⁹Then Yahweh put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me,

Two visions.

¹¹And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a rod of almond." ¹²Then Yahweh said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

¹³The word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north." ¹⁴Then Yahweh said to me, "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For, lo, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and they shall come and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸And I, 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 princes, its priests, and the people of the land. ¹⁹They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says Yahweh, to deliver you."

↑   2.

God's care for Israel.

¹The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ²"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says Yahweh,

The sin of Israel's ancestors.

⁴Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says Yahweh:

⁹"Therefore I still contend with you,
says Yahweh,
and with your children's children I will contend.
¹⁰For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
or send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has been such a thing.
¹¹Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
¹²Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
says Yahweh,
¹³for 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.

What Israel's unfaithfulness led to.

¹⁴"Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
Why then has he become a prey?
¹⁵The lions have roared against him,
they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
¹⁶Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken the crown of your head.
¹⁷Have you not brought this upon yourself
by forsaking Yahweh your God,
when he led you in the way?
¹⁸And now what do you gain by going to Egypt,
to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what do you gain by going to Assyria,
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
¹⁹Your wickedness will chasten you,
and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
for you to forsake Yahweh your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
says Yahweh GOD of hosts.

Israel refuses to worship the LORD.

²⁰"For long ago you broke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
and you said, 'I will not serve.'
Yea, upon every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down as a harlot.
²¹Yet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed.
How then have you turned degenerate
and become a wild vine?
²²Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
says Yahweh GOD.
²³How can you say, 'I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals'?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done -
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,
²⁴a wild ass used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.
²⁵Keep your feet from going unshod
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, 'It is hopeless,
for I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.'

Israel deserves to be punished.

²⁶"As a thief is shamed when caught,
so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their princes,
their priests, and their prophets,
²⁷who 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!
²⁸But 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.

²⁹"Why do you complain against me?
You have all rebelled against me,
says Yahweh.
³⁰In vain have I smitten your children,
they took no correction;
your own sword devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.
³¹And you, O generation, heed the word of Yahweh.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, 'We are free,
we will come no more to you?'
³²Can a maiden forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.

³³"How well you direct your course to seek lovers!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
³⁴Also on your skirts is found
the lifeblood of guiltless poor;
you did not find them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
³⁵you say, 'I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.'
Behold, I will bring you to judgment
for saying, 'I have not sinned.'
³⁶How lightly you gad about,
changing your way!
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
³⁷From it too you will come away
with your hands upon your head,
for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.

↑   3.

Unfaithful Israel.

¹"If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
will he return to her?
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the harlot with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
says Yahweh.
²Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been lain with?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your vile harlotry.
³Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have a harlot's brow,
you refuse to be ashamed.
⁴Have you not just now called to me,
'My father, you are the friend of my youth -
⁵will he be angry for ever,
will he be indignant to the end?'
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could."

Israel & Judah must repent.

⁶Yahweh 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 harlot? ⁷And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me'; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. ⁸She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot. ⁹Because harlotry was so light to her, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. ¹⁰Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretence, says Yahweh."

¹¹And Yahweh said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah. ¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

¹⁵" 'And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of Yahweh." It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again. ¹⁷At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of Yahweh, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of Yahweh in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. ¹⁸In 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 for a heritage.

The idolatry of God's people.

¹⁹" 'I thought
how I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beauteous of all nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
²⁰Surely, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
says Yahweh.' "

²¹A voice on the bare heights is heard,
the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
²²"Return, O faithless sons,
I will heal your faithlessness."
"Behold, we come to you;
for you are Yahweh our God.
²³Truly the hills are a delusion,
the orgies on the mountains.
Truly in Yahweh our God
is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴"But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers laboured, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonour cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God."

↑   4.

A call to repentance.

¹"If you return, O Israel,
says Yahweh,
to me you should return.
If you remove your abominations from my presence,
and do not waver,
²and if you swear, 'As Yahweh lives,'
in truth, in justice, and in uprightness,
then nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory."

³For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem:

Judah threatened with invasion.

⁵Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

⁹"In that day, says Yahweh, courage shall fail both king and princes; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded." ¹⁰Then I said, "Ah, Yahweh GOD, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you'; whereas the sword has reached their very life."

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹²a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them."

Judah surrounded by enemies.

¹³Behold, he comes up like clouds,
his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles -
woe to us, for we are ruined!
¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil thoughts
lodge within you?
¹⁵For a voice declares from Dan
and proclaims evil from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
"Besiegers come from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷Like keepers of a field are they against her round about,
because she has rebelled against me,
says Yahweh.
¹⁸Your ways and your doings
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart."

Jeremiah's sorrow for his people.

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent;
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
²⁰Disaster follows hard on disaster,
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my curtains in a moment.
²¹How long must I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
²²"For my people are foolish,
they know me not;
they are stupid children,
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but how to do good they know not."

A vision of coming destruction.

²³I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
²⁵I looked, and lo, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
²⁶I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before Yahweh, before his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says Yahweh, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. ²⁸For this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above be black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
I have not relented nor will I turn back."

²⁹At 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.
³⁰And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
Your lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
³¹For I heard a cry as of a woman in travail,
anguish as of one bringing forth 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."

↑   5.

The sin of Jerusalem.

¹Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see if you can find a man,
one who does justice and seeks truth;
that I may pardon her.
²Though they say, "As Yahweh lives,"
yet they swear falsely.
³ O Yahweh, do not your eyes look for truth?
You have smitten them,
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.

⁴Then I said, "These are only the poor,
they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of Yahweh,
the law of their God.
⁵I will go to the great,
and will speak to them;
for they know the way of Yahweh,
the law of their God."
But they all alike had broken the yoke,
they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them,
a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.
A leopard is watching against their cities,
every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces;
because their transgressions are many,
their apostasies are great.
⁷"How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me,
and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery
and trooped to the houses of harlots.
⁸They were well-fed lusty stallions,
each neighing for his neighbour's wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?
says Yahweh;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?

The LORD rejects Israel.

¹⁰"Go up through her vine-rows and destroy,
but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not Yahweh's.
¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly faithless to me,
says Yahweh.
¹²They have spoken falsely of Yahweh,
and have said, 'He will do nothing;
no evil will come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!"

¹⁴Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts:
"Because they have spoken this word,
behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.
¹⁵Behold, I am bringing upon you
a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
says Yahweh.
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.
¹⁶Their quiver is like an open tomb,
they are all mighty men.
¹⁷They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your fortified cities in which you trust they shall destroy with the sword."

¹⁸"But even in those days, says Yahweh, I will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹And when your people say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.' "

God warns his people.

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob,
proclaim it in Judah:
²¹"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
²²Do you not fear me? says Yahweh;
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the bound for the sea,
a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail,
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
²³But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴They do not say in their hearts,
'Let us fear Yahweh our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'
²⁵Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶For wicked men are found among my people;
they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
they catch men.
²⁷Like a basket full of birds,
their houses are full of treachery;
therefore they have become great and rich,
²⁸they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness;
they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
²⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?
says Yahweh,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?"

³⁰An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
³¹the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?

↑   6.

Jerusalem surrounded by enemies.

¹Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem;
for evil looms out of the north,
and great destruction.
²The comely and delicately bred I will destroy,
the daughter of Zion.
³Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
they shall pitch their tents around her,
they shall pasture, each in his place.
⁴"Prepare war against her;
up, and let us attack at noon!"
"Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!"
⁵"Up, and let us attack by night,
and destroy her palaces!"

⁶For thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Hew down her trees;
cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city which must be punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
⁷As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸Be warned, O Jerusalem,
lest I be alienated from you;
lest I make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land."

Rebellious Israel.

⁹Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape-gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches."
¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are closed,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn,
they take no pleasure in it.
¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh;
I am weary of holding it in.
"Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the old folk and the very aged.
¹²Their 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,"
says Yahweh.
¹³"For from the least to the greatest of them,
every one is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
every one deals falsely.
¹⁴They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, 'Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace.
¹⁵Were 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 those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,"
says Yahweh.

Israel rejects God's way.

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh:
"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 souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'
¹⁷I set watchmen over you, saying,
'Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!'
But they said, 'We will not give heed.'
¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹Hear, O earth;
behold, I am bringing evil upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not given heed to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
²⁰To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
²¹Therefore thus says Yahweh:
'Behold, I will lay before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbour and friend shall perish.' "

Invasion from the north.

²²Thus says Yahweh:
"Behold, a people is coming from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
²³They lay hold on bow and spear,
they are cruel and have no mercy,
the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride upon horses,
set in array as a man for battle, against you,
O daughter of Zion!"
²⁴We have heard the report of it,
our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
pain as of a woman in travail.
²⁵Go not forth into the field,
nor walk on the road;
for the enemy has a sword,
terror is on every side.
²⁶O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth,
and roll in ashes;
make mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation;
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.

²⁷"I have made you an assayer and tester among my people,
that you may know and assay their ways.
²⁸They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about with slanders;
they are bronze and iron,
all of them act corruptly.
²⁹The bellows blow fiercely,
the lead is consumed by the fire;
in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
³⁰Refuse silver they are called,
for Yahweh has rejected them."

↑   7.

Jeremiah preaches at the temple.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: ²"Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship Yahweh. ³Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.'

⁵"For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another, ⁶if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever.

⁸"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then 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? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says Yahweh. ¹²Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³And now, because you have done all these things, says Yahweh, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, ¹⁴therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

The disobedience of the people.

¹⁶"As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you. ¹⁷Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ¹⁹Is it I whom they provoke? says Yahweh. Is it not themselves, to their own confusion? ²⁰Therefore thus says Yahweh 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."

²¹Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. ²²For 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. ²³But this command I gave them, '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.' ²⁴But 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. ²⁵From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; ²⁶yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

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. ²⁸And you shall say to them, 'This is the nation that did not obey the voice of Yahweh their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

²⁹Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.'

Sinful deeds in the valley of Hinnom.

³⁰"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says Yahweh; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³¹And they have built the high place 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. ³²Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. ³³And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away. ³⁴And I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.

↑   8.

¹"At that time, says Yahweh, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, 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; ²and 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 worshipped; and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ³Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of hosts.

Sin & punishment.

⁴"You shall say to them, Thus says Yahweh:
When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
⁵Why then has this people turned away
in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit,
they refuse to return.
⁶I have given heed and listened,
but they have not spoken aright;
no man repents of his wickedness,
saying, 'What have I done?'
Every one turns to his own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
⁷Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times;
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
keep the time of their coming;
but my people know not
the ordinance of Yahweh.

⁸"How can you say, 'We are wise,
and the law of Yahweh is with us'?
But, behold, the false pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
⁹The wise men shall be put to shame,
they shall be dismayed and taken;
lo, they have rejected the word of Yahweh,
and what wisdom is in them?
¹⁰Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
every one is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest
every one deals falsely.
¹¹They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, 'Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace.
¹²Were 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 Yahweh.
¹³When I would gather them, says Yahweh,
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."

¹⁴Why do we sit still?
Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities and perish there;
for Yahweh our God has doomed us to perish,
and has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against Yahweh.
¹⁵We looked for peace, but no good came,
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

¹⁶"The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
¹⁷For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
adders which cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,"
says Yahweh.

Jeremiah's sorrow for his people.

¹⁸My grief is beyond healing,
my heart is sick within me.
¹⁹Hark, the cry of the daughter of my people
from the length and breadth of the land:
"Is Yahweh not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?"
"Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images,
and with their foreign idols?"
²⁰"The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved."
²¹For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

⁴Let every one beware of his neighbour,
and put no trust in any brother;
for every brother is a supplanter,
and every neighbour goes about as a slanderer.
⁵Every one deceives his neighbour,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.
⁶Heaping oppression upon oppression,
and deceit upon deceit,
they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.

⁷Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Behold, I will refine them and test them,
for what else can I do, because of my people?
⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth each speaks peaceably to his neighbour,
but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? says Yahweh;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?

¹⁰"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.
¹¹I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a lair of jackals;
and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant."

¹²Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And Yahweh says: "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accord with it, ¹⁴but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink. ¹⁶I 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."

The people of Jerusalem cry for help.

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
send for the skilful women to come;
¹⁸let them make haste and raise a wailing over us,
that our eyes may run down with tears,
and our eyelids gush with water.
¹⁹For 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 cast down our dwellings.' "

²⁰Hear, O women, the word of Yahweh,
and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
and each to her neighbour a dirge.
²¹For death has come up into our windows,
it has entered our palaces,
cutting off the children from the streets
and the young men from the squares.
²²Speak, "Thus says Yahweh:
'The dead bodies of men shall fall
like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves after the reaper,
and none shall gather them.' "

²³Thus says Yahweh: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; ²⁴but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am Yahweh who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says Yahweh."

²⁵"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will punish all those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised - ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert that cut the corners of their hair; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."

↑   10.

Idolatry & true worship.

¹Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²Thus says Yahweh:

⁶There is none like you, O Yahweh;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
⁷Who 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.
⁸They are both stupid and foolish;
the instruction of idols is but wood!
⁹Beaten 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.
¹⁰But Yahweh 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.

¹¹Thus 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."

A hymn of praise.

¹²It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
¹³When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
¹⁴Every 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.
¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶Not 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;
Yahweh of hosts is his name.

Coming exile.

¹⁷Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O you who dwell under siege!
¹⁸For thus says Yahweh:
"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."
¹⁹Woe is me because of my hurt!
My wound is grievous.
But I said, "Truly this is an affliction,
and I must bear it."
²⁰My tent is destroyed,
and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again,
and to set up my curtains.
²¹For the shepherds are stupid,
and do not inquire of Yahweh;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.

²²Hark, 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.

²³I know, O Yahweh, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
²⁴Correct me, O Yahweh, but in just measure;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out your wrath upon the nations that know you not,
and upon 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.

↑   11.

Jeremiah & the covenant.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: ²"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³You shall say to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not heed the words of this covenant ⁴which 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, ⁵that I may perform the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day." Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."

⁶And Yahweh 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. ⁷For 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. ⁸Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but every one 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."

⁹Again Yahweh said to me, "There is revolt among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. ¹¹Therefore, thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am bringing evil upon them which they cannot escape; though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. ¹³For 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 burn incense to Baal.

¹⁴"Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. ¹⁵What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done vile deeds? Can vows and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? ¹⁶Yahweh once called you, 'A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit'; but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. ¹⁷Yahweh of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil which the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

A plot against Jeremiah's life.

¹⁸Yahweh made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.
¹⁹But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was against me
they devised schemes, saying,
"Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more."
²⁰But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously,
who tries the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.

²¹Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, "Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will die by our hand" - ²²therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Behold, I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; ²³and none of them shall be left. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment."

↑   12.

Jeremiah questions the LORD.

¹Righteous are you, O Yahweh,
when I complain to you;
yet I would plead my case before you.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
²You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.
³But you, O Yahweh, know me;
you see me, and test my mind toward you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
⁴How long will the land mourn,
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it
the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because men said, "He will not see our latter end."

⁵"If you have raced with men on foot,
and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you fall down,
how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?
⁶For even your brothers and the house of your father,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
believe them not,
though they speak fair words to you."

The LORD's sorrow because of his people.

⁷"I have forsaken my house,
I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my soul
into the hands of her enemies.
⁸My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest,
she has lifted up her voice against me;
therefore I hate her.
⁹Is my heritage to me
like a speckled bird of prey?
Are the birds of prey against her round about?
Go, assemble all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
¹¹They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no man lays it to heart.
¹²Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come;
for the sword of Yahweh devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
¹³They 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 Yahweh."

The LORD's promise to Israel's neighbours.

¹⁴Thus says Yahweh concerning all my evil neighbours who touch the heritage which I have given my people Israel to inherit: "Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, 'As Yahweh lives,' even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, says Yahweh."

↑   13.

The linen waistcloth.

¹Thus said Yahweh to me, "Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water." ²So I bought a waistcloth according to the word of Yahweh, and put it on my loins. ³And the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, ⁴"Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock." ⁵So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me. ⁶And after many days Yahweh said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there." ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

⁸Then the word of Yahweh came to me: ⁹"Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This 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 waistcloth, which is good for nothing. ¹¹For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says Yahweh, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

The wine-jar.

¹²"You shall speak to them this word: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, "Every jar shall be filled with wine." ' And they will say to you, 'Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?' ¹³Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁴And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, says Yahweh. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.' "

A warning against pride.

¹⁵Hear and give ear;
be not proud, for Yahweh has spoken.
¹⁶Give glory to Yahweh your God
before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the twilight mountains,
and while you look for light
he turns it into gloom
and makes it deep darkness.
¹⁷But if you will not listen,
my soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,
because Yahweh's flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother:
"Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head."
¹⁹The cities of the Negeb are shut up,
with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.

²⁰"Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?
²¹What will you say when they set as head over you
those whom you yourself have taught
to be friends to you?
Will not pangs take hold of you,
like those of a woman in travail?
²²And if you say in your heart,
'Why have these things come upon me?'
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up,
and you suffer violence.
²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
²⁴I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
²⁵This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, says Yahweh,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
²⁶I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.
²⁷I have seen your abominations,
your adulteries and neighings, your lewd harlotries,
on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be
before you are made clean?"

↑   14.

The terrible drought.

¹The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

²"Judah mourns and her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
³Her nobles send their servants for water;
they come to the cisterns,
they find no water,
they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
and cover their heads.
⁴Because of the ground which is dismayed,
since there is no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed,
they cover their heads.
⁵Even the hind in the field forsakes her newborn calf
because there is no grass.
⁶The wild asses stand on the bare heights,
they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail because there is no herbage.

⁷"Though our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Yahweh, for your name's sake;
for our backslidings are many,
we have sinned against you.
⁸O you hope of Israel,
its saviour in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
like a wayfarer who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹Why should you be like a man confused,
like a mighty man who cannot save?
Yet you are in the midst of us, O Yahweh,
and we are called by your name;
leave us not."

¹⁰Thus says Yahweh concerning this people:
"They have loved to wander thus,
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore Yahweh does not accept them,
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins."

¹¹Yahweh said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people. ¹²Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."

¹³Then I said: "Ah, Yahweh GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.' " ¹⁴And Yahweh said to me: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. ¹⁵Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not come on this land': By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them - them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.

¹⁷"You shall say to them this word:
'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound,
with a very grievous blow.
¹⁸If I go out into the field,
behold, those slain by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
behold, the diseases of famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land,
and have no knowledge.' "

The people plead with the LORD.

¹⁹Have you utterly rejected Judah?
Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you smitten us
so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, O Yahweh,
and the iniquity of our fathers,
for we have sinned against you.
²¹Do not spurn us, for your name's sake;
do not dishonour your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.
²²Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Yahweh our God?
We set our hope on you,
for you do all these things.

↑   15.

Doom for the people of Judah.

¹Then Yahweh said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people.
Send them out of my sight, and let them go!
²And when they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh:

³"I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says Yahweh: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵"Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
or who will bemoan you?
Who will turn aside
to ask about your welfare?
⁶You have rejected me, says Yahweh,
you keep going backward;
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you; -
I am weary of relenting.
⁷I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them, I have destroyed my people;
they did not turn from their ways.
⁸I have made their widows more in number
than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
fall upon them suddenly.
⁹She who bore seven has languished;
she has swooned away;
her sun went down while it was yet day;
she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
before their enemies,
says Yahweh."

Jeremiah complains to the LORD.

¹⁰Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. ¹¹So let it be, O Yahweh, if I have not entreated you for their good, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress! ¹²Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?

¹³"Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. ¹⁴I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever."

¹⁵ O Yahweh, you know;
remember me and visit me,
and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
know that for your sake I bear reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart;
for I am called by your name,
O Yahweh, God of hosts.
¹⁷I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?

¹⁹Therefore thus says Yahweh:
"If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.
²⁰And 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,
says Yahweh.
²¹I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless."

↑   16.

The LORD's will for Jeremiah's life.

¹The word of Yahweh came to me: ²"You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. ³For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who begot them in this land: ⁴They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

⁵"For thus says Yahweh: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament, or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says Yahweh, my steadfast love and mercy. ⁶Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. ⁷No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead; nor shall any one give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. ⁸You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. ⁹For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will make to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰"And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?' ¹¹then you shall say to them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken me, says Yahweh, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshipped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, ¹²and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me; ¹³therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favour.'

Return form exile.

¹⁴"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when it shall no longer be said, 'As Yahweh lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' ¹⁵but 'As Yahweh lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

Coming punishment.

¹⁶"Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says Yahweh, and they shall catch them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷For my eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸And I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."

Jeremiah's prayer.

¹⁹ O Yahweh, 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 nought but lies,
worthless things in which there is no profit.
²⁰Can man make for himself gods?
Such are no gods!"

²¹"Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is Yahweh."

↑   17.

The sin & punishment of Judah.

¹"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, ²while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree, and on the high hills, ³on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your sin throughout all your territory. ⁴You shall loosen your hand from your heritage which I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever."

Various sayings.

⁵Thus says Yahweh:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his arm,
whose heart turns away from Yahweh.
⁶He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.

⁷"Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh,
whose trust is Yahweh.
⁸He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit."

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately corrupt;
who can understand it?
¹⁰"I Yahweh search the mind
and test the heart,
to give to every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his doings."

¹¹Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch,
so is he who gets riches but not by right;
in the midst of his days they will leave him,
and at his end he will be a fool.

¹²A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ O Yahweh, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken Yahweh, the fountain of living water.

Jeremiah asks for help.

¹⁴Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved;
for you are my praise.
¹⁵Behold, they say to me,
"Where is the word of Yahweh?
Let it come!"
¹⁶I have not pressed you to send evil,
nor have I desired the day of disaster,
you know;
that which came out of my lips
was before your face.
¹⁷Be not a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of evil.
¹⁸Let those be put to shame who persecute me,
but let me not be put to shame;
let them be dismayed,
but let me not be dismayed;
bring upon them the day of evil;
destroy them with double destruction!

Sabbath observance.

¹⁹Thus said Yahweh to me: "Go and stand in the Benjamin Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, ²⁰and say: 'Hear the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. ²¹Thus says Yahweh: Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. ²²And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. ²³Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.

²⁴" 'But if you listen to me, says Yahweh, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep the sabbath day holy and do no work on it, ²⁵then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited for ever. ²⁶And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places round about Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, cereal offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of Yahweh. ²⁷But if you do not listen to me, to keep the sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.' "

↑   18.

Jeremiah at the potter's house.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: ²"Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." ³So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵Then the word of Yahweh came to me: ⁶"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says Yahweh. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. ⁹And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.'

¹²"But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'

The people reject the LORD.

¹³"Therefore thus says Yahweh:
Ask among the nations,
who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
has done a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave
the crags of Sirion?
Do the mountain waters run dry,
the cold flowing streams?
¹⁵But my people have forgotten me,
they burn incense to false gods;
they have stumbled in their ways,
in the ancient roads,
and have gone into bypaths,
not the highway,
¹⁶making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at for ever.
Every one who passes by it is horrified
and shakes his head.
¹⁷Like the east wind I will scatter them
before the enemy.
I will show them my back, not my face,
in the day of their calamity."

A plot against Jeremiah.

¹⁸Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not heed any of his words."

¹⁹Give heed to me, O Yahweh,
and hearken to my plea.
²⁰Is evil a recompense for good?
Yet they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good for them,
to turn away your wrath from them.
²¹Therefore deliver up their children to famine;
give them over to the power of the sword,
let their wives become childless and widowed.
May their men meet death by pestilence,
their youths be slain by the sword in battle.
²²May a cry be heard from their houses,
when you bring the marauder suddenly upon them!
For they have dug a pit to take me,
and laid snares for my feet.
²³Yet, you, O Yahweh, know
all their plotting to slay me.
Forgive not their iniquity,
nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.

↑   19.

The broken flask.

¹Thus said Yahweh, "Go, buy a potter's earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, ²and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³You shall say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon this place that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle. ⁴Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ⁵and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind; ⁶therefore, behold, days are coming, says Yahweh, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter. ⁷And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; every one who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ⁹And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbour in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.'

¹⁰"Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹and shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. ¹²Thus will I do to this place, says Yahweh, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. ¹³The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah - all the houses upon whose roofs incense has been burned to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods - shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.' "

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Yahweh's house, and said to all the people: ¹⁵"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words."

↑   20.

Jeremiah's conflict with Pashhur the priest.

¹Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of Yahweh. ³On the morrow, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "Yahweh does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on every side. ⁴For thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. ⁵Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them, and seize them, and carry them to Babylon. ⁶And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity; to Babylon you shall go; and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely."

Jeremiah complains to the LORD.

⁷ O Yahweh, you have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
every one mocks me.
⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, "Violence and destruction!"
For the word of Yahweh has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
⁹If I say, "I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,"
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
¹⁰For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
"Denounce him! Let us denounce him!"
say all my familiar friends,
watching for my fall.
"Perhaps he will be deceived,
then we can overcome him,
and take our revenge on him."
¹¹But Yahweh is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
will never be forgotten.
¹² O Yahweh of hosts, who tries the righteous,
who sees the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.

¹³Sing to Yahweh;
praise Yahweh!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the day on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
¹⁵Cursed be the man
who brought the news to my father,
"A son is born to you,"
making him very glad.
¹⁶Let that man be like the cities
which Yahweh overthrew without pity;
let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,
¹⁷because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb for ever great.
¹⁸Why did I come forth from the womb
to see toil and sorrow,
and spend my days in shame?

↑   21.

Jerusalem's defeat predicted.

¹This is the word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, ²"Inquire of Yahweh for us, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds, and will make him withdraw from us."

³Then Jeremiah said to them: ⁴"Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them together into the midst of this city. ⁵I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. ⁶And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷Afterward, says Yahweh, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not pity them, or spare them, or have compassion.'

⁸"And to this people you shall say: 'Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. ¹⁰For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says Yahweh: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.'

Jusgement on the royal house of Judah.

¹¹"And to the house of the king of Judah say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, ¹²O house of David! Thus says Yahweh:

↑   22.

Jeremiah's message to the royal house of Judah.

¹Thus says Yahweh: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, ²and say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, O King of Judah, who sit on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. ³Thus says Yahweh: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people. ⁵But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation. ⁶For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah:

⁸" 'And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbour, "Why has Yahweh dealt thus with this great city?" ⁹And they will answer, "Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshipped other gods and served them." '"

Jeremiah's message concerning Joahaz.

¹⁰Weep not for him who is dead,
nor bemoan him;
but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.

¹¹For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: "He shall return here no more, ¹²but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again."

Jeremiah's message concerning Jehoiakim.

¹³"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice;
who makes his neighbour serve him for nothing,
and does not give him his wages;
¹⁴who says, 'I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,'
and cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar,
and painting it with vermilion.
¹⁵Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
¹⁶He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
says Yahweh.
¹⁷But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence."

¹⁸Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

The Fate of Jerusalem.

²⁰"Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry from Abarim,
for all your lovers are destroyed.
²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, 'I will not listen.'
This has been your way from your youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
²²The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your wickedness.
²³O inhabitant of Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
pain as of a woman in travail!"

God's judgement on Jehoiakim.

²⁴"As I live, says Yahweh, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off ²⁵and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. ²⁷But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return."

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot,
a vessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a land which they do not know?
²⁹O land, land, land,
hear the word of Yahweh!
³⁰Thus says Yahweh:
"Write this man down as childless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days;
for none of his offspring shall succeed
in sitting on the throne of David,
and ruling again in Judah."

↑   23.

Hope for the Future.

¹"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says Yahweh. ²Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says Yahweh. ³Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, says Yahweh.

⁵"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'Yahweh is our righteousness.'

⁷"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when men shall no longer say, 'As Yahweh lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' ⁸but 'As Yahweh lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land."

Jeremiah's message about the prophets.

⁹Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me,
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of Yahweh
and because of his holy words.
¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
¹¹"Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their wickedness,
says Yahweh.
¹²Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall;
for I will bring evil upon them
in the year of their punishment,
says Yahweh.
¹³In the prophets of Samaria
I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his wickedness;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah."
¹⁵Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets:
"Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,
and give them poisoned water to drink;
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone forth into all the land."

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes; they speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of Yahweh. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of Yahweh, 'It shall be well with you'; and to every one who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.' "

¹⁸For who among them has stood in the council of Yahweh
to perceive and to hear his word,
or who has given heed to his word and listened?
¹⁹Behold, the storm of Yahweh!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰The anger of Yahweh will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹"I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
²²But 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 evil of their doings.

²³"Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off? ²⁴Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says Yahweh. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed! ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says Yahweh. ²⁹Is not my word like fire, says Yahweh, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who use their tongues and say, 'Says Yahweh.' ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them; so they do not profit this people at all, says Yahweh.

The LORD's burden.

³³"When one of this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of Yahweh?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you off, says Yahweh.' ³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, 'The burden of Yahweh,' I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbour and every one to his brother, 'What has Yahweh answered?' or 'What has Yahweh spoken? ³⁶But 'the burden of Yahweh' you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, 'What has Yahweh answered you?' or 'What has Yahweh spoken? ³⁸But if you say, 'The burden of Yahweh,' thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have said these words, "The burden of Yahweh," when I sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The burden of Yahweh,'" ³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city which I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.' "

↑   24.

Two baskets of figs.

¹After Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the princes of Judah, the craftsmen, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon, Yahweh showed me this vision: Behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of Yahweh. ²One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³And Yahweh said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."

⁴Then the word of Yahweh came to me: ⁵"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶I will set my eyes upon 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. ⁷I will give them a heart to know that I am Yahweh; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

⁸"But thus says Yahweh: Like the bad figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers."

↑   25.

The enemy from the north.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon), ²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³"For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. ⁴You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although Yahweh persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵saying, 'Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and wrong doings, and dwell upon the land which Yahweh has given to you and your fathers from of old and for ever; ⁶do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.' ⁷Yet you have not listened to me, says Yahweh, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸"Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, says Yahweh, and for Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about; I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting reproach. ¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹²Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says Yahweh, making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³I will bring upon that land all the words which I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands."

God's judgement on the nations.

¹⁵Thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword which I am sending among them."

¹⁷So I took the cup from Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it: ¹⁸Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and princes, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people, ²⁰and all the foreign folk among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); ²¹Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon; ²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; ²³Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; ²⁴all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes that dwell in the desert; ²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; ²⁶all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.

²⁷"Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I am sending among you.'

²⁸"And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: You must drink! ²⁹For behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of hosts.'

³⁰"You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

³²"Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation,
and a great tempest is stirring
from the farthest parts of the earth!

³³"And those slain by Yahweh on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴"Wail, you shepherds, and cry,
and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
and you shall fall like choice rams.
³⁵No refuge will remain for the shepherds,
nor escape for the lords of the flock.
³⁶Hark, the cry of the shepherds,
and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For Yahweh is despoiling their pasture,
³⁷and the peaceful folds are devastated,
because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.
³⁸Like a lion he has left his covert,
for their land has become a waste
because of the sword of the oppressor,
and because of his fierce anger."

↑   26.

Jeremiah brought to trial.

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, ²"Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the court of Yahweh's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. ³It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil which I intend to do to them because of their evil doings. ⁴You shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law which I have set before you, ⁵and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not heeded, ⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.' "

⁷The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh. ⁸And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, "You shall die! ⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?'" And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.

¹⁰When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of Yahweh and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of Yahweh. ¹¹Then the priests and the prophets said to the princes and to all the people, "This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying, "Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. ¹³Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will repent of the evil which he has pronounced against you. ¹⁴But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. ¹⁵Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears."

¹⁶Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God." ¹⁷And certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, ¹⁸"Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Yahweh and entreat the favour of Yahweh, and did not Yahweh repent of the evil which he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great evil upon ourselves."

²⁰There was another man who prophesied in the name of Yahweh, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. ²¹And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. ²²Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, Elnathan the son of Achbor and others with him, ²³and they fetched Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.

↑   27.

Jeremiah wears an ox yoke.

¹In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh. ²Thus Yahweh said to me: "Make yourself thongs and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴Give them this charge for their masters: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵"It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ⁶Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ⁷All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸" '"But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, says Yahweh, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.' ¹⁰For it is a lie which they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ¹¹But any nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to till it and dwell there, says Yahweh." '"

¹²To Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. ¹³Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning any nation which will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you. ¹⁵I have not sent them, says Yahweh, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you."

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, 'Behold, the vessels of Yahweh's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,' for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you. ¹⁷Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation? ¹⁸If they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh is with them, then let them intercede with Yahweh of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ¹⁹For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels which are left in this city, ²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem - ²¹thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²²They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I give attention to them, says Yahweh. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place."

↑   28.

Jeremiah & Hananiah the prophet.

¹In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Yahweh, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ²"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of Yahweh's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says Yahweh, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon."

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh; ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May Yahweh do so; may Yahweh make the words which you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of Yahweh, and all the exiles. ⁷Yet hear now this word which I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ⁸The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that Yahweh has truly sent the prophet."

¹⁰Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, and broke them. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years." But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹²Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah: ¹³"Go, tell Hananiah, 'Thus says Yahweh: You have broken wooden bars, but I will make in their place bars of iron. ¹⁴For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke of servitude to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.' " ¹⁵And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah, Yahweh has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against Yahweh.' " ¹⁷In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

↑   29.

Jeremiah's letter to the Jews of Babylonia.

¹These are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. ³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: ⁴"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Yahweh on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream, ⁹for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says Yahweh.

¹⁰"For thus says Yahweh: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you, says Yahweh, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, ¹⁴I will be found by you, says Yahweh, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵"Because you have said, 'Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,' - ¹⁶Thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ¹⁷'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹because they did not heed my words, says Yahweh, which I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, says Yahweh.' - ²⁰Hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ²¹'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. ²²Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," ²³because they have committed folly in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words which I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, says Yahweh.' "

The letter to Shemaiah.

²⁴To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: ²⁵"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶'Yahweh has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of Yahweh over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and collar. ²⁷Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? ²⁸For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, "Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce." '"

²⁹Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah: ³¹"Send to all the exiles, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, ³²therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; he shall not have any one living among this people to see the good that I will do to my people, says Yahweh, for he has talked rebellion against Yahweh.' "

↑   30.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: ²"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. ³For behold, days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says Yahweh, and I will bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it."

⁴These are the words which Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and Judah:

⁵"Thus says Yahweh:
We have heard a cry of panic,
of terror, and no peace.
⁶Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child?
Why then do I see every man
with his hands on his loins like a woman in labour?
Why has every face turned pale?
⁷Alas! that day is so great
there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
yet he shall be saved out of it.

⁸"And it shall come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of hosts, that I will break the yoke from off their neck, and I will burst their bonds, and strangers shall no more make servants of them. ⁹But they shall serve Yahweh their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰"Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for lo, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
¹¹For I am with you to save you,
says Yahweh;
I will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will chasten you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

¹²"For thus says Yahweh:
Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound is grievous.
¹³There is none to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you.
¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant.
¹⁵Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant,
I have done these things to you.
¹⁶Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
those who despoil you shall become a spoil,
and all who prey on you I will make a prey.
¹⁷For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
says Yahweh,
because they have called you an outcast:
'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!

¹⁸"Thus says Yahweh:
Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob,
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound,
and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
¹⁹Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
and the voices of those who make merry.
I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honoured, and they shall not be small.
²⁰Their children shall be as they were of old,
and their congregation shall be established before me;
and I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹Their prince shall be one of themselves,
their ruler shall come forth from their midst;
I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
for who would dare of himself to approach me?
says Yahweh.
²²And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God."

²³Behold the storm of Yahweh!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁴The fierce anger of Yahweh will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand this.

↑   31.

The LORD's promises to his people.

¹"At that time, says Yahweh, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people."

²Thus says Yahweh:
"The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
³Yahweh appeared to him from afar.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
⁴Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels,
and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵Again you shall plant vineyards
upon the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
'Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to Yahweh our God.' "

⁷For thus says Yahweh:
"Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
'Yahweh has saved his people,
the remnant of Israel.'
⁸Behold, I will bring them from the north country,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and her who is in travail, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
⁹With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will make them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my first-born.

¹⁰"Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands afar off;
say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
¹¹For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
¹³Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
says Yahweh."

The LORD's mercy on Israel.

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

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh:
"Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears;
for your work shall be rewarded,
says Yahweh,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷There is hope for your future,
says Yahweh,
and your children shall come back to their own country.
¹⁸I have heard Ephraim bemoaning,
'You have chastened me, and I was chastened,
like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
for you are Yahweh my God.
¹⁹For after I had turned away I repented;
and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
²⁰Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I do remember him still.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
says Yahweh.

²¹"Set up waymarks for yourself,
make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.
²²How long will you waver,
O faithless daughter?
For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman protects a man."

The future prosperity of God's people.

²³Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes:

²⁴And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. ²⁵For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish." ²⁶Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. ²⁷"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:

³⁰But every one shall die for his own sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

³¹"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says Yahweh. ³³But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each man teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says Yahweh; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

³⁵Thus says Yahweh,
who gives the sun for light by day
and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -
Yahweh of hosts is his name:
³⁶"If this fixed order departs
from before me, says Yahweh,
then shall the descendants of Israel cease
from being a nation before me for ever."

³⁷Thus says Yahweh:
"If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel
for all that they have done,
says Yahweh."

³⁸"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when the city shall be rebuilt for Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to Yahweh. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown any more for ever."

↑   32.

Jeremiah buys a field.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard which was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, "Why do you prophesy and say, 'Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; ⁵and he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, says Yahweh; though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?'"

⁶Jeremiah said, "The word of Yahweh came to me: ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, 'Buy my field which is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.' ⁸Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of Yahweh, and said to me, 'Buy my field which is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.

⁹"And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; ¹²and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.'

Jeremiah's prayer.

¹⁶"After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying: ¹⁷'Ah Yahweh GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you, ¹⁸who shows steadfast love to thousands, but requites the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is Yahweh of hosts, ¹⁹great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings; ²⁰who have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made you a name, as at this day. ²¹You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²²and you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; ²³and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law; they did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this evil come upon them. ²⁴Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. ²⁵Yet you have said to me, O Yahweh GOD, "Buy the field for money and get witnesses" - though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.' "

²⁶The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah: ²⁷"Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the sons of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says Yahweh. ³¹This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight ³²because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they did to provoke me to anger - their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³They have turned to me their back and not their face; and though I have taught them persistently they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

³⁶"Now therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence': ³⁷Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. ³⁸And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴²"For thus says Yahweh: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ⁴³Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. ⁴⁴Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, says Yahweh."

↑   33.

Another promise of hope.

¹The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: ²"Thus says Yahweh who made the earth, Yahweh who formed it to establish it - Yahweh is his name: ³Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things which you have not known. ⁴For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which were torn down to make a defence against the siege mounds and before the sword: ⁵The Chaldeans are coming in to fight and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall smite in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness. ⁶Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. ⁷I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. ⁸I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. ⁹And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them; they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

¹⁰"Thus says Yahweh: In this place of which you say, 'It is a waste without man or beast,' in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again ¹¹the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of Yahweh:

²³All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon; and this city shall be burned with fire."

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know of these words and you shall not die. ²⁵If the princes hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, 'Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,' ²⁶then you shall say to them, 'I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.' " ²⁷Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they left off speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

↑   39.

The fall of Jerusalem.

¹In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it; ²in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³When Jerusalem was taken, all the princes of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. ⁴When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence upon him. ⁶The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. ⁷He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon. ⁸The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. ¹⁰Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Jeremiah's release.

¹¹Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, ¹²"Take him, look after him well and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you." ¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

Hope for Ebedmelech.

¹⁵The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard: ¹⁶"Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfil my words against this city for evil and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. ¹⁷But I will deliver you on that day, says Yahweh, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, says Yahweh.' "

↑   40.

Jeremiah stays with Gedeliah.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. ²The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "Yahweh your God pronounced this evil against this place; ³Yahweh has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against Yahweh, and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you. ⁴Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well; but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go. ⁵If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever you think it right to go." So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go. ⁶Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.

GEDELIAH, Governor of the Chaldean province of Judah. - 2Kgs.25.22-24

⁷When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon, ⁸they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah - Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ⁹Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand for you before the Chaldeans who will come to us; but as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken." ¹¹Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, ¹²then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.

Gedeliah murdered. - 2Kgs.25.25-26

¹³Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴and said to him, "Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, "Let me go and slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered about you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?" ¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael."

↑   41.

¹In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, ²Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. ³Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

⁴On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before any one knew of it, ⁵eighty men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, bringing cereal offerings and incense to present at the temple of Yahweh. ⁶And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, "Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam." ⁷When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slew them, and cast them into a cistern. ⁸But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, "Do not kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields." So he refrained and did not kill them with their companions.

⁹Now the cistern into which Ishmael cast all the bodies of the men whom he had slain was the large cistern which King Asa had made for defence against Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

¹¹But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil which Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at the great pool which is in Gibeon. ¹³And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. ¹⁴So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites. ¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him took all the rest of the people whom Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had carried away captive from Mizpah after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam - soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷And they went and stayed at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

↑   42.

The people ask Jeremiah to pray for them.

¹Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near ²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Let our supplication come before you, and pray to Yahweh your God for us, for all this remnant (for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes see us), ³that Yahweh your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do." ⁴JEREMIAH the prophet said to them, "I have heard you; behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your request, and whatever Yahweh answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you." ⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, "May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which Yahweh your God sends you to us. ⁶Whether it is good or evil, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God."

The LORD answers Jeremiah's prayer.

⁷At the end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. ⁸Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, ⁹and said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him: ¹⁰If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent of the evil which I did to you. ¹¹Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not fear him, says Yahweh, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ¹³But if you say, 'We will not remain in this land,' disobeying the voice of Yahweh your God ¹⁴and saying, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,' ¹⁵then hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, ¹⁶then the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow hard after you to Egypt; and there you shall die. ¹⁷All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the evil which I will bring upon them.

¹⁸"For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. ¹⁹Yahweh has said to you, O remnant of Judah, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day ²⁰that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, 'Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and whatever Yahweh our God says declare to us and we will do it.' ²¹And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God in anything that he sent me to tell you. ²²Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live."

↑   43.

Jeremiah taken to Egypt.

¹When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him to them, ²Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie. Yahweh our God did not send you to say, 'Do not go to Egypt to live there'; ³but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon." ⁴So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of Yahweh, to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven - ⁶the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Yahweh. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.

⁸Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹"Take in your hands large stones, and hide them in the mortar in the pavement which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰and say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and he will set his throne above these stones which I have hid, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. ¹¹He shall come and smite the land of Egypt, giving to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. ¹²He shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them and carry them away captive; and he shall clean the land of Egypt, as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin; and he shall go away from there in peace. ¹³He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.' "

↑   44.

The LORD's message to the Israelites.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews that dwelt in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, ²"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, ³because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. ⁴Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, 'Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate! ⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods. ⁶Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured forth and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. ⁷And now thus says Yahweh God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? ⁸Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? ⁹Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes which I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹"Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, to cut off all Judah. ¹²I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. ¹³I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there; for they shall not return, except some fugitives."

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives had offered incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: ¹⁶"As for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we will not listen to you. ¹⁷But we will do everything that we have vowed, burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no evil. ¹⁸But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine." ¹⁹And the women said, "When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out libations to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out libations to her?"

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: ²¹"As for the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not Yahweh remember it? Did it not come into his mind? ²²Yahweh could no longer bear your evil doings and the abominations which you committed; therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³It is because you burned incense, and because you sinned against Yahweh and did not obey the voice of Yahweh or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies, that this evil has befallen you, as at this day."

²⁴JEREMIAH said to all the people and all the women, "Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt, ²⁵Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, 'We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her.' Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! ²⁶Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says Yahweh, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, 'As Yahweh GOD lives.' ²⁷Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good; all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. ²⁸And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. ²⁹This shall be the sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil: ³⁰Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life."

↑   45.

God's promise to Baruch.

¹The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ²"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: ³You said, 'Woe is me! for Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.' ⁴Thus shall you say to him, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up - that is, the whole land. ⁵And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not; for, behold, I am bringing evil upon all flesh, says Yahweh; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go."

↑   46.

Egypt defeated at Carchemish.

¹The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

²About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³"Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!
⁴Harness the horses;
mount, O horsemen!
Take your stations with your helmets,
polish your spears,
put on your coats of mail!
⁵Why have I seen it?
They are dismayed and have turned backward.
Their warriors are beaten down,
and have fled in haste;
they look not back -
terror on every side!
says Yahweh.
⁶The swift cannot flee away,
nor the warrior escape;
in the north by the river Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷"Who is this,
rising like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?
⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge.
He said, I will rise,
I will cover the earth,
I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.
⁹Advance, O horses,
and rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go forth:
men of Ethiopia and Put who handle the shield,
men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
¹⁰That day is the day of Yahweh GOD of hosts,
a day of vengeance,
to avenge himself on his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated,
and drink its fill of their blood.
For Yahweh GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice
in the north country by the river Euphrates.
¹¹Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.
¹²The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry;
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
they have both fallen together."

The coming of Nebuchadnezzar.

¹³The word which Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt: ¹⁴"Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, 'Stand ready and be prepared,
for the sword shall devour round about you.'
¹⁵Why has Apis fled?
Why did not your bull stand?
Because Yahweh thrust him down.
¹⁶Your multitude stumbled and fell,
and they said one to another,
'Arise, and let us go back to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
because of the sword of the oppressor.'
¹⁷Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
'Noisy one who lets the hour go by.'

¹⁸"As I live, says the King,
whose name is Yahweh of hosts,
like Tabor among the mountains,
and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
¹⁹Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
O inhabitants of Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
a ruin, without inhabitant.

²⁰"A beautiful heifer is Egypt,
but a gadfly from the north has come upon her.
²¹Even her hired soldiers in her midst
are like fatted calves;
yea, they have turned and fled together,
they did not stand;
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
the time of their punishment.

²²"She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;
for her enemies march in force,
and come against her with axes,
like those who fell trees.
²³They shall cut down her forest,
says Yahweh,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous than locusts;
they are without number.
²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame,
she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north."

The LORD will save his people.

²⁵Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, said: "Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says Yahweh.

²⁷"But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for lo, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
²⁸Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
says Yahweh,
for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
to which I have driven you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will chasten you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished."

↑   47.

The LORD's message about Philistia.

¹The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza. ²"Thus says Yahweh:
Behold, waters are rising out of the north,
and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
at the rushing of his chariots,
at the rumbling of their wheels,
the fathers look not back to their children,
so feeble are their hands,
⁴because of the day that is coming to destroy
all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
every helper that remains.
For Yahweh is destroying the Philistines,
the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza,
Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of the Anakim,
how long will you gash yourselves?
⁶Ah, sword of Yahweh!
How long till you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard,
rest and be still!
⁷How can it be quiet,
when Yahweh has given it a charge?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore
he has appointed it."

↑   48.

The destruction of Moab.

¹Concerning Moab.

³"Hark! a cry from Horonaim,
'Desolation and great destruction!
⁴Moab is destroyed;
a cry is heard as far as Zoar.
⁵For at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
for at the descent of Horonaim
they have heard the cry of destruction.
⁶Flee! Save yourselves!
Be like a wild ass in the desert!
⁷For, because you trusted in your strongholds and your treasures,
you also shall be taken;
and Chemosh shall go forth into exile,
with his priests and his princes.
⁸The destroyer shall come upon every city,
and no city shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
and the plain shall be destroyed,
as Yahweh has spoken.

⁹"Give wings to Moab,
for she would fly away;
her cities shall become a desolation,
with no inhabitant in them.

¹⁰"Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh with slackness; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

The cities of Moab destroyed.

¹¹"Moab has been at ease from his youth
and has settled on his lees;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into exile;
so his taste remains in him,
and his scent is not changed.

¹²"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I shall send to him tilters who will tilt him, and empty his vessels, and break his jars in pieces. ¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴"How do you say, 'We are heroes
and mighty men of war?'
¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,
and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
says the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts.
¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand
and his affliction hastens apace.
¹⁷Bemoan him, all you who are round about him,
and all who know his name;
say, 'How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff.'

¹⁸"Come down from your glory,
and sit on the parched ground,
O inhabitant of Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.
¹⁹Stand by the way and watch,
O inhabitant of Aroer!
Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
say, 'What has happened?
²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon,
that Moab is laid waste.

²¹"Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, ²²and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, ²⁴and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Yahweh.

Moab will be humbled.

²⁶"Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against Yahweh; so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. ²⁷Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

²⁸"Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab -
he is very proud -
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
³⁰I know his insolence, says Yahweh;
his boasts are false,
his deeds are false.
³¹Therefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab;
for the men of Kir-heres I mourn.
³²More than for Jazer I weep for you,
O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches passed over the sea,
reached as far as Jazer;
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
the destroyer has fallen.
³³Gladness and joy have been taken away
from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have made the wine cease from the wine presses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy;
the shouting is not the shout of joy.

³⁴"Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. ³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab, says Yahweh, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and burns incense to his god. ³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-heres; therefore the riches they gained have perished.

³⁷"For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; upon all the hands are gashes, and on the loins is sackcloth. ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation; for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, says Yahweh. ³⁹How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are round about him."

No escape for Moab.

⁴⁰For thus says Yahweh:
"Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle,
and spread his wings against Moab;
⁴¹the cities shall be taken
and the strongholds seized.
The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
like the heart of a woman in her pangs;
⁴²Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,
because he magnified himself against Yahweh.
⁴³Terror, pit, and snare
are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!
says Yahweh.
⁴⁴He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare.
For I will bring these things upon Moab
in the year of their punishment,
says Yahweh.

⁴⁵"In the shadow of Heshbon
fugitives stop without strength;
for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon,
a flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,
the crown of the sons of tumult.
⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh is undone;
for your sons have been taken captive,
and your daughters into captivity.
⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the latter days, says Yahweh."
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

↑   49.

The LORD's judgement on Ammon.

¹Concerning the Ammonites.

³"Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry, O daughters of Rabbah!
Gird yourselves with sackcloth,
lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!
For Milcom shall go into exile,
with his priests and his princes.
⁴Why do you boast of your valleys,
O faithless daughter,
who trusted in her treasures, saying,
'Who will come against me?
⁵Behold, I will bring terror upon you,
says Yahweh GOD of hosts,
from all who are round about you,
and you shall be driven out,
every man straight before him,
with none to gather the fugitives.

⁶But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says Yahweh."

Thre LORD's judgement on Edom.

⁷Concerning Edom.

¹²For thus says Yahweh: "If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse; and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes." ¹⁴I have heard tidings from Yahweh,
and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
"Gather yourselves together and come against her,
and rise up for battle!"
¹⁵For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
despised among men.
¹⁶The horror you inspire has deceived you,
and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,
who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's,
I will bring you down from there,
says Yahweh.

¹⁷"Edom shall become a horror; every one who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbour cities were overthrown, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. ¹⁹Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a strong sheepfold, I will suddenly make them run away from her; and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the plan which Yahweh has made against Edom and the purposes which he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. ²²Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle, and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her pangs."

The LORD's judgement on Damascus.

²³Concerning Damascus.

Judgement on Kedar & Hazor.

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote.

³¹"Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,
that dwells securely,
says Yahweh,
that has no gates or bars,
that dwells alone.
³²Their camels shall become booty,
their herds of cattle a spoil.
I will scatter to every wind
those who cut the corners of their hair,
and I will bring their calamity
from every side of them,
says Yahweh.
³³Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals,
an everlasting waste;
no man shall dwell there,
no man shall sojourn in her."

The LORD's judgement on Elam.

³⁴The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

³⁵Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might; ³⁶and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; and I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come. ³⁷I will terrify Elam before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; I will bring evil upon them, my fierce anger, says Yahweh. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them; ³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy their king and princes, says Yahweh. ³⁹"But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says Yahweh."

↑   50.

The capture of Babylon.

¹The word which Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet: ²"Declare among the nations and proclaim,
set up a banner and proclaim,
conceal it not, and say:
'Babylon is taken,
Bel is put to shame,
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed.'

³"For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

Israel's return.

⁴"In those days and in that time, says Yahweh, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come; and they shall seek Yahweh their God. ⁵They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant which will never be forgotten.'

⁶"My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold. ⁷All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, 'We are not guilty, for they have sinned against Yahweh, their true habitation, Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.'

⁸"Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as he-goats before the flock. ⁹For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a company of great nations, from the north country; and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. ¹⁰Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says Yahweh.

The fall of Babylon.

¹¹"Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my heritage,
though you are wanton as a heifer at grass,
and neigh like stallions,
¹²your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Lo, she shall be the last of the nations,
a wilderness dry and desert.
¹³Because of the wrath of Yahweh she shall not be inhabited,
but shall be an utter desolation;
every one who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
and hiss because of all her wounds.
¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about,
all you that bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against Yahweh.
¹⁵Raise a shout against her round about,
she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen,
her walls are thrown down.
For this is the vengeance of Yahweh:
take vengeance on her,
do to her as she has done.
¹⁶Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
because of the sword of the oppressor,
every one shall turn to his own people,
and every one shall flee to his own land.

Israel's return.

¹⁷"Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. ¹⁸Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰In those days and in that time, says Yahweh, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none; and sin in Judah, and none shall be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

God's judgement on Babylon.

²¹"Go up against the land of Merathaim,
and against the inhabitants of Pekod.
Slay, and utterly destroy after them,
says Yahweh,
and do all that I have commanded you.
²²The noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction!
²³How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
²⁴I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
and you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you strove against Yahweh.
²⁵Yahweh has opened his armory,
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for Yahweh GOD of hosts has a work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶Come against her from every quarter;
open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly;
let nothing be left of her.
²⁷Slay all her bulls,
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.

²⁸"Hark! they flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, vengeance for his temple.

²⁹"Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp round about her; let no one escape. Requite her according to her deeds, do to her according to all that she has done; for she has proudly defied Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says Yahweh.

³¹"Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
says Yahweh GOD of hosts;
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
³²The proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is round about him.

³³"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them; all who took them captive have held them fast, they refuse to let them go. ³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵"A sword upon the Chaldeans, says Yahweh,
and upon the inhabitants of Babylon,
and upon her princes and her wise men!
³⁶A sword upon the diviners,
that they may become fools!
A sword upon her warriors,
that they may be destroyed!
³⁷A sword upon her horses and upon her chariots,
and upon all the foreign troops in her midst,
that they may become women!
A sword upon all her treasures,
that they may be plundered!
³⁸A drought upon her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
and they are mad over idols.

³⁹"Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her; she shall be peopled no more for ever, nor inhabited for all generations. ⁴⁰As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbour cities, says Yahweh, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

⁴¹"Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
⁴²They lay hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel, and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
they ride upon horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
against you, O daughter of Babylon!
⁴³"The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in travail.

⁴⁴"Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a strong sheepfold, I will suddenly make them run away from her; and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? ⁴⁵Therefore hear the plan which Yahweh has made against Babylon, and the purposes which he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ⁴⁶At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations."

Further judgement on Babylon.

⁶"Flee from the midst of Babylon,
let every man save his life!
Be not cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of Yahweh's vengeance,
the requital he is rendering her.
⁷Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh's hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
therefore the nations went mad.
⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
wail for her!
Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
⁹We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go
each to his own country;
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
¹⁰Yahweh has brought forth our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of Yahweh our God.

¹¹"Sharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!