Chapter 1
1:1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
1:2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you came out from the womb
I set you apart;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
1:6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord (adon) LORD (Yahweh) ! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
1:7 But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
1:8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD.”
1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
1:10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to uproot and tear down, to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
1:12 Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”
1:13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.”
1:14 Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be unleashed upon all the inhabitants of the land.
1:15 For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and each one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.
1:16 And I will pronounce my judgments against them, for
all their evil, who have forsaken me and burned sacrificial offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
1:17 But you, gird your loins and rise up and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, or I will make you dismayed before them.
1:18 Now behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
1:19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.”
Chapter 2
2:1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2:2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,
“I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
Your following after me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
2:3 Israel was holy to the LORD,
the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it became guilty;
disaster came upon them, declares the LORD.”
2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.
2:5 Thus says the LORD:
“What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness,
and became worthless?
2:6 They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that none passes through,
where no man dwells?’
2:7 And I brought you into a fruitful land
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
2:8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the shepherds transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.
2:9 Therefore I still contend with you,
declares the LORD,
and with your children’s children I will contend.
2:10 For cross to the coasts of Kittim and see,
or send to Kedar and observe with care;
see if there has been such a thing.
2:11 Has a nation changed gods,
even though there are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
2:12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be very desolate,
declares the LORD,
2:13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
2:14 ‘Is Israel a slave? Or is he a servant born in the home?
Why then has he become a prey?
2:15 The lions have roared against him;
they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
2:16 Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have shaved the crown of your head.
2:17 Have you not brought this upon yourself
by forsaking the LORD your God,
when he led you in the way?
2:18 What is it to you to go the way of Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what is it to you to go the way of Assyria and drink the waters of the river.
2:19 Your own wickedness will punish you
and your apostasies will reprove you
Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter
for you to forsake the LORD your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord (adon) LORD (Yahweh) of hosts.
2:20 “For long ago I broke your yoke
and tore off your restraints;
but you said, ‘I will not serve.’
Yes, on every high hill
and under every green tree
you have lain down like a prostitute.
2:21 Yet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed.
How then have you turned yourself before me
to a degenerate foreign vine.
2:22 Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord (adon) LORD (Yahweh).
2:23 How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done—
a swift young camel running here and there,
2:24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat she sniffs the wind [to get the scent of a male.]
Who can restrain her lust?
None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her in her month [mating time] they will find her.
2:25 Keep your feet from going unshod
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
No! For I have loved foreigners,
and after them I will go.’
2:26 “As a thief is shamed when caught,
so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets,
2:27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to me,
and not their face.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
‘Arise and save us!’
2:28 But where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you,
in your time of trouble;
for as many as your cities
are your gods, O Judah.
2:29 Why do you contend with me?
You have all transgressed against me,
declares the LORD.
2:30 In vain have I struck your children;
they took no correction;
your own sword devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.
2:31 “You, this generation, look to the word of the LORD.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;
We will no longer come to you’?
2:32 Can a virgin forget her jewelry,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.
2:33 How well you prepare your way
to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
2:34 Also on your skirts is found
the lifeblood of the innocent poor;
you did not find them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
2:35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’
Behold, I will bring you to judgment
for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
2:36 Why do you go around so much
changing your way?
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
2:37 From this place as well you will go out
with your hands on your head;
for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.
Chapter 3
3:1 says, “If a husband divorces his wife
and she leaves him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her again?
Would that land not be completely defiled?
But you are a prostitute with many lovers;
yet you turn to me,” declares the LORD.
3:2 Lift up your eyes tothe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat waiting for them,
like an Arab in the desert.
And you have defiled a land
with your prostitution and your wickedness.
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a prostitute’s forehead;
you refuse to be ashamed.
3:4 Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
3:5 will he be angry forever,
or keep his anger to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
but you have done all the evil things
that you are able.
3:6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
3:7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
3:8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also.
3:9 Because she took her own prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through committing adultery with stone and tree.
3:10 Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the LORD.
3:11 And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
3:12 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.
3:13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the LORD your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the LORD.
3:14 Return, O faithless children,
declares the LORD;
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
3:15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you knowledge and understanding.
3:16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.
3:17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
3:19 ‘I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would call me, my Father,
and would not turn from following me.
3:20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the LORD.’
3:21 A voice is heard on the bare heights,
the weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel.
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the LORD their God.
3:22 “Return, O faithless sons;
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the LORD our God.
