Day 55 of 90

¹You are righteous, Lord, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?

²You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

³But you, Lord, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

⁴How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, "He shall not see our latter end."

⁵"If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?

⁶For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you: do not believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you.

⁷I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

⁸My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her.

⁹Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

¹¹They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.

¹²Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of the Lord devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace.

¹³They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

¹⁴Thus says the Lord against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: 'behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁵It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

¹⁶It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, "As the Lord lives;" even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people.

¹⁷But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,'" says the Lord.

¹Thus says the Lord to me, "Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and do not put it in water."

²So I bought a belt according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my waist.

³The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying,

⁴"Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, 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 the Lord commanded me.

⁶It happened after many days, that the Lord said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there."

⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁹"Thus says the Lord, 'In this way I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.

¹¹For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,' says the Lord; 'that they might be my people, for a name, for praise, and for glory. But they would not listen.

¹²Therefore you shall speak to them this word: 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "Every bottle shall be filled with wine:"' and they shall tell you, 'Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?'

¹³Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

¹⁴I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them."'"

¹⁵"Hear, and give ear; do not be proud; for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is taken captive."

¹⁸"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses have come down, even the crown of your glory.

¹⁹The cities toward the south are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.'"

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 he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

²²If you say in your heart, 'Why are these things come on me?' for the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels suffer violence.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴'Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.

²⁵This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,' says the Lord; 'because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.

²⁶Therefore will I also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame shall appear.

²⁷I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?'"

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

²"Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

³Their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.

⁴Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed, they cover their heads.

⁵Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes her young, because there is no grass.

⁶The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage."

⁷"Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name's sake, Lord; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.

⁸You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

⁹Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can't save? Yet you, Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us."

¹⁰Thus says the Lord to this people, "Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."

¹¹The Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people for their good.

¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence."

¹³Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets tell them, 'You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"

¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land:' 'By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.'

¹⁶The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them."

¹⁷"You shall say this word to them, 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

¹⁸If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.'"

¹⁹"Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

²⁰We acknowledge, Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.

²¹Do not abhor us, for your name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, do not break your covenant with us.

²²Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren't you he, Lord our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things."

¹Then the Lord said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

²It shall happen, when they tell you, 'Where shall we go forth?' Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord: "Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

³I will appoint over them four kinds, says the Lord: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

⁴I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

⁵For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?

⁶'You have rejected me,' says the Lord, 'you have gone backward:' therefore have I stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed you; I am weary with repenting.

⁷I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they did not return from their ways.

⁸Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.

⁹She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies," says the Lord.

¹⁰"Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me."

¹¹The Lord said, "Most certainly I will strengthen you for good; most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of distress.

¹²Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze?

¹³Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.

¹⁴I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you."

¹⁵"Lord, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; do not take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, Lord, God of Hosts.

¹⁷I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand; for you have filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?"

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord, "If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.

²⁰I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you," says the Lord.

²¹"I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible."

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

²"You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.

³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land:

⁴They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.

⁵For thus says the Lord, 'Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, even loving kindness and tender mercies.

⁶Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;

⁷neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

⁸You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.

⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of 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.

¹⁰It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall tell you, 'Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?'

¹¹Then you shall tell them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

¹²and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you do not listen to me:

¹³therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.'

¹⁴Therefore behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that it shall no more be said, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;'

¹⁵but, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them.' I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the Lord, "and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

¹⁷For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

¹⁸First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."

¹⁹"Lord, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, 'Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

²⁰Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?'"

²¹"Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is the Lord.

¹"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars;

²while their children remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees on the high hills.

³My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a spoil, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.

⁴You, even of yourself, shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you do not know: for you have kindled a fire in my anger which shall burn forever."

⁵Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord.

⁶For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.

⁷Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is.

⁸For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?

¹⁰I, the Lord, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

¹¹As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool."

¹²"A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living waters.

¹⁴Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.

¹⁵Behold, they tell me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now.'

¹⁶As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you; neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was before your face.

¹⁷Do not be a terror to me: you are my refuge in the day of evil.

¹⁸Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed; let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed; bring on them the day of disaster, and destroy them with double destruction."

¹⁹Thus said the Lord to me: "Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰and tell them, 'Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:

²¹Thus says the Lord, "Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;

²²neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day holy, neither do any work: but make the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

²³But they did not listen, neither turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.

²⁴It shall happen, if you diligently listen to me," says the Lord, "to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;

²⁵then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting 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 remain forever.

²⁶They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to the house of the Lord.

²⁷But if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched."'"

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

²"Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words."

³Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels.

⁴When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶"'House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the Lord. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.'

⁷At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;

⁸if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

⁹At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

¹⁰if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.

¹¹Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.'

¹²But they say, 'It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord: "Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

¹⁴Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

¹⁵For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up;

¹⁶to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.

¹⁷I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity."

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

¹⁹"Give heed to me, Lord, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

²⁰Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

²¹Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle.

²²Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

²³Yet, Lord, you know all their counsel against me to kill me; do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal you with them in the time of your anger."

¹Thus said the Lord, "Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

²and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you;

³and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.

⁴Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they did not know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

⁵and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal; which I did not command, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:

⁶therefore, behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.

⁷I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.

⁸I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

⁹I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them."'

¹⁰Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you,

¹¹and shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

¹²Thus will I do to this place," says the Lord, "and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth:

¹³and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods."'"

¹⁴Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people:

¹⁵"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.'"

¹Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

²Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord.

³It happened on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord has not called your name 'Pashhur,' but 'Magormissabib.'

⁴For thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.

⁵Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

⁶You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.'"

⁷Lord, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.

⁸For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, "Violence and destruction!" because the word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day.

⁹If I say, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name," then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't contain it.

¹⁰For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. "Denounce, and we will denounce him," say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; "perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him."

¹¹But the Lord is with me as an awesome mighty one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

¹²But, the Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause.

¹³Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord; for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed is the day in which I was born: do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

¹⁵Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, A boy is born to you; making him very glad.

¹⁶Let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and did not repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;

¹⁷because he did not kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

¹⁸Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,

²"Please inquire of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us: perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us."

³Then Jeremiah said to them, "You shall tell Zedekiah:

⁴'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, without the walls; and I will gather them into the midst of this city.

⁵I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation.

⁶I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal: they shall die of a great pestilence.

⁷Afterward," says the Lord, "I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy."'

⁸To this people you shall say, "Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey.

¹⁰For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good,' says the Lord: 'it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.'

¹¹Touching the house of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord:

¹²'House of David, thus says the Lord, "Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

¹³Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain," says the Lord; "you that say, 'Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our habitations?'

¹⁴I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings," says the Lord; "and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her."'"

¹Thus said the Lord: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

²Say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

³Thus says the Lord: "Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

⁵But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation."

⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.

⁷I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons; and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

⁸Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?'

⁹Then they shall answer, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.'

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country."

¹¹For thus says the Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: "He shall not return there any more.

¹²But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more."

¹³Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire;

¹⁴who says, "I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms," and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiling with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

¹⁵Shall you reign, because you strive to excel 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. Wasn't this to know me?' says the Lord.

¹⁷''But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "they shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah my brother! or, Ah sister!' They shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah lord!' or, 'Ah his glory!'

¹⁹He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed.

²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, 'I will not hear.' This has been your way from your youth, that you did not obey my voice.

²²The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.

²³Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!

²⁴As I live," says the Lord, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet would I pluck you there;

²⁵and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.

²⁷But to the land whereunto their soul longs to return, there shall they not return."

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they do not know?

²⁹O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.

³⁰Thus says the Lord, "Write this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.

¹"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the Lord.

²Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: "You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings," says the Lord.

³"I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

⁴I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking," says the Lord.

⁵"Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will raise to 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 shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: 'The Lord our righteousness.'

⁷Therefore behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that they shall no more say, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt';

⁸but, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.' They shall dwell in their own land."'

⁹Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord, and because of his holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. "Their course is evil, and their might is not right;

¹¹for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in my house have I found their wickedness," says the Lord.

¹²"Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation," says the Lord.

¹³"I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

¹⁴In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: 'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.'

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

¹⁷They say continually to those who despise me, "The Lord has said, 'You shall have peace'"; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, "No evil shall come on you."

¹⁸For who has stood in the council of the Lord, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has marked my word, and heard it?

¹⁹Behold, the storm of the Lord, his wrath, has gone forth. Yes, a whirling storm. It shall burst on the head of the wicked.

²⁰The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he has executed, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.

²¹I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

²²But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

²³Am I a God at hand,' says the Lord, 'and not a God afar off?

²⁴Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him?' says the Lord. 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' says the Lord.

²⁵'I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed."

²⁶How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

²⁷who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

²⁸The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?' says the Lord.

²⁹'Isn't my word like fire?' says the Lord; 'and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

³⁰Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' says the Lord, 'who steal my words everyone from his neighbor.

³¹Behold, I am against the prophets,' says the Lord, 'who use their tongues, and say, "He says."

³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,' says the Lord, 'and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I did not send them, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all,' says the Lord.

³³'When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, "What is the burden of the Lord?" Then you shall tell them, "What burden! I will cast you off," says the Lord.

³⁴As for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, "The burden of the Lord," I will even punish that man and his house.

³⁵You shall say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, "What has the Lord answered?" and, "What has the Lord spoken?"

³⁶You shall mention the burden of the Lord no more: for every man's own word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.

³⁷You shall say to the prophet, "What has the Lord answered you?" and, "What has the Lord spoken?"

³⁸But if you say, "The burden of the Lord"; therefore thus says the Lord: Because you say this word, "The burden of the Lord," and I have sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The burden of the Lord'";

³⁹therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence:

⁴⁰and I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"

¹The Lord showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before the Lord's temple, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

²One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

³Then the Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can't be eaten, they are so bad."

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

⁵"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

⁶For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

⁷I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to me with their whole heart.'

⁸As the bad figs, which can't be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says the Lord, 'So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt,

⁹I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

¹⁰I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.'"

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 (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

³"From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.

⁴The Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear)

⁵saying, 'Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forevermore;

⁶and do not go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm.

⁷Yet you have not listened to me,' says the Lord; 'that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.'

⁸Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Because you have not heard my words,

⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the Lord, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

¹⁰Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

¹¹This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

¹²It shall happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.

¹³I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.'"

¹⁵For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

¹⁶They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them."

¹⁷Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the Lord had sent me:

¹⁸Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

²⁰and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

²¹Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;

²²and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;

²³Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off;

²⁴and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness;

²⁵and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

²⁶and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷"You shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."'

²⁸It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "You shall surely drink.

²⁹For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,"' says the Lord of hosts.

³⁰Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and tell them, 'The Lord will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,' says the Lord.

³²'Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.'

³³The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in dust, you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.

³⁵The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

³⁶A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! For the Lord lays waste their pasture.

³⁷The peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

³⁸He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of his fierce anger."