthening.
5 Rise up and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces.
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Cut down trees and build a wall against Jerusalem; this is the city to be punished; she is full of violence all over.
7 As a spring never ceases to flow its waters, so she never ceases to flow her wickedness; Injustice and robbery are heard in it; continually in my presence, sickness and wounds.
8 Repent, Jerusalem, lest my soul turn away from you, lest I make you a desert, a land not inhabited.
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; turn your hand like a grape gatherer among the branches.
10 To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear; behold, the word of the Lord is a shame to them; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore, I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of restraining myself; I will pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men alike; for both husband and wife shall be taken captive, both the old and the very old.
12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields, and their wives also; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.
13 For from the least to the greatest, everyone is greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, everyone practices deceit.
14 They treat the wound of my people superficially, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they committed abominations? No, they were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to feel shame. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; when I punish them, they shall fall, declares the Lord.
16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
17 I also set watchmen over you, saying, “Listen to the sound of the trumpet!” But they said, “We will not listen.”
18Therefore, hear, you nations, and understand, O congregation, what will happen.
19 Hear, O earth: Behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their thoughts; because they have not listened to my words, and they have rejected my law.
20 What use to me is incense from Sheba, or sweet-smelling cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor do your sacrifices please me.
21 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I am going to put obstacles in the way of this people, and fathers and sons will stumble over them together; neighbors and friends will perish.”
22 This is what the Lord says: “Look, a people is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is rising from the ends of the earth.
23 They will wield bow and javelin; they are ruthless and will show no mercy. Their roar is like the rushing sea, and they will ride on horses like men ready for battle—against you, Daughter Zion.”
24 We have heard of them, and our hands are paralyzed; anguish has seized us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out into the field or walk along the road, for the sword of the enemy and terror are all around.
26 Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn as for an only son, wail bitterly, for the destroyer will soon come upon us.
27 I have made you a stronghold among my people, a watchtower; you will discern and examine their ways.
28 They are all rebellious and stubborn, gossiping; they are bronze and iron, all of them corrupt.
29 The bellows are burned up, the lead is consumed by the fire; the refiner smelted in vain, for the dross is not removed.
30 They will be called rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them.
Jeremiah Chapter 7
Improve your ways and your works
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, saying,
2 “ Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this message: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.
3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Amend your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.
4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”
5 But if you truly amend your ways and your actions, and if you truly practice justice between people and their neighbors,
6 and do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and do not follow other gods to your own harm,
7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors forever.’”
8 Behold, you trust in false words that are of no benefit.
9 Stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely, burning incense to Baal, and following other gods that you have not known—
10 Will you come and stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, “We are delivered,” only to continue doing all these abominations?
11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I also see it, declares the Lord.
12 Go now to my place at Shiloh, where I first made my name dwell, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 Now therefore, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and though I spoke to you again and again, you did not listen, and though I called you, you did not answer;
14 I will do to this house, which is called by my name and in which you trust, and to this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, as I did to Shiloh.
15 I will cast you out of my presence, as I cast out all your brothers, the entire generation of Ephraim.
16 Therefore, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make supplication to me, for I will not listen to you.
17 Do you not see what these people are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? declares the Lord. Do they not rather bring shame upon themselves?
20Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out upon this place, upon man, upon beast, upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; they shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Punishment for Judah's rebellion
21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves.
22 For I did not speak to your ancestors or command them about burnt offerings or sacrifices when I brought them out of Egypt.
23 But I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, so that it may go well with you.’
24 But they did not listen or pay attention. They followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward,
25 from the day your ancestors came out of Egypt until this day. I sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them again and again.
26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention; instead, they stiffened their necks and did worse than their ancestors.
27 Therefore, you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
28 Therefore, you shall say to them, “This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouths.
29 Cut off your hair and throw it away, and raise a wail on the barren heights, for the Lord has abhorred and forsaken this generation that provoked his wrath.
30 For the people of Judah have done evil in my sight,” declares the Lord. “They have set up their abominations in the house that bears my name, defiling it.
31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.”
32 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; and they will be buried in Topheth because there will be no more room.
33 The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one will frighten them away.
34 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bridegroom, from the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will be desolate.
Jeremiah Chapter 8
1 At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be brought out of their tombs.
2 They will be scattered before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven—those whom they loved and served, whom they followed, whom they consulted, and before whom they bowed down. They will not be gathered or buried, but will be like dung on the face of the ground.
3 All the remnant of this evil generation will choose death over life in all the places where I drive them, declares the Lord Almighty.
4 You will also say to them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘When someone falls, does he not rise again? When someone goes astray, does he not return to the path?’
5 Why is this people of Jerusalem so rebellious and always rebellious? They have embraced falsehood and refuse to turn back.”
6 I listened and heard; they do not speak uprightly. No one repents of their wrongdoing, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to their own course, like a horse rushing headlong into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed times, and the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
8 How can you say, “We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us”? Surely the lying pen of the scribes has turned it into a lie.
9 The wise men are ashamed, dismayed, and taken to despair; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord. Where is their wisdom?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will conquer them; for from the least to the greatest, everyone is greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, everyone practices deceit.
11 They have treated the wound of my people lightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed of their abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to be ashamed. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; when I punish them, they shall fall, declares the Lord .
13 I will utterly cut them off, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will wither; what I have given them will pass away from them.
14 Why are we sitting idly by? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the Lord our God has appointed us to perish and has given us gall to drink because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; for a day of healing, but behold, terror.
16 From Dan was heard the snorting of their horses; at the sound of the neighing of their steeds the whole land trembled; and they came and devoured the land and its abundance, the city and its inhabitants.
17 For behold, I am sending serpents among you, vipers against which there is no charm, and they will bite you, says the Lord.
Lament over Judah and Jerusalem
18 Because of my great sorrow, my heart fails within me.
19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a distant land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images, with foreign idols?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is over, and we are not saved.
21 I am brokenhearted for the brokenness of the daughter of my people; I am overcome with darkness, and terror has seized me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the daughter of my people?
Jeremiah Chapter 9
1 Oh, that my head were a stream of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a congregation of transgressors.
3 They have made their tongues shoot lies like a bow, and they have not strengthened themselves for truth in the land; for they have proceeded from evil to evil, and they have not known me, says the Lord.
4 Let each one beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver with falsehood, and every neighbor goes about slandering.
5 They all deceive their neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have trained their tongues to speak lies, they are busy doing wicked deeds.
6 Their dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; because they are great deceivers, they have refused to know me, says the Lord.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will refine and test them, for what more can I do for my people?
8 Their tongues are like sharp arrows; they speak deceitfully. With their mouths they say ‘peace’ to their neighbors, but in their hearts they harbor treachery.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
10 I will raise up wailing and lamentation on the mountains, and wailing over the pastures of the wilderness. For they are laid waste, so that no one passes through and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth have fled and are gone.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Threat of ruin and exile
12 Who is the wise man who understands this? Who has spoken by the mouth of the Lord, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, become desolate like a wilderness, so that no one passes through it?
13 The Lord says: “Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked according to it.
14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”
15 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I will make this people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water.
16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them.”
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Consider now, and call for the wailing women to come; seek out those skilled in their craft;
18 Make haste and lift up a wail for us; let our eyes overflow with tears and our eyelids drip with water.
19 For a voice of lamentation was heard from Zion: “How we are ruined! We are utterly ashamed; we have forsaken the land, our dwellings are destroyed.”
20 Hear, therefore, O women, the word of the Lord, and let your ear receive the word from his mouth: Teach your daughters lamentations, and each one her friend a lament.
21 For death has climbed through our windows, it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the public squares.
22 Speak: Thus says the Lord: The bodies of the slain will fall like dung on the open field, and like sheaves after the reaper, with no one to gather them.
The knowledge of God is the glory of man
23 This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man boast in his strength, nor the rich man boast in his riches;
24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
25 “ The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all the circumcised and all the uncircumcised—
26 Egypt and Judah and Edom and the Ammonites and Moabites, and all those who dwell in the farthest reaches of the desert, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
Jeremiah Chapter 10
False gods and the true God
1 Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the Lord: “Do not learn the ways of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammer so that it will not topple.
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, they are upright; they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they can do neither harm nor good.
6 There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in power.
7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For to you belongs the fear; for among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you.
8 All are foolish and senseless.” The teaching of vanities is a piece of wood.
9 They will bring hammered silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith; they will clothe them in blue and purple, all the work of skilled men.
10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the eternal King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
11 Thus you shall say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12 He who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding—
13 at his voice the waters in the heavens surge, and he makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with the rain, and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
14 Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; Every goldsmith is ashamed of his idol, for his molten work is a lie, and there is no breath in it.
15 They are worthless, a worthless work; at the time of their punishment they will perish.
16 Not so is the portion of Jacob; for he is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name.
Desolation of Judah
17 Gather your merchandise from the land, you who dwell in a fortified place.
18 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land, and I will afflict them, so that they may know.”
19 Woe is me because of my wound! My injury is very grievous. But I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have deserted me and are no more; there is no one left to pitch my tent or hang up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
22 Behold, a sound of rumor is coming, and a great commotion from the land of the north, to make all the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt of jackals.
23 I know, O Lord, that man is not master of his own way, nor is it for man who walks to direct his steps.
24 Correct me, O Lord, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you destroy me.
25 Pour out your wrath on the peoples who do not know you, and on the nations that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob, consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling place.
Jeremiah Chapter 11
The violated pact
1 The word that came from the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,
2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
3 And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, “Obey my voice and do all that I command you; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
5 So I will confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them the land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” And I answered and said, “Amen, O Lord.”
6 Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.’”
7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors on the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, admonishing them early and continually until this day, saying, “Listen to my voice.”
8 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to keep, but they did not keep it.
9 Then the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who would not listen to my words but have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their ancestors.”
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I am going to bring disaster on them from which they cannot escape. Though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.”
12 The cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not be able to save them in the time of their trouble.
13 For as many as your cities were your gods, O Judah; and as many as your streets, O Jerusalem, you have set up altars of shame, altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 Therefore, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not hear in the day when they cry out to me in their distress.
15 What right has my beloved in my house, having committed many abominations? Do you think that sacrifices and the consecrated meat of the victims can save you from punishment? Can you boast of that?
16 The Lord called your name a green olive tree, beautiful in its fruit and appearance. With a loud roar he kindled a fire upon it, and its branches were broken.
17For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Baal.
Plot against Jeremiah
18 The Lord made it known to me, and I knew it; then you showed me his works.
19 I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit, and cut it off from the land of the living, so that its name will be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord Almighty, you who judge righteously, who tests the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have committed my cause before you.
21 Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die at our hands.”
22 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am going to punish them; The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die of famine,
23 and there will be no remnant of them, for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, in the year of their punishment.
Jeremiah Chapter 12
Jeremiah's complaint and God's response
1 You are righteous, O Lord, that I should contend with you; yet I will plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper, and why do all the faithless prosper?
2 You planted them, and they took root; they grew and bore fruit. You are near in their mouths, but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you, O Lord, know me; you have seen me and tested my heart toward you. Drag them away like sheep to the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
4 How long will the land lie parched, and the grass of every field wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the livestock and the birds have perished; for they said, “God will not see our end.”
5 If you have raced with foot soldiers, and they wearied you, how can you compete with horses? And if you were not secure in a land of peace, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers and your father’s house, even they have risen up against you; even they have cried out after you. Do not believe them, though they speak well of you.
7 I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance; I have given the dearest thing of my soul into the hand of its enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; it has roared against me; therefore I have hated it.
9 Is my inheritance to me like a speckled bird of prey? Are not birds of prey all around it? Come, gather together, all you beasts of the field, come and devour it.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my inheritance; they have made my precious inheritance a desert and a wasteland.
11 It is made desolate, and it mourns for me in its ruin; the whole land is laid waste, for no one takes it to heart.
12 On all the high places of the wilderness come destroyers; For the sword of the Lord will devour from one end of the earth to the other; there will be no peace for any flesh.
13 They sowed wheat, and reaped thorns; they had the inheritance, but gained nothing; they will be ashamed of their harvest, because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
14 This is what the Lord says concerning all my wicked neighbors who encroach on the inheritance I gave my people Israel to possess: I am about to uproot them from their land and destroy the people of Judah from among them.
15 After I have uprooted them, I will return and have compassion on them, and I will return each of them to their own inheritance and each to their own land.
16 If they carefully learn the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, “As the Lord lives,” just as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be successful among my people.
17 But if they do not listen, I will uproot that nation and destroy it completely, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah Chapter 13
The sign of the rotten belt
1 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”
2 So I bought the belt, as the Lord had commanded, and put it around my waist.
3 The word of the Lord came to me a second time:
4 “ Take the belt you bought, which is around your waist, and go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft in the rocks.”
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.
6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Go to the Euphrates and get the belt I told you to hide there.”
7 So I went to the Euphrates, dug a hole, and took the belt from where I had hidden it. But the belt was ruined; it was no good for anything.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 “ This is what the Lord says: ‘I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt, which is good for nothing.
11 For as a belt clings to a man’s waist, so I gathered to myself the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people, for fame, praise, and honor, but they would not listen.’”
The sign of the full jars
12 You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every jar will be filled with wine.’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not know that every jar will be filled with wine?’
13 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness, both the kings of the house of David who sit on his throne, the priests and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
14 and I will break them one against another, the fathers against the sons alike, says the Lord; I will not spare, nor have pity or mercy, that I will not destroy them.’”
Judah will be taken into captivity
15 Listen and hear; do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God, before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death and darkness.
17 But if you do not listen to this, my soul will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will overflow with tears, weeping bitterly, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen, “Humble yourselves, sit on the ground, for your glorious crown has fallen from your heads.”
19 The cities of the Negev are shut up, and there is no one to open them; all Judah has been taken into captivity.
20 Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when he sets over you those whom you taught to be your friends? Will not pain you feel like that of a woman in labor?
22 You will say in your heart, “Why has this happened to me?” Because of the enormity of your wickedness, your skirts were uncovered, your heels were exposed.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? So also, can you do good, being accustomed to doing evil?
24 Therefore, I will scatter you like chaff blown away to the desert wind.
25 This is your lot, the portion I have measured out for you, declares the Lord, because you forgot me and trusted in lies.
26 I will also uncover your skirts before your face, and your shame will be exposed,
27 your adulteries, your neighing, the wickedness of your prostitution on the hills; in the open field I saw your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem! Will you not at last be cleansed? How long will it take you to purify yourself?
Jeremiah Chapter 14
Message regarding the drought
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
2 Judah mourns, and its gates are deserted; they sit on the ground in mourning, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
3 The nobles send their servants to the water; they come to the pools, but find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.
4 For the land is cracked because there has been no rain in the land; the farmers are confounded and cover their heads.
5 Even the does in the fields give birth and abandon their young, because there is no grass.
6 And the wild donkeys stand on the barren heights; they pante for the wind like jackals; their eyes are dim because there is no grass.
7 Though our iniquities testify against us, O Lord, act for the sake of your name; for our transgressions are many, we have sinned against you.
8 O hope of Israel, its Savior in times of trouble, why have you become like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who withdraws for the night?
9 Why are you like a man astonished, like a warrior who cannot save? Yet you are among us, O Lord, and we bear your name; do not forsake us.
10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people: They have delighted in wandering, and have given no rest to their feet; therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in them; now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins.
11 The Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people for their benefit.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry, and when they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, but I will consume them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. ”
13 And I said, “Ah, Lord God!” Behold, the prophets tell them, “You will not see the sword, nor will there be famine among you, but in this place I will give you true peace.”
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor command them, nor speak to them. They are prophesying to you lying visions, divinations, worthless things, and the delusions of their own minds.”
15 Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, and who say, “Neither sword nor famine will come upon this land”: “By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem by famine and by the sword, and there will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters; and I will pour out their wickedness upon them.”
17 You shall say to them this word: Let my eyes pour forth tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a most grievous plague.
18 If I go out into the field, behold, those slain by the sword; and if I enter the city, behold, those sick with famine; for both prophet and priest wander about the land, and they have no understanding.
19 Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul abhor Zion? Why have you struck us down beyond healing? We looked for peace, but there was no good; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
20 We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.
21 For your name’s sake, do not reject us, nor dishonor your glorious throne; remember, do not break your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the idols of the nations that can bring rain? And will the heavens give rain? Are you not the Lord our God? We put our hope in you, for you have made all these things.
Jeremiah Chapter 15
The relentless wrath of God against Judah
1 The Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my favor would not be with this people. Send them away from my presence, and let them go.
2 If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 “I will send four kinds of punishment against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword to kill, dogs to tear apart, birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4 I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did to Jerusalem.
5 For who will have compassion on you, Jerusalem? Who will grieve for you? Who will come and inquire about your peace?
6 You have forsaken me,” declares the Lord, “you have turned away; Therefore, I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of repenting.
7 Though I winnowed them with a winnowing fan to the gates of the land, and made my people childless and scattered them, they did not turn from their ways.
8 Their widows multiplied before me more than the sand of the sea; I brought a destroyer against them at midday, against mother and children; I made terrors fall suddenly upon the city.
9 She who bore seven languishes; her soul is filled with sorrow; her sun sets while it is still day; she is ashamed and full of disgrace; and what remains of her I will give to the sword before her enemies, says the Lord.
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me a man of strife and a man of contention to all the earth! I have neither lent nor borrowed, and everyone curses me.
11 So be it, O Lord, if I have not pleaded with you for their good, if I have not made a plea before you on behalf of the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress!
12 Can anyone break iron, the iron of the north, or bronze?
13 I will give your wealth and your treasures as plunder without any price, because of all your sins, throughout all your territory.
14 I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, and it will burn against you.
Jehovah revives Jeremiah
15 You know, O Lord; remember me and visit me, and avenge me on my enemies. Do not rebuke me in the prolongation of your anger; you know that for your sake I suffer reproach.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them; and your word was 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 mockers, nor did I exalt myself because of your prophecy; I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceptive thing, like waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus says the Lord: If you repent, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me; if you separate the precious from the worthless, you shall be as my spokesman. Let them turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people; they will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.
21 I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the hand of the ruthless.
Jeremiah Chapter 16
Jehovah's judgment against Judah
1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “ You shall not take a wife, nor have sons or daughters in this place.”
3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:
4 They shall die of painful diseases; they shall not be mourned or buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the earth; they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their 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 a house of mourning, nor go to lament, nor comfort them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, declares the Lord, my mercy and my compassion.
6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, nor shall they be mourned, nor shall anyone tear their hair or shave their heads for them;
7 They shall not break bread for them in mourning to comfort them for their dead, nor shall they give them a cup of consolation to drink for their father or mother.
8 Likewise, do not go into a feasting house to sit with them to eat or drink.
9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will put an end in this place, before your eyes and in your days, to all the sounds of joy and gladness, and to all the voices of bridegroom and bridegroom.”
10 And it shall come to pass, when you have told this people all these things, that they will say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our wickedness, or what sin is ours that we have committed against the Lord our God?”
11 Then you shall say to them, “Because your fathers forsook me, declares the Lord, and went after other gods and served them and bowed down to them, and forsook me and did not keep my law;
12 And you have done worse than your ancestors; for behold, each of you follows the stubbornness of your evil heart, not listening to me.
13 Therefore I will drive you out of this land to a land that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.
14 Nevertheless, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no longer be said, “As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,”
15 but it will be said, “As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.” For I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their ancestors.
16 “See, I am sending 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 in the caves of the rocks.
17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their wickedness concealed from my sight.
18 But I will repay them double for their sin and for their transgression, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their idols and filled my inheritance with their detestable things.
19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say: ‘Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there was no profit.’
20 ‘Can a man make gods for himself? They are not gods.’
21 Therefore, I will teach them this time; I will make them know my power and my might, and they will know that my name is the Lord.”
Jeremiah Chapter 17
Sin written on the heart of Judah
1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen and a diamond point; it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
2 Their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles beside the green trees and on the high hills,
3 on the mountains and in the open country. I will give all your treasures as plunder because of the sin of your high places throughout your territory.
4 You will lose the inheritance I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger that will burn forever.
5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 They will be like a bush in the desert; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.”
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.
11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is someone who gains wealth by unjust means. In the prime of life they will forsake it, and in the end they will be a fool.
12 The place of our sanctuary is a glorious throne, exalted from the beginning.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel! All who forsake you will be put to shame; And those who turn away from me will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.
15 Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it be fulfilled now!”
16 But I have not followed you to incite you to its punishment, nor have I desired a day of calamity, as you know. What has come from my mouth has been in your presence.
17 Do not be a terror to me, for you are my refuge in the day of trouble.
18 Let my persecutors be put to shame, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed; bring on them a day of trouble and break them with double destruction.
Observance of the Sabbath
19 This is what the Lord says to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and stand at all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21 This is what the Lord says: “Be careful, for your own lives, not to carry a load on the Sabbath or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.”
’ 23 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they stiffened their necks and refused to hear or accept correction.
24 However, if you obey me, declares the Lord, by not bringing in any load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but by keeping the Sabbath day holy and not doing any work on it,
25 then kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, along with their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will come through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses, and this city will be inhabited forever.
26 People will come from the towns of Judah, from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, incense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.
27 But if you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will send down fire in its gates, and it will consume the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.
Jeremiah Chapter 18
The potter's mark and the clay
1 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”
3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working at the wheel.
4 But the pot he was shaping from clay was marred in the potter’s hand; so he formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed good to the potter to do.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
7 At one moment I can speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to uproot, tear down, and destroy.
8 But if that nation turns from its wickedness against which I have spoken, I will relent concerning the disaster that I intended to bring upon it.
9 At one moment I can speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to build and to plant.”
10 But if they do evil in my sight, not obeying my voice, I will relent of the good I had intended to do them.
11 Now therefore, speak to all the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am preparing evil against you and devising a plan against you. Now let each of you turn from your evil ways and amend your ways and your deeds.’”
12 And they said, “It is in vain; for we will follow our idols, and each of us will do the thoughts of our evil hearts.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Ask now among the nations, who has ever heard of such a thing? The virgin of Israel has done a very vile thing.
14 Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Will the cold waters that flow from distant lands fail?”
15 For my people have forgotten me, burning incense to worthless idols; they have stumbled in their ways, in the ancient paths, walking in uncharted trails and not on well-trodden roads,
16 making their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by are appalled and shake their heads.
17 Like a scorching east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; I will turn my back on them and not my face on the day of their destruction.
Conspiracy of the people and prayer of Jeremiah
18 And they said, “Come, let us plot against Jeremiah, for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with our tongues, and let us not heed any of his words.”
19 O Lord, look upon me, and hear the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Should evil be repaid for good, that they have dug a pit for my soul? Remember that I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, give their children over to famine, scatter them by the sword, and let their wives be childless and widowed; let their husbands be put to death, and their young men slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let there be a cry from their houses, when you bring an army against them suddenly; for they have dug a pit to trap me, and my feet have hidden snares.
23 But you, O Lord, know all their plots against me for my death; Do not forgive their wickedness, nor blot out their sin from before your face; and let them stumble before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Jeremiah Chapter 19
The sign of the broken vessel
1 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from the potter, and take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.
2 Then go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is near the entrance of the East Gate, and proclaim there the words I will give you.
3 Say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring disaster on this place so that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle.
4 Because they have forsaken me and have made this place a fool, and have burned incense in it to other gods, gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah had known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.
5 They have built high places for Baal to burn their children as burnt offerings to Baal, something I did not command or mention, nor did it ever enter my mind.’”
6 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, nor the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 I will frustrate the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their lives. I will give their bodies as food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth.
8 I will make this city a horror and a laughingstock; everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff at all its destruction.
9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor, in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will surround them.
10 Then you shall break the vessel before the eyes of the men who go with you,
11 and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘So I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a clay vessel, which cannot be made whole again; and they shall be buried in Topheth, for there will be no other place to bury.’
12 Thus I will do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.”
13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be like the place of Topheth, defiled, because of all the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
14 Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people,
15 “ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am going to bring on this city and all its surrounding towns all the disaster I pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks and refused to listen to my words.’”
Jeremiah Chapter 20
Prophecy against Pashur
1 Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest and commander of the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words.
2 So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet flogged and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which led to the house of the Lord.
3 The next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has not called you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies while you watch. I will hand over all Judah to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them off to Babylon and put them to death with the sword.
5 I will also hand over all the wealth of this city, all its labor, and all its precious things; And I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hands of their enemies, and they will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.
6 And you, Pashhur, and all the inhabitants of your house will go into captivity; you will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all who love you, to whom you have prophesied falsely.
Jeremiah's Lament
7 You seduced me, O Lord, and I was seduced; you were stronger than I, and you prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I cry out, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
9 Then I said, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name.” But his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it in, and I could not.
10 For I heard the whispering of many; fear was on every side: “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my friends were watching for my downfall. “Perhaps he will be deceived,” they said, “and we will prevail against him and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not succeed; They will have perpetual shame that will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the thoughts and the heart, let me see your vengeance upon them; for to you I have committed my cause.
13 Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of the wicked.
14 Cursed be the day I was born; may the day my mother bore me not be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A son is born to you,” making him rejoice greatly.
16 May that man be like the cities the Lord overthrew without relenting; may he hear cries in the morning and shouts at noon,
17 because he did not kill me in the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb would have been pregnant forever.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and that my days should be spent in shame?
Jeremiah Chapter 21
Jerusalem will be destroyed
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and Zephaniah the priest son of Maaseiah to him, saying,
2 “Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonders, and he will withdraw from us.”
3 Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah,
4 ‘ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am turning back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon. And the Chaldeans who are outside the wall and besieging you, I will gather into the midst of this city.
5 I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with fury, wrath, and great anger.
6 And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, and both man and beast shall die of a great plague.” ’”
7 Then, declares the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, the people, and those who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine in the city into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies and those who seek their lives. He will strike them down with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them, nor have compassion on them, nor show them mercy.
8 And to this people you shall say, “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9 Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live, and his life shall be given to him as plunder.
10 For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, declares the Lord; it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.”
11 And to the house of the king of Judah you shall say: Hear the word of the LORD:
12 House of David, thus says the Lord: Execute judgment early in the morning, and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.
13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitants of the valley, and of the rock of the plain, declares the Lord; you who say, “Who will come up against us, and who will enter our dwellings?”
14 I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the Lord, and I will kindle a fire in their forest, and it shall consume all that is around it.
Jeremiah Chapter 22
Prophecies against the kings of Judah
1 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this message there:
2 Say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you, your officials, and your people who come through these gates.
3 This is what the Lord says: “Do what is just and right. Rescue the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor. Do not oppress or rob the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
4 If you truly obey this message, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come in through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their officials, and their people.
5 But if you do not obey these words, I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that this house will become a desolation.
6 This is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are to me like Gilead and like the peak of Lebanon; Yet I will make you a desolation, like uninhabited cities.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars and throw them into the fire.
8 Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, “Why has the Lord done this to this great city?”
9 And the answer will be, “Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”
10 Do not mourn for the dead, nor grieve for him; weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will never return, nor see the land of his birth.
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah, and who went out from this place: “He will never return here again,
12 but will die in the place where he was taken captive, and will never see this land again.”
13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing and does not give him the wages of his labor!
14 Who says, “I will build myself a spacious house, with airy chambers”; and cuts out windows for it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion.
15 Will you reign because you surround yourself with cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do what is just and right? Then it prospered for him .
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and then it prospered. Is this not acknowledgment of me? declares the Lord.
17 But your eyes and your heart are set only on covetousness, on shedding innocent blood, on oppression, and on doing wrong.
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him, saying, ‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’” Nor will they mourn it, saying, «Alas, Lord! Alas, your greatness!»
19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged out of the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan, shout everywhere, for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, “I will not listen.” This has been your way from your youth: You have never obeyed me.
22 The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness.
23 You lived in Lebanon; you made your nest in the cedars. How you will groan when your pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!
24 As I live, declares the Lord, even if Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.
25 I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose sight you dread—yes, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 I will carry you and your mother who bore you into captivity to a foreign land, where you were not born, and there you will die.
27 And to the land to which they long with all their soul, they will not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised and broken vessel? Is he a piece of trash that no one values? Why were he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they did not know?
29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord: Write down what will happen to this man without offspring, a man to whom nothing prosperous will happen all the days of his life, for none of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or reigning over Judah.
Jeremiah Chapter 23
Return of the remnant
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.
2 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “You have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not cared for them. Behold, I will punish you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord.
3 I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
4 I will place shepherds over them who will care for them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety; And this will be his name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.
7 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, “As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,”
8 but they will say, “As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where I had banished them.” Then they will live in their own land.
Denunciation of false prophets
9 Because of the prophets my heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble; I am like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, before the Lord and before his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land is desolate; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; their course is evil, and their strength is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are wicked; even in my house I have found their wickedness, declares the Lord.
12 Therefore their way will be like slippery paths in darkness; they will be pushed over and fall in it, for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.
13 Among the prophets of Samaria I have seen folly; they prophesy in the name of Baal, and they have led my people Israel astray.
14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen ineptitude; They committed adultery, walked in lies, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that no one turned from their wickedness. They were all like Sodom to me, and their inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning those prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem lies have spread throughout the land.”
16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They feed you with false hopes, speaking visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They boldly say to those who provoke me to anger, ‘The Lord says, “You will have peace.”’ And they say to everyone who follows the stubbornness of their own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’
18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord, to see and hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word and heard it?”
19 Behold, the storm of the Lord will go forth in fury; and the tempest that is prepared will fall on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has accomplished the purposes of his heart; in the latter days you will fully understand it.
21 I did not send those prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the wickedness of their deeds.
23 “Am I a God who is only near,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?”
24 “Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said, prophesying lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
26 How long will this continue in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies and prophesy the delusions of their own minds?
27 Do they not consider how they cause my people to forget my name through their dreams, which they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal?
28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, and let the one to whom my word comes speak my word faithfully. What does chaff have in common with wheat?” declares the Lord.
29 “Is not my word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
30 “Therefore, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal my words from one another.”
31 This is what the Lord says: “I am against the prophets who use their tongues to deceive and say, ‘The Lord has spoken.’
32 I am against those who prophesy false dreams and tell them, leading my people astray with lies and flattery. I did not send them or appoint them, and they are of no benefit to this people,” declares the Lord.
33 When these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, “What is the Lord’s prophecy?” you shall say to them, “This is the prophecy: ‘I will forsake you,’ says the Lord.”
34 But if a prophet, priest, or people say, “This is the Lord’s prophecy,” I will send punishment on that person and their household.
35 Thus you shall say to one another, and to one another, “What has the Lord answered?” and “What has the Lord spoken?”
36 You shall no longer remember to say, “This is the Lord’s prophecy,” because each person’s own words will be their own prophecy. For you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, “What did the Lord answer you, and what did the Lord speak?”
38 But if you say, “The prophecy of the Lord,” therefore thus says the Lord: Because you have spoken this word, “The prophecy of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The prophecy of the Lord,
’” 39 therefore, behold, I will cast you out of my sight, and I will cut off from my presence both you and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers;
40 and I will bring upon you perpetual reproach, and everlasting shame, which will never be forgotten.
Jeremiah Chapter 24
The sign of good and bad figs
1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the princes of Judah, and the craftsmen and smiths of Jerusalem, and had taken them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord.
2 One basket had very good figs, like early figs; and the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
3 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs; good figs, very good; and bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.’”
6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
8 Like bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, thus says the Lord, I will make Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who are left in this land, as well as those who live in Egypt.
9 I will make them a byword and an object of scorn to all the kingdoms of the earth, a byword, a proverb, and a curse in all the places where I drive them.
10 I will send the sword, famine, and pestilence against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.
Jeremiah Chapter 25
Seventy years of desolation
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3 “ From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day, which are twenty-three years, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken again and again; but you have not listened.
4 And the Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets, sending them again and again; but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear,
5 when they said, ‘Turn now from your evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and you shall dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and to your fathers forever;
6 Do not follow other gods, serving and worshiping them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will not harm you.
7 But you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, so that you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own harm.
8 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says: Because you have not listened to my words,
9 I will send for all the northern tribes, declares the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will destroy them and make them an object of scorn and derision and a perpetual desolation.
10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bridegroom, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp.
11 All this land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their wickedness, declares the Lord, and the land of the Chaldeans; I will make it a desolation forever.
13 I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, in accordance with everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied concerning all the nations.
14 For they too will be subdued by many nations and great kings, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.
The cup of wrath for the nations
15 For thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: “Take from my hand the cup of the wine of this wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink of it.
16 And they shall drink, and tremble, and go mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink:
18 to Jerusalem, to the cities of Judah, and to its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a reproach, a scorn, and a curse, as it is this day;
19 to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to his servants, his princes, and all his people;
20 and to all the mixed nations, to all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of Philistia, to Ashkelon, to Gaza, to Ekron, and to the remnant of Ashdod;
21 to Edom, to Moab, and to the Ammonites;
22 to all the kings of Tyre, to all the kings of Sidon, to the kings of the coastlands that are on that side of the sea;
23 to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and all who shave their temples;
24 to all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples who live in the desert;
25 to all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;
26 to all the kings of the north, both near and far, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth; and the king of Babylon will drink after them.
27 You shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Drink, and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and do not rise, because of the sword that I will send among you.’”
28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink.”
29 For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name; and shall you be acquitted? You shall not be acquitted, for I am bringing a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.
30 Therefore, prophesy against them all these words and say to them: The Lord will roar from on high, and from his holy dwelling place he will utter his voice; he will roar mightily against his dwelling place; he will sing the song of the winepress against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The sound will reach to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has a case against the nations; he is the Judge of all flesh; he will deliver the wicked over to the sword, declares the Lord.
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, disaster will spread from nation to nation, and a great tempest will rise from the ends of the earth.
33 And those slain by the Lord will lie in that day from one end of the earth to the other; They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will lie like dung on the face of the earth.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock; for your days are fulfilled for you to be slaughtered and scattered, and you will fall like a precious vessel.
35 The flight of the shepherds will cease, and the escape of the leaders of the flock.
36 The voice of the shepherds’ cries, and the wailing of the leaders of the flock! For the Lord has laid waste their pastures.
37 The choice pastures will be destroyed by the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 Like a young lion, he has left his lair; for their land has been laid waste by the anger of the oppressor, and by the fury of his wrath.
Jeremiah Chapter 26
Jeremiah is threatened with death
1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord:
2 “ This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of Judah who come to worship there. Tell them everything I have commanded you to say; do not hold back.
3 Perhaps they will listen and each turn from their evil ways, and I will relent concerning the disaster I intend to bring on them because of their wicked deeds.’
4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you,
5 and pay attention to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you again and again, but whom you have not listened to,
6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.’”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
8 When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die!
9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be laid waste, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat at the entrance of the new gate of the Lord’s house.
11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, “This man deserves to die, because he prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.
13 Now amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you.
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and right to you.”
15 But know for certain that if you kill me, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon its inhabitants; for truly the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.
16 And the princes and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man has not incurred the penalty of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
17 Then some of the elders of the land stood up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:
18 Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mount of the temple like the high places of a forest.”
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and pray before the Lord, and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? Shall we then bring such great evil upon ourselves?
20 There was also a man prophesying in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.
21 And King Jehoiakim and all his nobles and all his princes heard his words, and the king sought to kill him. Uriah, understanding this, was afraid and fled to Egypt.
22 King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt, Elnathan son of Achbor and others with him.
23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with the sword and laid his body in the common tombs.
24 But Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they would not hand him over to the people to be put to death.