3:23 Truly the hills are a delusion,
the commotion of worship on the mountains.
Truly in the LORD our God
is the salvation of Israel.
3:24 But the shame has devoured the labor of our father’s since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
Chapter 4
4:1 “If you return, O Israel,
declares the LORD,
to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
and do not waver,
4:2 and if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory.”
4:3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.”
4:5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
‘Assemble, and let’s go
into the fortified cities.’
4:6 Raise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from the north,
and great destruction.
4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
without inhabitant.
4:8 For this put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned back from us.”
4:9 “And it shall come about on that day,” declares the LORD, “that the heart of the king and the hearts of the leaders will fail; and the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astonished.”
4:10 Then I said, “O Lord (adon) LORD (Yahweh) you have surely allowed the people of Judah and Jerusalem to be deceived saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”
4:11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness, in the direction of the daughter of my people—not to winnow and not to cleanse,
4:12 a wind too strong for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them.
4:13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles.”
“Woe to us, for we are ruined!”
4:14 Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem,
so that you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
4:15 For a voice declares from Dan
and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
4:16 Report it to the nations, now!
“Proclaim to Jerusalem,
‘Watchers come from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.’
4:17 Like watchmen of a field they are against her all around,
because she has rebelled against me,”
declares the LORD.
4:18 “Your ways and your deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your evil, and it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”
4:19 My bowels, my bowels!
I am in anguish!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart pounds within me.
I cannot keep silent.
for I hear the sound of the trumpet;
the sound of the battle cry pierces my being!
4:20 Crash upon crash sounds out
for the whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
4:21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
4:22 “For my people are foolish,
They do not know me;
they are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are wise at doing evil,
but they do not know how to do good.”
4:23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
4:24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved back and forth.
4:25 I looked, and behold, there was no human,
and all the birds of the sky had fled.
4:26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
4:27 For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation;
yet I will not bring it to a full end.
4:28 For this the earth will mourn,
and the heavens above will become dark,
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
4:29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the cities are forsaken,
and no man dwells in them.
4:30 And you, desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your lovers despise you;
4:31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth
to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”
Chapter 5
5:1 Roam throughout the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take notice!
Search her public squares to see
if you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
that I may pardon her.
5:2 Though they say, “As the LORD lives,”
yet they swear falsely.
5:3 LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.
5:4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.
5:5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.”
But they together had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
5:6 Therefore a lion from the thicket shall strike them down;
a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.
A leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their apostasies are great.
5:7 How for this shall I pardon you?
Your son’s have forsaken me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
they committed adultery,
and assembled themselves by troops at the houses
of the prostitutes.
5:8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
each one neighing at his neighbor’s wife.
5:9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the LORD
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
5:10 “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
but do not destroy them completely.
Strip away her branches,
for they are not the LORD’s.
5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been very treacherous to me,
declares the LORD.
5:12 They have lied about the LORD;
they said, ‘He will do nothing!
Disaster will not come upon us,
nor will we see sword or famine.
5:13 The prophets are as wind,
and the word is not in them.
So it will be done to them!’”
5:14 Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of armies says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am making my words fire in your mouth,
and this people wood, and it will consume them.
5:15 Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, house of Israel, declares the LORD.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
nor can you understand what they say.
5:16 Their quiver is like an open grave,
all of them are mighty warriors.
5:17 They will devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish your fortified cities,
in which you trust, with the sword.”
5:18 “Yet even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not destroy you completely.
5:19 And it shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’’’
5:20 Declare this in the house of Jacob
and proclaim it in Judah, saying,
5:21 “Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
5:22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
a permanent barrier that it cannot cross;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
5:23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
5:24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the autumn rain and spring rain in its season,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
5:25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
5:26 For wicked men are found among my people;
they watch like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
they catch people.
5:27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
5:28 they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
they judge not with justice;
the cause of the fatherless,
and make it successful;
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
5:29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the LORD,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”
5:30 An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule on their own authority;
and my people love it this way
but what will you do when the end comes?
Chapter 6
6:1 Flee for safety, you sons of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looks down from the north,
and great destruction.
6:2 The lovely and delicate I will destroy,
the daughter of Zion.
6:3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
6:4 Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack at noon
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
6:5 Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6:6 For thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Cut down her trees;
build up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
6:7 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are constantly before me.
6:8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
lest I turn from you
lest I make you desolate,
an uninhabited land.”
6:9 Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
6:10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they are not able listen;
behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
6:11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
I am weary of holding it in.
“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, together;
for both husband and wife shall be taken,
the old and the very old.
6:12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the LORD.
6:13 “For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
6:14 They have healed the brokenness of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
6:15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
They were not ashamed at all,
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them,
they shall be overthrown,” says the LORD.
6:16 Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your selves.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
6:17 And I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
6:18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, congregation, what will happen to them.
6:19 Hear, earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
6:20 To what purpose is to me frankincense
from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
6:21 Therefore thus says the LORD:
‘Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people
and they will stumble against them;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
6:22 Thus says the LORD:
“Behold, a people is coming from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
6:23 They lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are cruel and have no mercy;
the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses, arranged as a man for battle
against you, O daughter of Zion!”
6:24 We have heard the report of it;
our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
pain as of a woman in labor.
6:25 Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
terror from every side.
6:26 Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth
and roll in ashes;
mourn as for an only son,
a most bitter mourning
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
6:27 “I have made you an assayer of metals among my people,
that you may know and test their ways.
6:28 They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about as a slanderer;
they are bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
6:29 The bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
6:30 They call them rejected silver,
because the LORD has rejected them.”
Chapter 7
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
7:2 “Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim
there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.
7:3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
7:4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
7:5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice between a man and his neighbor,
7:6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not
go after other gods to your own harm,
7:7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I
gave of ancient times to your fathers forever.
7:8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no benefit.
7:9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,
7:10 and then you come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’
—only to go on doing all these abominations?
7:11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.
7:12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.
7:13 And now, because you have done all these things,
declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you repeatedly you
did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,
7:14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
7:15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.
7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with me; for I will not hear you.
7:17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
7:19 Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame?
7:20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.
7:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
7:22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
7:23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.
And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’
7:24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
7:25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent all my servants, the prophets to them, day after day.
7:26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did more evil than their fathers.
7:27 “So 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.
7:28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
7:29 “ ‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the LORD has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.’
7:30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the LORD. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.
7:31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
7:32 Therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.
7:33 And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away.
7:34 And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a desolate wasteland.
Chapter 8
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 inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs.
8:2 And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.
8:3 And death will be preferred rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the LORD of hosts.
8:4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD:
When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not turn back?
8:5 Why has this people, Jerusalem,
turned away in continual apostasy?
They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to to turn back.
8:6 I have listened and heard,
but they do not speak what is right;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own running course,
like a horse charging into battle.
8:7 Even the stork in the sky
knows her seasons;
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
keep the time of their coming,
but my people do know not
the rules of the LORD.
8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the LORD is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
8:9 The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
so what wisdom do they have?
8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
8:11 They have healed the wound of the daughter of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
8:12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the LORD.
8:13 I will certainly gather them, declares the LORD,
there are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
8:14 Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish
and has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the LORD.
8:15 We waited for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
8:16 “The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
the whole land quakes.
And they come and devour the land and its fullness,
the city and those who dwell in it.
8:17 For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
adders that cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,”
declares the LORD.
8:18 My sorrow is beyond healing,
My heart is faint within me!
8:19 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 and with their foreign idols?”
8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
8:21 For the wound of the daughter of my people,
I am wounded;
I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?
Chapter 9
9:1 Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
9:2 Oh that I had in the desert
a travelers’ lodging place
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
a company of treacherous men.
9:3 They bend their tongue like their bows;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know me, declares the LORD.
9:4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
and do not trust in any brother,
for every brother is a deceiver,
and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
9:5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves committing iniquity
9:6 You dwell in the midst of deceit;
in their deceit they refuse to know me,
declares the LORD.
9:7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Behold, I will refine them and test them,
for what else can I do,
because of the daughter of my people?
9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,
but inwardly he sets an ambush for him.
9:9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the LORD,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
9:10 “I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
because 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
have fled and are gone.
9:11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a lair of jackals,
and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant.”
9:12 Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
9:13 And the LORD says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked according to it,
9:14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.
9:15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.
9:16 I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
9:17 Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
send for the skillful women to come;
9:18 Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us,
so that our eyes may shed tears,
and our eyelids flow with water.
9:19 For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How we are ruined!
We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
because they have torn down our dwellings.’”
9:20 Now hear women, the word of the LORD,
and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
and each to her neighbor a lament.
9:21 For death has come up through our windows;
it has entered our palaces
to cut down a child from the street;
the young men from the public squares.
9:22 Speak, “This is what the LORD says:
‘The corpses of people will fall like dung on the open field,
and like the sheaf after the reaper,
but no one will gather them.’”
9:23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the powerful man boast in his power, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
9:24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”
9:25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh.
9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the edges of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
Chapter 10
10:1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, house of Israel.
10:2 Thus says the LORD:
“Learn not the way of the nations,
nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them,
10:3 for the [religious] customs of the peoples are vanity.
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
10:4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
10:5 They [idols] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
10:6 There is none like you, O LORD;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
10:7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you.
10:8 They are both stupid and foolish;
the instruction of idols is but wood!
10:9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is violet and purple;
they are all the work of skilled men.
10:10 But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
10:11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth
shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
10:12 It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens
10:13 When he gives thunder, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
10:14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
10:15 They are worthless, a work of mockery;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
10:16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the LORD of hosts is his name.
10:17 Pick up your bundle from the ground,
you who live under siege!
10:18 For thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
that they may feel it.”
10:19 Woe to me, because of my injury!
My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
and I must endure it.”
10:20 My tent is destroyed,
and all my ropes are broken;
my sons have gone from me and are no more.
There is no one to stretch out my tent again
or to set up my curtains.
10:21 For the shepherds have become stupid
and have not sought the LORD.
Therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.
10:22 A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
a great commotion out of the north country
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
a lair of jackals.
10:23 I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
10:24 Correct me, O LORD, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
10:25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
and on the peoples that call not on your name,
for they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him and consumed him,
and have laid waste his habitation.Chapter 11
11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
11:2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:3 You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant
11:4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,
11:5 in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” Then I replied, “Amen, LORD.”
11:6 And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.
11:7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.
11:8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
11:9 Again the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have
followed after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.
11:11 Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.
11:12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they certainly will not save them in the time of their disaster.
11:13 For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make sacrificial smoke offerings to Baal.
11:14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their disaster.
11:15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster, so that you can exult.
11:16 The LORD once called your name ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed.
11:17 The LORD of armies who planted you has pronounced evil on you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done
for themselves to provoke me by offering sacrifices to Baal.
11:18 The LORD made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
11:19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;
and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying,
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit,
and let’s cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered.”
11:20 But, LORD of armies, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
11:21 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”—
11:22 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,
11:23 and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”
Chapter 12
12:1 Righteous are you, LORD, when I plead my case with you.
Nevertheless I would like to discuss justice with you:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous have easy lives?
12:2 You plant them, also they take root;
they grow and produce fruit;
you are near in their mouth
and far from their heart.
12:3 But you, O LORD, know me;
you see me, and test my heart toward you.
Drag them away like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
12:4 How long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
For the evil of those who dwell in it
the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, “He will not see our final end.”
12:5 “If you have raced with foot soldiers, and they have worn you out, how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
12:6 For even your brothers and the house of your father,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Even they have called aloud after you.
Do not believe them, though they say good things to you.”
12:7 “I will have forsaken my house;
I will have abandonedmy heritage;
I will have given the beloved of my life
into the hands of her enemies.
12:8 My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has roared against me;
therefore I hate her.
12:9 “Is not my inheritance to me a speckled bird of prey?
“Are birds of prey against her all around ?”
Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
12:10 Many shepherds will have destroyed my vineyard;
they will have trampled down my portion;
they will have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
12:11 They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no man lays it to heart.
12:12 Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come,
for the sword of the LORD devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
12:13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their harvests
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
12:14 Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel: “Behold, I will uproot them up from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
12:15 And after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land.
12:16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
12:17 But if they do not listen, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”
Chapter 13
13:1 Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.”
13:2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.
13:3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,
13:4 “Take the undergarment that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.”
13:5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD commanded me.
13:6 And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to Perath, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.”
13:7 Then I went to the Perath, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.
13:8 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
13:9 “Thus says the LORD: In this same way, I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
13:10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
13:11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
13:12 “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jar will be filled with wine?’
13:13 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land— the kings who sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!
13:14 And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity nor spare nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”
13:15 Hear and pay attention,
do not be arrogant,
for the LORD has spoken.
13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God
before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the twilight mountains,
and while you look for light
he turns it into gloom
and makes it thick darkness.
13:17 But if you will not listen,
my soul [nephesh] will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,
because the LORD’S flock has been taken captive.
13:18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head.”
13:19 The cities of the Negev are shut up,
with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.
13:20 “Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?
13:21 What will you say when he appoints as rulers over you those allies that you yourself,
had actually prepared as such?
Will not pangs take hold of you
like those of a woman in labor?
13:22 And if you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things happened to me?’
It is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.
13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
13:24 I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
13:25 This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD,
because you have forgotten me and trusted in the lie.
13:26 I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.
13:27 I have seen your abominations,
your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your lewd prostitutions
on the hills, in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?”
Chapter 14
14:1 That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah regarding the drought:
14:2 Judah mourns,
and her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
14:3 Her nobles send their servants for water;
they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
and cover their heads.
14:4 Because of the ground that is cracked,
since there is no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
they cover their heads.
14:5 For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, because there is no grass.
14:6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
they sniff the wind like jackals;
their eyes fail
because there is no vegetation.
14:7 “Though our iniquities testify against us,
LORD, act, for your name’s sake;
for our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against you.
14:8 Hope of Israel,
its Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who stays only a night?
14:9 Why should you be like a confused man,
like a warrior who cannot save?
Yet you, LORD, are in the midst of us,
and we are called by your name;
do not leave us.”
14:10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people:
“They have truly loved to wander;
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the LORD does not accept them;
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.”
14:11 The LORD said to me: “Do not pray for the good of this people.
14:12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”
14:13 Then I said: “Oh, Lord [adon] God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”
14:14 And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.
14:15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.
14:16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.
14:17 You shall say to them this word:
‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound,
with a very grievous blow.
14:18 If I go out into the field,
behold, those pierced by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
behold, the diseases of famine!
For both prophet and priest go about peddling through the land
and they do not know.’”
14:19 Have you completely rejected Judah?
or do you despise Zion?
Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
14:20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD,
and the iniquity of our fathers,
for we have sinned against you.
14:21 Do not despise us, for your name’s sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.
14:22 Do any of the worthless idols of the nations cause rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he [who does this things], LORD our God?
We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.
Chapter 15
15:1 Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them away from me, and let them go!
15:2 And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD:
“ ‘Those who are destined for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
those destined for famine, to famine,
and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’
15:3 And I will appoint over them four kinds of destruction,” declares the LORD: “the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy.
15:4 And I will make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
15:5 Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
or who will mourn for you?
Who will turn aside
to ask about your welfare?
15:6 You have rejected me, declares the LORD;
you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
I am tired of relenting.
15:7 I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them of children; I have destroyed my people;
they did not turn from their ways.
15:8 Their widows will be more numerous before me
than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
a destroyer at noonday;
I will suddenly bring down on her
anguish and terror.
15:9 She who gave birth to seven children withers away;
she breathes out her life;
her sun has set while it was still day;
she has been shamed and humiliated.
I will give the survivors to the sword
before their enemies,
declares the LORD.”
15:10 Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me,
as a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not lent, nor have people lent money to me,
yet everyone curses me.
15:11 The LORD said,
“I will certainly set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the enemy plead with you
in a time of disaster and a time of distress.
15:12 Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?
15:13 “Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, and within all your borders.
15:14 I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled and it will burn against you.
15:15 You know, LORD;
remember me and visit me,
and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
know that for your sake I bear reproach.
15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
LORD, God of armies.
15:17 I did not sit in the company of revelers,
and rejoice;
because your hand was upon me, I sat alone
for you had filled me with indignation.
15:18 Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
with water that is unreliable?
15:19 Therefore thus says the LORD:
“If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
And if you bring out the precious from the worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them.
15:20 And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the LORD.
15:21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
Chapter 16
16:1 The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,
16:2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.
16:3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land:
16:4 They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be mourned or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.
They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.
16:5 “For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have withdrawn my peace from this people, my lovingkindness,
and my compassion, declares the LORD.
16:6 Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.
16:7 No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother.
16:8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.
16:9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause a silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
16:10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
16:11 then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,
16:12 and because you have done even worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil heart, refusing to listen to me.
16:13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
16:14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’
16:15 but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had banished them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
16:16 “Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.
16:17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, nor is their wrongdoing concealed from my eyes.
16:18 But I will first repay them fully for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have defiled my land; they have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and their abominations.”
16:19 LORD, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood,
worthless things of no benefit.”
16:20 Can a person make gods for himself?
But they are not gods!
16:21 Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—
this time I will make them know
my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD.”