Day 54 of 90

¹Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,

²as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!

³When you did awesome things which we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.

⁵You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we be saved?

⁶For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷There is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

⁸But now, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

⁹Do not be furious, Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.

¹²Will you refrain yourself for these things, Lord? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?

¹"I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. I was near to those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am! Here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name.

²I have spread out my hands all the day to a disobedient and obstinate people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

³a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;

⁴who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

⁵who say, Stand by yourself, do not come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.

⁶"Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom,

⁷your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together," says the Lord, "who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom."

⁸Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.

⁹I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

¹⁰Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.

¹¹"But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;

¹²I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed;

¹⁴behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.

¹⁵You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord God will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name:

¹⁶so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.

¹⁷"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

¹⁸But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.

²⁰"There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.

²¹They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

²²They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

²⁴It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says the Lord.

¹Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build to me? And what place shall be my rest?

²For all these things has my hand made, and so all these things came to be," says the Lord: "but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

³He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:

⁴I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

⁵Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name's sake, have said, 'Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy;' but it is those who shall be disappointed.

⁶A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies.

⁷"Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she delivered a son.

⁸Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

⁹Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" says the Lord: "Shall I who cause to bring forth shut the womb?" says your God.

¹⁰"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;

¹¹that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory."

¹²For thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will nurse. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees.

¹³As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem."

¹⁴You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.

¹⁵For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire will the Lord execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

¹⁷"Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together," says the Lord.

¹⁸"For I know their works and their thoughts: the time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.

¹⁹"I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

²⁰They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

²¹Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites," says the Lord.

²²"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me," says the Lord, "so your seed and your name shall remain.

²³It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me," says the Lord.

²⁴"They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

¹The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

²to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

³It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵"Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."

⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak; for I am a child."

⁷But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a child;' for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.

⁸Do not be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord.

⁹Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

¹¹Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."

¹²Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it."

¹³The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north."

¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, "Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁵For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north," says the Lord; "and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

¹⁶I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷"You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

¹⁸For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

¹⁹They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you," says the Lord, "to deliver you."

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord, "I remember you, the devotion of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

³Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,"' says the Lord."

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!

⁵Thus says the Lord, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

⁶Neither did they say, 'Where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?'

⁷I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

⁹"Therefore I will yet contend with you," says the Lord, "and I will contend with your children's children.

¹⁰For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.

¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

¹²"Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate," says the Lord.

¹³"For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

¹⁴Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him, and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

¹⁶The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.

¹⁷"Haven't you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God, when he led you by the way?

¹⁸Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

¹⁹"Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, God of Hosts.

²⁰"For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, 'I will not serve;' for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.

²¹Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

²²For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord God.

²³"How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

²⁴a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

²⁵"Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.'

²⁶As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;

²⁷who tell wood, 'You are my father;' and a stone, 'You have brought me out:' for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and save us.'

²⁸"But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.

²⁹"Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," says the Lord.

³⁰"I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

³¹Generation, consider the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?'

³²"Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.

³³How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways.

³⁴Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.

³⁵"Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

³⁶Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

³⁷From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.

¹"They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says the Lord.

²"Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

³Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

⁴Will you not from this time cry to me, 'My Father, you are the guide of my youth?'

⁵"'Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way."

⁶Moreover, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute.

⁷I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she did not return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

⁸I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

⁹It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says the Lord.

¹¹The Lord said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, you backsliding Israel,' says the Lord; 'I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,' says the Lord. 'I will not keep anger forever.

¹³Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,'" says the Lord.

¹⁴"Return, backsliding children," says the Lord; "for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says the Lord, "they shall say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord!' neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.

¹⁷At that time they shall call Jerusalem 'The throne of the Lord;' and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

¹⁸In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

¹⁹"But I said, 'How I would put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!' and I said, 'You shall call me "My Father," and shall not turn away from following me.'

²⁰"Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel," says the Lord.

²¹A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God.

²²"Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding." "Behold, we have come to you; for you are the Lord our God.

²³Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God.

²⁴But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."

¹"If you will return, Israel," says the Lord, "if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;

²and you shall swear, 'As the Lord lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

⁴Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

⁵Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land!' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!'

⁶Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction."

⁷A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

⁸For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the Lord hasn't turned back from us.

⁹"It shall happen at that day," says the Lord, "that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder."

¹⁰Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;' whereas the sword reaches to the heart."

¹¹At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;

¹²a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them."

¹³Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.

¹⁴Jerusalem, 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 publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:

¹⁶"Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, 'Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'" says the Lord.

¹⁸"Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

²⁰Destruction on destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.

²¹How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²"For my people are foolish, they do not know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."

²³I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

²⁵I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

²⁶I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, before his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the Lord, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I turn back from it."

²⁹Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

³⁰You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you dress yourselves with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.

³¹For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, "Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers."

¹"Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.

²Though they say, 'As the Lord lives;' surely they swear falsely."

³O Lord, do your eyes not look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

⁴Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, nor the law of their God.

⁵I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the Lord, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

⁷"How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.

⁸They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

⁹Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says the Lord; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰"Go up on her walls, and destroy; but do not make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not the Lord's.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me," says the Lord.

¹²They have denied the Lord, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine.

¹³The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them."

¹⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

¹⁵Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says the Lord. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

¹⁷They shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸"But even in those days," says the Lord, "I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

²⁰"Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

²¹'Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:

²²Do you not fear me?' says the Lord 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? And though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.'

²³"But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.

²⁴Neither do they say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'

²⁵"Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.

²⁶For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.

²⁸They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they do not judge the right of the needy.

²⁹"Shall I not punish for these things?" says the Lord. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰"An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

¹"Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.

²The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.

³Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed everyone in his place."

⁴"Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

⁵Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces."

⁶For the Lord of hosts said, "Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

⁷As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.

⁸Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited."

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts, "They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets."

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.

¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord. I am weary with holding in. "Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.

¹²Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land," says the Lord.

¹³"For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

¹⁴They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace.

¹⁵Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down," says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, 'Where is the good way?' and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not walk in it."

¹⁷"I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'" But they said, "We will not listen!"

¹⁸"Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.

¹⁹Hear, earth! 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

²⁰To what purpose comes there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.'

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.'

²²"Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

²³They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.'"

²⁴"We have heard its report; our hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.

²⁵Do not go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror, are on every side."

²⁶"Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us."

²⁷"I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people; that you may know and try their way."

²⁸"They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.

³⁰Men will call them 'rejected silver,' because the Lord has rejected them."

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²"Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.

³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

⁴Do not trust in lying words, saying, "The Lord's temple, The Lord's temple, The Lord's temple, are these."

⁵For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

⁶if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:

⁷then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.

⁸Behold, you trust in lying words, that can't profit.

⁹Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

¹⁰and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered"; that you may do all these abominations?

¹¹Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.

¹²But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³Now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer:

¹⁴therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

¹⁵I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

¹⁶Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

¹⁷Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

¹⁹Do they provoke me to anger?" says the Lord. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?"

²⁰Therefore thus says the Lord God: "Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched."

²¹Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.

²²For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

²³but this thing I commanded them, saying, 'Listen to 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 listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

²⁵Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

²⁶yet they did not listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers."

²⁷"You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.

²⁸You shall tell them, 'This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

²⁹Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'"

³⁰"For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight," says the Lord: "they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

³¹They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

³²Therefore behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

³³The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.

³⁴Then will I cause 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."

¹"At that time," says the Lord, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;

²and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

³Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the Lord of hosts.

⁴"Moreover you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

⁵Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

⁶I listened and heard, but they did not speak what is right: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

⁷Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the Lord's law.

⁸How can you say, "We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?" But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

⁹The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what kind of wisdom is in them?

¹⁰Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.

¹¹They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, "Peace, peace;" when there is no peace.

¹²Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the Lord.

¹³I will utterly consume them, says the Lord: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.'"

¹⁴"Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for the Lord our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

¹⁶The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.

¹⁷For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you," says the Lord.

¹⁸"Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

¹⁹Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: 'Isn't the Lord in Zion? Isn't her King in her?'" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?"

²⁰"'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'

²¹For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

¹Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

²Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men."

³"They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me," says the Lord.

⁴"Take heed everyone of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

⁵They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

⁶Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me," says the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait for him.

⁹Shall I not visit them for these things?" says the Lord; "shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

¹⁰"For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone."

¹¹"I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."

¹²"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?"

¹³The Lord says, "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,

¹⁴but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them;

¹⁵therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

¹⁶I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.'"

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:"

¹⁸"and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, 'How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"

²⁰"Yet hear the word of the Lord, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.

²¹'For death has come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.'

²²Speak, 'Thus says the Lord, "The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them."'"

²³Thus says the Lord, "Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, do not let the rich man glory in his riches;

²⁴but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight," says the Lord.

²⁵"Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will punish all those who are circumcised in uncircumcision:

²⁶Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."

¹Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, house of Israel!

²Thus says the Lord, "Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.

³For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

⁴They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

⁵They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Do not be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good."

⁶"There is none like you, Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.

⁷Who should not fear you, King of the nations? For it appertains to you; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like you.

⁸But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

⁹There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.

¹⁰But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation.

¹¹You shall say this to them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.'

¹²He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens:

¹³when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

¹⁴Every man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁶The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name."

¹⁷'Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege.

¹⁸For thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.'

¹⁹Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous: but I said, 'Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.'

²⁰My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the Lord: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

²²The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.

²³Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

²⁴Lord, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and on the families that do not call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation."

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

³and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: "Cursed is the man who doesn't hear the words of this covenant,

⁴which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, "Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so you shall be my people, and I will be your God;

⁵that I may establish 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, and said, "Amen, Lord."

⁶The Lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.

⁷For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

⁸Yet they did not obey, nor turn their ear, but walked everyone in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not do them.'"

⁹The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they are 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 the Lord, 'Behold, I will bring disaster on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to them.

¹²Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

¹³For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.'

¹⁴Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble."

¹⁵"What has my beloved to do in my house, since she has worked lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice.

¹⁶The Lord called your name, "A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit." With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.

¹⁷For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal."

¹⁸The Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you showed me their doings.

¹⁹But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised devices against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered."

²⁰"But, the Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I shall see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause."

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, "You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, that you not die by our hand;"

²²therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;

²³and there shall be no remnant to them: for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation."