Jeremiah

Old Testament · 52 chapters · 1,364 verses.

Chapter 1

1:1The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,
1:2to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
1:3It came also in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
1:4Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
1:5“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came forth from the womb, I set you apart. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
1:6Then I said, “Ah, Lord, the LORD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
1:7But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth,’ for to everyone to whom I send you, you shall go; and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
1:8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” an utterance of the LORD.
1:9Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
1:10See, I have appointed you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
1:11Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
1:12Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”
1:13Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted from the north.”
1:14Then the LORD said to me, “From the north disaster shall be poured out upon all the inhabitants of the land.
1:15For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” an utterance of the LORD, “and they shall come, and each shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
1:16And I shall pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and bowed down to the works of their own hands.
1:17But you, gird up your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be terrified before them, lest I terrify you before them.
1:18And I, behold, have made you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
1:19They shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you,” an utterance of the LORD, “to deliver you.”

Chapter 2

2:1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2:2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD: I remember the steadfast love of your youth, your bridal love, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
2:3Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured him incurred guilt; disaster came upon them,” an utterance of the LORD.
2:4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.
2:5Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me, followed worthlessness, and became worthless?
2:6They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and deep darkness, a land through which no one passed, and where no man dwelt?’
2:7I brought you into a land of fruitful fields, to eat its fruit and its good things; but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My inheritance an abomination.
2:8The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the Law did not know Me. The shepherds transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.
2:9Therefore I shall still contend with you,” an utterance of the LORD, “and with your sons’ sons I shall contend.
2:10For cross over to the coastlands of Kittim and see; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see whether there has ever been anything like this:
2:11Has a nation changed its gods, though they are no gods? Yet My people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.
2:12Be appalled at this, O heavens; shudder and be utterly desolate,” an utterance of the LORD.
2:13“For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves—broken cisterns that can hold no water.
2:14Is Israel a servant? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey?
2:15Young lions roar against him; they raise their voice. They have made his land a desolation; his cities are burned, without inhabitant.
2:16The sons of Memphis and Tahpanhes have also shaved the crown of your head.
2:17Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God while He was leading you in the way?
2:18And now, what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor? What do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
2:19Your own wickedness shall discipline you, and your faithlessness shall reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter to forsake the LORD your God, and that the fear of Me is not in you,” an utterance of the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.
2:20“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, and you said, ‘I shall not serve.’ Yet upon every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
2:21I planted you as a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned against Me into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?
2:22Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity remains before Me,” an utterance of the Lord, the LORD.
2:23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done—a swift young camel running here and there,
2:24a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, sniffing the wind in her craving. Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her mating season they shall find her.
2:25Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst. But you say, ‘It is hopeless. No! For I have loved foreign gods, and after them I shall go.’
2:26As a thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel shall be put to shame—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets,
2:27who say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to Me and not their face; yet in the time of their distress they say, ‘Arise and save us!’
2:28But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your distress; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.
2:29Why do you contend with Me? All of you have transgressed against Me,” an utterance of the LORD.
2:30“In vain I struck your sons; they accepted no discipline. Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.
2:31O generation, consider the word of the LORD: Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why have My people said, ‘We roam freely; we shall come to You no more’?
2:32Does a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
2:33How skillfully you direct your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught wicked women your ways.
2:34Also upon your skirts is found the lifeblood of innocent needy people. You did not find them breaking in, yet despite all these things
2:35you say, ‘I am innocent; surely His anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I shall enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
2:36How lightly you go about changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
2:37From there also you shall go out with your hands upon your head; for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper through them.”

Chapter 3

3:1“If a man sends his wife away, and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, shall he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? You have prostituted yourself with many lovers; yet return to Me,” an utterance of the LORD.
3:2“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see: where have you not been lain with? By the roads you sat waiting for them like an Arab in the wilderness; and you defiled the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.
3:3Therefore the showers were withheld, and there was no spring rain. Yet you had the forehead of a prostitute; you refused to be ashamed.
3:4Have you not just now called to Me, ‘My Father, You are the companion of my youth’?
3:5Will He keep His anger forever? Will He hold it to the end? Behold, you have spoken, but you have done evil and prevailed.”
3:6Then the LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She went up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and prostituted herself there.
3:7And I said, ‘After she has done all these things, she shall return to Me.’ But she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
3:8I saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she also went and prostituted herself.
3:9Because her prostitution mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
3:10Yet even after all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in falsehood,” an utterance of the LORD.
3:11Then the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
3:12Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’” an utterance of the LORD. “‘I shall not cause My anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful,’” an utterance of the LORD. “‘I shall not keep anger forever.
3:13Only acknowledge your iniquity: that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and scattered your ways among strangers under every green tree, and have not listened to My voice,’” an utterance of the LORD.
3:14“Return, O faithless sons,” an utterance of the LORD, “for I am your husband. I shall take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.
3:15And I shall give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16And it shall come to pass, when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days,” an utterance of the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it or miss it, nor shall it be made again.
3:17At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations shall gather to her, to Jerusalem, for the Name of the LORD; and they shall no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
3:18In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
3:19And I said, ‘How shall I place you among the sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance among the nations?’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” and shall not turn away from following Me.’
3:20But as a woman betrays her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” an utterance of the LORD.
3:21A voice is heard upon the bare heights—the weeping and supplications of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way and forgotten the LORD their God.
3:22“Return, O faithless sons; I shall heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
3:23Surely the hills are a deception, the tumult upon the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
3:24The shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
3:25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not listened to the voice of the LORD our God.”

Chapter 4

4:1“If you return, O Israel,” an utterance of the LORD, “return to Me; and if you remove your abominations from before Me, then you shall not wander.
4:2And you shall swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; then the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.”
4:3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4:4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your heart, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
4:5Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the horn in the land; cry aloud and say, ‘Gather together, and let us enter the fortified cities.’
4:6Raise a standard toward Zion; flee for safety, do not stand still, for I am bringing calamity from the north, and great destruction.”
4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation; your cities shall lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
4:8Therefore gird yourselves with sackcloth; lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us.
4:9“And it shall come to pass in that day,” an utterance of the LORD, “that the heart of the king shall fail, and the heart of the princes; the priests shall be appalled, and the prophets shall be astounded.”
4:10Then I said, “Ah, Lord, the LORD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ while the sword has reached their lives.”
4:11At that time it shall be said of this people and of Jerusalem: “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness comes toward the daughter of My people—not to winnow or to cleanse.
4:12A wind too strong for these comes at My command; now I also pronounce judgments against them.”
4:13“Behold, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!”
4:14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
4:15For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim:
4:16“Make mention to the nations; behold, proclaim against Jerusalem: besiegers are coming from a distant land, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
4:17Like keepers of a field, they surround her, for she has rebelled against Me,” an utterance of the LORD.
4:18“Your way and your deeds have brought these things upon you. This is your calamity; surely it is bitter, for it reaches your heart.”
4:19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent, for I have heard the sound of the horn, O my soul—the shout of battle.
4:20Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated; in a moment, my curtains.
4:21How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the horn?
4:22“For My people are foolish; they do not know Me. They are senseless children, and they have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.
4:23I looked at the earth, and behold—formlessness and void; and at the heavens, and they had no light.
4:24I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were trembling, and all the hills were swaying.
4:25I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
4:26I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the LORD, before His fierce anger.
4:27For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete end.
4:28Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above shall grow dark, for I have spoken; I have purposed, and I will not relent, nor turn back from it.”
4:29At the sound of the horseman and the archer, every city flees. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and no one dwells in them.
4:30And you, O devastated one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.
4:31For I hear a voice like a woman in labor, anguish like one giving birth to her first child—the voice of the daughter of Zion, gasping and spreading out her hands: “Woe to me, for my soul faints before murderers!”

Chapter 5

5:1“Roam through the streets of Jerusalem; look now and know, and search her city squares, whether you can find a man—one who practices justice and seeks faithfulness—then I will forgive her.
5:2Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
5:3O LORD, are not Your eyes upon faithfulness? You struck them, but they felt no pain; You consumed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than rock; they refused to return.
5:4Then I said, “Surely these are only the poor; they act foolishly, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.
5:5I will go to the great and speak with them, for they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But together they broke the yoke and tore off the bonds.
5:6Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them; a wolf from the wilderness shall ravage them; a leopard lies in wait near their cities. Everyone who goes out from them shall be torn, for their transgressions are many, and their faithless deeds are great.
5:7“How shall I forgive you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me and sworn by those who are not gods. I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery and thronged the houses of prostitutes.
5:8They were well-fed, lustful horses, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
5:9Shall I not punish them for these things?” an utterance of the LORD. “And on a nation such as this, shall I not avenge Myself?
5:10Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but do not make a complete end. Strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.
5:11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt utterly treacherously with Me,” an utterance of the LORD.
5:12They have denied the LORD and said, “He will do nothing; calamity shall not come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine.
5:13The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.”
5:14Therefore thus says the LORD, God of Hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making My words fire in your mouth, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
5:15Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel,” an utterance of the LORD. “It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
5:16Its quiver is like an open grave; all of them are mighty men.
5:17It shall consume your harvest and your food; it shall consume your sons and your daughters; it shall consume your flocks and your herds; it shall consume your vines and your fig trees. By the sword it shall demolish the fortified cities in which you trust.
5:18Yet even in those days,” an utterance of the LORD, “I will not make a complete end of you.
5:19And it shall come to pass, when they say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’
5:20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah, saying,
5:21Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
5:22Do you not fear Me?” an utterance of the LORD. “Do you not tremble at My presence? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring limit that it cannot cross. Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot cross it.
5:23But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
5:24They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives the autumn rain and the spring rain in their season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
5:25Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have withheld good from you.
5:26For wicked men are found among My people. They crouch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap and catch men.
5:27Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich.
5:28They have grown fat and sleek; indeed, they surpass in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
5:29Shall I not punish them for these things?” an utterance of the LORD. “On a nation such as this, shall I not avenge Myself?
5:30An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do at the end of it?”

Chapter 6

6:1“Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the horn in Tekoa, and raise a signal fire over Beth-haccerem, for calamity looms from the north, and great destruction.
6:2I will destroy the lovely and delicate daughter of Zion.
6:3Shepherds and their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her, each grazing his own portion.”
6:4“Consecrate war against her! Rise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines, and the shadows of evening lengthen.
6:5Rise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.”
6:6For thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Cut down trees and cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished; she is full of oppression within her.
6:7As a well keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps her wickedness fresh. Violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are continually before Me.
6:8Take warning, O Jerusalem, lest My soul be torn from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land uninhabited.”
6:9Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Pass your hand again over the branches like a grape gatherer.”
6:10To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them; they take no delight in it.
6:11I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the child in the street and upon the gathering of young men together; for husband and wife alike shall be taken, the aged and the one full of days.
6:12Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” an utterance of the LORD.
6:13“For from the least of them even to the greatest, everyone is greedy for gain; from prophet even to priest, everyone deals falsely.
6:14They treat the wound of the daughter of My people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
6:15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them, they shall stumble,” says the LORD.
6:16Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the ways and see; ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
6:17And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the horn.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
6:18Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O assembly, what shall come upon them.
6:19Hear, O earth. Behold, I am bringing calamity upon this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to My words; and as for My instruction, they have rejected it.
6:20What use to Me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”
6:21Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons shall stumble over them together; neighbor and friend shall perish.”
6:22Thus says the LORD: “Behold, a people is coming from the land of the north, and a great nation is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.
6:23They grasp bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, arrayed as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Zion.”
6:24We have heard the report of them; our hands grow feeble. Anguish has seized us, pain like a woman in labor.
6:25Do not go out into the field or walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
6:26O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, with a most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
6:27“I have appointed you an assayer and tester among My people, that you may know and test their way.
6:28They are all stubborn rebels, going about as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly.
6:29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire. The refiner refines in vain, for the wicked are not removed.
6:30They shall be called rejected silver, for the LORD has rejected them.”

Chapter 7

7:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
7:2“Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter through these gates to bow before the LORD.’”
7:3Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
7:4Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’
7:5For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice between a man and his neighbor,
7:6if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not walk after other gods to your own harm,
7:7then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
7:8Behold, you trust in deceptive words that cannot profit.
7:9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you have not known,
7:10and then come and stand before Me in this house upon which My Name is called, and say, ‘We are delivered’—only to go on doing all these abominations?
7:11Has this house, upon which My Name is called, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I Myself have seen it,” an utterance of the LORD.
7:12“But go now to My place that was in Shiloh, where I caused My Name to dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
7:13And now, because you have done all these deeds,” an utterance of the LORD, “and though I spoke to you again and again, you did not listen; and though I called you, you did not answer,
7:14therefore I will do to the house upon which My Name is called, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
7:15And I will cast you out of My presence, as I cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.
7:16As for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor intercede with Me, for I will not hear you.
7:17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
7:18The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger.
7:19Is it Me they provoke?” an utterance of the LORD. “Is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?
7:20Therefore thus says the Lord, the LORD: Behold, My anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn and not be quenched.”
7:21Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh yourselves.
7:22For in the day when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
7:23But this is what 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 go well with you.’
7:24But they did not listen or incline their ear; instead, they walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
7:25From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt even to this day, I sent all My servants the prophets to you again and again.
7:26Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did more evil than their fathers.
7:27And you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
7:28And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God or receive correction. Faithfulness has perished and is cut off from their mouth.’
7:29Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation upon the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
7:30For the sons of Judah have done evil in My sight,” an utterance of the LORD. “They have set their abominations in the house upon which My Name is called, to defile it.
7:31And they have built the high places of Topheth, which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter My heart.
7:32Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when it shall no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they shall bury in Topheth until there is no more room.
7:33And the corpses of this people shall become food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them away.
7:34And I will cause the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, for the land shall become a desolation.”

Chapter 8

8:1“At that time,” an utterance of the LORD, “they shall bring out from their graves the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
8:2They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of the heavens, which they loved and served, after which they walked, which they sought and before which they bowed. They shall not be gathered or buried; they shall become dung upon the face of the ground.
8:3Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the remnant left of this evil family, in all the places where I have driven them,” an utterance of the LORD of Hosts.
8:4And you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD: Do men fall and not rise again? Does one turn away and not return?
8:5Why then has this people—Jerusalem—turned away in perpetual faithlessness? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.
8:6I have listened and heard; they do not speak rightly. No man repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course like a horse rushing into battle.
8:7Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but My people do not know the justice of the LORD.
8:8How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? Behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
8:9The wise men are put to shame; they are dismayed and captured. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, and what wisdom do they have?
8:10Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who take possession of them; for from the least even to the greatest, everyone is greedy for gain; from prophet even to priest, everyone deals falsely.
8:11They treat the wound of the daughter of My people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
8:12Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time of their punishment they shall stumble,” says the LORD.
8:13“I will utterly consume them,” an utterance of the LORD. “There shall be no grapes on the vine or figs on the fig tree; even the leaf shall wither, and what I gave them shall pass away from them.”
8:14Why are we sitting still? Gather together, and let us enter the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
8:15We looked for peace, but there was no good; for a time of healing, but behold—terror.
8:16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of his stallions, the whole land trembles. They come and consume the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.
8:17“For behold, I am sending serpents among you, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” an utterance of the LORD.
8:18My sorrow is beyond comfort; my heart is sick within me.
8:19Behold, the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign vanities?”
8:20“The harvest has passed, the summer has ended, and we have not been saved.”
8:21For the wound of the daughter of my people I am wounded; I am in mourning; horror has seized me.
8:22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not come?
8:23Oh, that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Chapter 9

9:1Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
9:2“They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood, not faithfulness, has grown strong in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” an utterance of the LORD.
9:3“Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
9:4Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks truth. They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood; they weary themselves committing iniquity.
9:5You dwell in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me,” an utterance of the LORD.
9:6Therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?
9:7Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, but inwardly he sets an ambush for him.
9:8Shall I not punish them for these things?” an utterance of the LORD. “On a nation such as this, shall I not avenge Myself?”
9:9I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, for they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the sound of livestock is not heard. From the birds of the heavens to the beasts, all have fled and gone away.
9:10“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a dwelling place for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
9:11Who is the wise man who may understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
9:12Then the LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice or walked according to it,
9:13but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,
9:14therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
9:15I will scatter them among nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.”
9:16Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; send for the skillful women, that they may come.
9:17Let them hurry and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.
9:18For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, because our dwelling places have been cast down.’”
9:19Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a lament, and each woman her neighbor a dirge.
9:20For death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off children from the street and young men from the city squares.
9:21Speak: “Thus says the LORD: The corpses of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves behind the reaper, with none to gather them.”
9:22Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom; let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not the rich man boast in his riches.
9:23But let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who shows steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight,” an utterance of the LORD.
9:24“Behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
9:25Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all who clip the corners of their hair and dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Chapter 10

10:1Hear the word that the LORD has spoken concerning you, O house of Israel.
10:2Thus says the LORD: “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.
10:3For the customs of the peoples are vanity: a tree is cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with an axe.
10:4They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
10:5They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field and cannot speak. They must be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.”
10:6There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and Your Name is great in might.
10:7Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.
10:8They are altogether senseless and foolish; the instruction of idols is nothing but wood.
10:9Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz—the work of a craftsman and the hands of a refiner. Blue and purple are their clothing; all of them are the work of skilled men.
10:10But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth trembles, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
10:11Thus you shall say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
10:12He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.
10:13When He gives forth His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens. He causes vapors to rise from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
10:14Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast-metal image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
10:15They are vanity, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
10:16The 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.
10:17Gather up your bundle from the ground, O you who dwell under siege.
10:18For thus says the LORD: “Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land, and I will bring distress upon them, that they may feel it.”
10:19Woe to me because of my wound! My injury is grievous. Yet I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.”
10:20My tent is devastated, and all my cords are broken. My sons have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to stretch out my tent again or raise my curtains.
10:21For the shepherds have become senseless and have not sought the LORD; therefore they have not acted wisely, and all their flock is scattered.
10:22The sound of a report—behold, it comes: a great commotion from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place for jackals.
10:23I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; it is not in a man who walks to direct his steps.
10:24Correct me, O LORD, but with justice, not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
10:25Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You, and upon the families that do not call upon Your Name; for they have devoured Jacob. They have devoured and consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling place.

Chapter 11

11:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
11:2“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak them to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:3And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed is the man who does not listen to the words of this covenant,
11:4which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, “Listen to My voice, and do all that I command you; then you shall be My people, and I will be your God,”
11:5that I may establish the oath I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.’” Then I answered and said, “So be it, O LORD.”
11:6And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.
11:7For from the day I brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt even to this day, I warned them again and again, saying, “Listen to My voice.”
11:8Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but each one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not do them.’”
11:9Then the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:10They have returned to the iniquities of their first fathers, who refused to listen to My words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant that I made with their fathers.”
11:11Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am bringing calamity upon them from which they cannot escape. They shall cry to Me, but I will not listen to them.
11:12Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they shall not save them at all in the time of their distress.
11:13For as numerous as your cities are your gods, O Judah; and as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing—altars to burn incense to Baal.
11:14As for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their distress.
11:15What right has My beloved in My house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you do evil, can you then rejoice?
11:16A thriving olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit, was the name the LORD gave you. With the roar of a great tumult He has kindled fire upon it, and its branches are broken.
11:17The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has pronounced calamity against you because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done to themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”
11:18The LORD made it known to me, and I knew; then You showed me their deeds.
11:19But I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter. I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”
11:20But O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the inmost being and the heart, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.
11:21Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the Name of the LORD, or you shall die by our hands”—
11:22therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword; their sons and daughters shall die by famine.
11:23No remnant shall remain of them, for I will bring calamity upon the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

Chapter 12

12:1Righteous are You, O LORD, when I contend with You; yet I would speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all who deal treacherously at ease?
12:2You planted them; indeed, they have taken root. They grow; indeed, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth, but far from their inmost being.
12:3But You, O LORD, know me; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag them away like sheep for slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
12:4How long shall the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it, beasts and birds are swept away, for they say, “He will not see our end.”
12:5“If you have run with footmen, and they have wearied you, how will you contend with horses? And if you trust in a land of peace, how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?
12:6For even your brothers and your father’s house, even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you. Do not trust them when they speak kindly to you.
12:7I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
12:8My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest; she has roared against Me; therefore I have hated her.
12:9Is My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey? Are birds of prey all around against her? Come, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour.
12:10Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled down My portion. They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
12:11They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns before Me. The whole land is laid waste because no one lays it to heart.
12:12Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other. No flesh has peace.
12:13They have sown wheat and reaped thorns; they have exhausted themselves but gained nothing. They shall be ashamed of your harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
12:14Thus says the LORD: “Concerning all My evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance that I caused My people Israel to inherit: behold, I am plucking them from their land, and I will pluck the house of Judah out from their midst.
12:15And it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have pity on them; and I will bring them back, each to his inheritance and each to his land.
12:16And it shall come to pass, if they learn well the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of My people.
12:17But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation—uprooting and destroying it,” an utterance of the LORD.

Chapter 13

13:1Thus says the LORD to me: “Go and buy for yourself a linen waistband, place it around your waist, and do not let it touch water.”
13:2Then I bought the waistband according to the word of the LORD and placed it around my waist.
13:3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,
13:4“Take the waistband that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
13:5Then I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
13:6And it came to pass, after many days, that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the waistband that I commanded you to hide there.”
13:7Then I went to the Euphrates, dug, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the waistband was ruined. It was good for nothing.
13:8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
13:9“Thus says the LORD: In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
13:10This evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and go after other gods to serve them and bow down to them—they shall be like this waistband, which is good for nothing.
13:11For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,” an utterance of the LORD, “to be My people, and for a name, and for praise, and for glory; but they would not listen.
13:12And you shall say this word to them: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Every jar shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to you, Do we not know very well that every jar shall be filled with wine?
13:13Then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
13:14And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together,” an utterance of the LORD. “I will not pity or spare or have compassion, so as not to destroy them.”
13:15Hear and give ear; do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken.
13:16Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep darkness and makes it thick gloom.
13:17But if you will not listen, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes shall weep bitterly and flow with tears, because the flock of the LORD has been taken captive.
13:18Say to the king and the queen mother: Humble yourselves and sit down, for your beautiful crown has fallen from your heads.
13:19The cities of the Negev are shut up, with no one to open them. Judah has been carried into exile, all of her; she has been wholly carried into exile.
13:20Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?
13:21What will you say when He appoints over you those whom you yourself trained to be your allies? Will not pangs seize you like a woman in labor?
13:22And when you say in your heart, “Why have these things happened to me?”—because of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts have been uncovered, and your heels have suffered violence.
13:23Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard its spots? Then can you also do good, you who are accustomed to doing evil?
13:24Therefore I will scatter them like stubble driven by the desert wind.
13:25This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you,” an utterance of the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
13:26I Myself will lift your skirts over your face, and your shame shall be seen.
13:27Your adulteries, your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution on the hills in the field—I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long before you are clean?”

Chapter 14

14:1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts:
14:2“Judah mourns, and her gates languish; they sit in mourning on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem rises.
14:3Their nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns and find no water. They return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and humiliated, and they cover their heads.
14:4Because the ground is cracked, for there has been no rain in the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
14:5Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons her young, because there is no grass.
14:6Wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, for there is no vegetation.”
14:7Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for Your Name’s sake; for our backslidings are many. We have sinned against You.
14:8O Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are You like a sojourner in the land, like a wayfarer who turns aside to spend the night?
14:9Why are You like a man stunned, like a mighty man unable to save? Yet You are among us, O LORD, and Your Name is called upon us; do not leave us.
14:10Thus says the LORD concerning this people: “They have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”
14:11Then the LORD said to me: “Do not pray for the good of this people.
14:12Though they fast, I will not listen to their cry; and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Instead I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”
14:13Then I said, “Ah, Lord, the LORD! Behold, the prophets are saying to them, You shall not see the sword, nor shall famine come upon you; for I will give you true peace in this place.”
14:14Then the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My Name. I did not send them or command them, nor did I speak to them. A false vision, divination, worthless delusion, and the deceit of their own hearts they are prophesying to you.
14:15Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My Name, though I did not send them, and who say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine these prophets shall be consumed.
14:16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword, and there shall be no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. And I will pour out their own evil upon them.
14:17And 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.
14:18If I go out to the field, then behold, those slain by the sword! And if I enter the city, then behold, those sick with famine! For both prophet and priest wander through a land they do not know.”
14:19Have You utterly rejected Judah? Have You loathed Zion? Why have You struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold—terror.
14:20We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.
14:21Do not despise us, for Your Name’s sake; do not dishonor Your glorious throne. Remember; do not break Your covenant with us.
14:22Are there any among the worthless idols of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O LORD our God? Therefore we wait for You, for You have made all these.

Chapter 15

15:1Then the LORD said to me: “Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My soul would not turn toward this people. Send them away from My presence, and let them go.
15:2And when they say to you, Where shall we go? you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for famine, to famine; and those for captivity, to captivity.
15:3And I will appoint four kinds of destroyers over them,” an utterance of the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
15:4And I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
15:5For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask how you fare?
15:6You have forsaken Me,” an utterance of the LORD. “You keep going backward; therefore I stretch out My hand against you and destroy you. I am weary of relenting.
15:7And I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I have bereaved them; I have destroyed My people. They have not turned from their ways.
15:8I have made their widows more numerous than the sand of the seas. Against the mother of a young man I have brought a destroyer at noon; I have suddenly brought anguish and terror upon her.
15:9She who bore seven has languished; she has breathed out her life. Her sun has gone down while it is still day; she is ashamed and humiliated. And I will give their remnant to the sword before their enemies,” an utterance of the LORD.
15:10Woe to me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to all the land! I have neither lent at interest nor borrowed at interest, yet all of them curse me.
15:11The LORD said, “Have I not directed you for good? Have I not interceded for you with the enemy in a time of calamity and distress?
15:12Can anyone break iron—iron from the north—or bronze?
15:13Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price, because of all your sins throughout all your borders.
15:14And I will make you serve your enemies in a land you have not known; for a fire has been kindled in My anger, and it burns against you.”
15:15You know, O LORD; remember me and take notice of me, and take vengeance for me on my pursuers. In Your patience do not take me away; know that for Your sake I bear reproach.
15:16Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your word became to me a joy and the gladness of my heart, for Your Name is called upon me, O LORD, God of Hosts.
15:17I did not sit in the assembly of mockers, nor did I rejoice. Because of Your hand I sat alone, for You filled me with indignation.
15:18Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You surely be to me like a deceptive stream, like waters that fail?
15:19Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, then I will restore you; you shall stand before Me. And if you bring out the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth. They shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.
15:20And I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” an utterance of the LORD.
15:21“And I will deliver you from the hand of evildoers, and I will redeem you from the hand of the ruthless.”

Chapter 16

16:1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
16:2“You shall not take a wife for yourself, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.”
16:3For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bear them and their fathers who beget them in this land:
16:4“They shall die of grievous diseases. They shall not be mourned or buried, but shall be dung upon the face of the ground. They shall be consumed by sword and famine, and their corpses shall be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth.”
16:5For thus says the LORD: “Do not enter a house of mourning, nor go to mourn or lament for them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” an utterance of the LORD, “My steadfast love and My compassion.
16:6Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall mourn for them or cut himself or shave his head for them.
16:7No one shall break bread for mourners to comfort them over the dead, nor give them the cup of consolation to drink for father or mother.
16:8And you shall not enter a house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.
16:9For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, before your eyes and in your days, I will cause the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, to cease from this place.
16:10And when you declare all these words to this people, and they say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great calamity against us? What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
16:11Then you shall say to them: Because your fathers forsook Me,” an utterance of the LORD, “and went after other gods, served them, and bowed down to them; and they forsook Me and did not keep My law.
16:12And you have done worse than your fathers; and behold, each of you walks after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so as not to listen to Me.
16:13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.
16:14Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’
16:15but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands to which He drove them.’ And I will bring them back to their land that I gave to their fathers.
16:16Behold, I am sending for many fishermen,” an utterance of the LORD, “and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks.
16:17For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from Me, nor is their iniquity concealed from before My eyes.
16:18And first I will repay their iniquity and their sin double, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols; with their abominations they have filled My inheritance.”
16:19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers inherited only falsehood and worthless things in which there is no profit.”
16:20Can a man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods.
16:21“Therefore, behold, I will make them know—this time I will make them know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My Name is the LORD.”

Chapter 17

17:1“The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with the point of a diamond; it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars,
17:2while their children remember their altars and their sacred poles beside green trees, upon the high hills.
17:3O My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, and your high places because of sin throughout all your borders.
17:4Through your own fault, you shall let go of the inheritance that I gave you; and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you have not known, for you have kindled a fire in My anger; it shall burn forever.”
17:5Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
17:6He shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see good when it comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land uninhabited.
17:7Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose trust is the LORD.
17:8He shall be like a tree planted by waters, that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes, and its leaf remains green. In a year of drought it is not anxious, nor does it cease from bearing fruit.
17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure; who can know it?
17:10I, the LORD, search the heart and test the inmost being, to give each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
17:11Like a partridge brooding over eggs it did not lay is one who gains wealth unjustly; in the midst of his days it shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.”
17:12A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
17:13O LORD, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who turn away from Me shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.”
17:14Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.
17:15Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”
17:16But I have not hurried away from shepherding after You, nor have I desired the day of despair. You know what came from my lips; it was before Your face.
17:17Do not become a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of calamity.
17:18Let my pursuers be ashamed, but do not let me be ashamed; let them be terrified, but do not let me be terrified. Bring upon them the day of calamity, and destroy them with double destruction.
17:19Thus says the LORD to me: “Go and stand in the People’s Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.
17:20And you shall say to them: Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates.
17:21Thus says the LORD: Guard yourselves, and do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
17:22Nor shall you carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work. And you shall sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
17:23But they did not listen or incline their ear; they stiffened their neck so as not to hear or receive instruction.
17:24And it shall be, if you truly listen to Me,” an utterance of the LORD, “so as not to bring a burden in by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and to sanctify the Sabbath day by doing no work in it—
17:25then kings and princes sitting on the throne of David shall enter by the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited forever.
17:26And they shall come from the cities of Judah, from around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill-country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
17:27But if you will not listen to Me, to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to carry a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates; and it shall consume the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”

Chapter 18

18:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
18:2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
18:3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was working at his wheel.
18:4And the vessel he was making from the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
18:5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18:6“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” an utterance of the LORD. “Behold, as clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
18:7At one moment I speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to uproot, to tear down, and to destroy it;
18:8but if that nation concerning which I spoke turns from its evil, then I will relent from the calamity I intended to do to it.
18:9And at another moment I speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
18:10but if it does evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will relent from the good that I said I would do to it.
18:11And now, speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am shaping calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Return now, each of you from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.”
18:12But they say, “It is hopeless; for we will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.”
18:13Therefore thus says the LORD: “Ask now among the nations: who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done an utterly appalling thing.
18:14Does the snow of Lebanon leave its rocky slopes? Do the cold, flowing waters from afar dry up?
18:15Yet My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to worthless idols. The idols have caused My people to stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient paths to walk in byways, on a road not built up,
18:16to make their land a desolation, an object of enduring hissing. Everyone who passes by it shall be appalled and shake his head.
18:17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind; I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”
18:18Then they said, “Come, and let us devise schemes against Jeremiah; for 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 pay no attention to any of his words.”
18:19Give attention to me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
18:20Is evil repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn Your wrath away from them.
18:21Therefore, hand their sons over to famine and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their men meet death, and their young men be struck by the sword in battle.
18:22Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them; for they have dug a pit to capture me and hidden snares for my feet.
18:23Yet You, O LORD, know all their counsel to put me to death. Do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from Your presence; but let them be made to stumble before You. Deal with them in the time of Your anger.

Chapter 19

19:1Thus says the LORD: “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.
19:2Then go forth to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I speak to you.
19:3And you shall say, Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone who hears of it shall tingle,
19:4because they have forsaken Me and estranged this place from Me, and have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah knew; and they have filled this place with innocent blood.
19:5And they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing I did not command or speak of, nor did it enter My heart.
19:6Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when this place shall no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
19:7And I will empty out the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives. And I will give their corpses as food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth.
19:8And I will make this city a desolation and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it shall be appalled and hiss because of all its plagues.
19:9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and each shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall press them.”
19:10Then you shall break the jar in the sight of the men who go with you,
19:11and you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of Hosts: In this way I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel so that it cannot be mended; and they shall bury in Topheth until there is no place left to bury.
19:12Thus I will do to this place,” an utterance of the LORD, “and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.
19:13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth—all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”
19:14Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the house of the LORD and said to all the people:
19:15“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon this city and all its towns all the calamity that I have spoken against it, because they have stiffened their neck so as not to listen to My words.”

Chapter 20

20:1Then Pashhur son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
20:2And Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the LORD.
20:3And it came to pass on the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks, that Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.
20:4For thus says the LORD: Behold, I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, who shall carry them into exile to Babylon and strike them with the sword.
20:5And I will give all the wealth of this city, all its gain, all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They shall plunder them, take them, and carry them to Babylon.
20:6And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall enter Babylon; there you shall die, and there you shall be buried—you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”
20:7You enticed me, O LORD, and I was enticed; You were stronger than I, and You prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day; everyone mocks me.
20:8For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has brought me reproach and derision all day.
20:9And I said, “I will not mention Him or speak anymore in His Name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I grew weary of holding it in, and I could not.
20:10For I hear many whispering: “Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be enticed, and we shall prevail over him and take our vengeance on him.”
20:11But the LORD is with me as a mighty warrior; therefore my persecutors shall stumble and shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not succeed; their everlasting disgrace shall not be forgotten.
20:12O LORD of Hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the inmost being and the heart, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.
20:13Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD, for He has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
20:14Cursed be the day on which I was born; let the day my mother bore me not be blessed.
20:15Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A son has been born to you,” making him very glad.
20:16Let that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without relenting; let him hear a cry in the morning and a shout at noon,
20:17because he did not kill me in the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever pregnant.
20:18Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and my days be consumed in shame?

Chapter 21

21:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
21:2“Please inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonders and make him withdraw from us.”
21:3Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah:
21:4Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am turning back the weapons of battle that are in your hands, with which you fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the midst of this city.
21:5And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, in anger, fury, and great wrath.
21:6And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die by a great pestilence.
21:7And after this,” an utterance of the LORD, “I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, the people, and those who survive in this city from pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall have no pity on them, nor spare them, nor have compassion.”
21:8And to this people you shall say, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.
21:9Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, famine, and pestilence; but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live, and his life shall be his spoil.
21:10For I have set My face against this city for calamity and not for good,” an utterance of the LORD. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
21:11And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD:
21:12O house of David, thus says the LORD: Administer justice every morning, and deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.
21:13Behold, I am against you,” an utterance of the LORD, “O inhabitant of the valley, rock of the plain, who say, Who shall come down against us? And who shall enter our dwellings?
21:14And I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds,” an utterance of the LORD. “I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall consume all around her.”

Chapter 22

22:1Thus says the LORD: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there,
22:2and say: Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you, your servants, and your people who come in by these gates.
22:3Thus says the LORD: Administer justice and righteousness, and deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor. Do not oppress or do violence to the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
22:4For if you indeed do this thing, then kings who sit on David’s throne shall come in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their servants, and their people.
22:5But if you will not hear these words, I have sworn by Myself,” an utterance of the LORD, “that this house shall become a desolation.”
22:6For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to Me, the summit of Lebanon; yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities without inhabitant.
22:7And I will set apart destroyers against you, each with his weapons; they shall cut down the choicest of your cedars and cast them into the fire.”
22:8And many nations shall pass by this city, and each shall say to his neighbor, “Why has the LORD done thus to this great city?”
22:9And they shall say, “Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God, bowed down to other gods, and served them.”
22:10Do not weep for the dead, nor mourn for him; weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he shall not return again or see the land of his birth.
22:11For thus says the LORD concerning Jehoahaz son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned in place of Josiah his father and departed from this place: “He shall not return here again.
22:12For in the place where they exiled him, there he shall die; and this land he shall not see again.
22:13Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper chambers by injustice; who makes his neighbor serve without pay and does not give him his wages;
22:14who says, I will build myself a spacious house with wide upper chambers; and he cuts out its windows, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion.
22:15Do you reign because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and administer justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
22:16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is this not to know Me?” an utterance of the LORD.
22:17“But your eyes and your heart are set on nothing but your dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, and on practicing oppression and violence.”
22:18Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They shall not lament for him, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, my sister! They shall not lament for him, Ah, lord! or, Ah, his splendor!
22:19He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey—dragged away and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
22:20Go up to Lebanon and cry out; lift up your voice in Bashan; and cry out from Abarim, for all who love you have been destroyed.
22:21I spoke to you in your prosperity; you said, I will not listen. This has been your way from your youth, for you have not listened to My voice.
22:22The wind shall consume all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity. Surely then you shall be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.
22:23O dweller in Lebanon, who makes your nest among the cedars, how you shall be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain as of a woman in labor!”
22:24“As I live,” an utterance of the LORD, “though Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, surely from there I would tear you away.
22:25And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those whom you fear, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
22:26And I will cast you and your mother who bore you into another land, where you were not born; and there you shall die.
22:27And to the land to which they long to return, there they shall not return.”
22:28Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken vessel, a vessel in which no one delights? Why are he and his offspring cast out and thrown into a land they did not know?
22:29Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD!
22:30Thus says the LORD: “Record this man as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his offspring shall prosper by sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”

Chapter 23

23:1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of My pasture,” an utterance of the LORD.
23:2Therefore, thus says the LORD, God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and you have not cared for them. Behold, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds,” an utterance of the LORD.
23:3“And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands to which I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pastures; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
23:4And I will raise up shepherds over them, and they shall feed them. They shall no longer fear or be frightened, nor shall any be missing,” an utterance of the LORD.
23:5“Behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and a King shall reign and act wisely, and administer justice and righteousness in the land.
23:6In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely; and this is His Name by which He shall be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
23:7Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’
23:8but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and brought in the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands to which I drove them.’ And they shall dwell on their own land.”
23:9Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and because of His holy words.
23:10For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up; their course is evil, and their power is not right.
23:11“For both prophet and priest are godless; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” an utterance of the LORD.
23:12“Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in darkness; they shall be driven on and fall in them. For I will bring calamity upon them in the year of their punishment,” an utterance of the LORD.
23:13“And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen folly; they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err.
23:14And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in falsehood. Indeed, they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
23:15Therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I am causing them to eat wormwood, and I am causing them to drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem godlessness has gone forth into all the land.”
23:16Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision from their own heart, not from the mouth of the LORD.
23:17They say continually to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, Peace shall be yours’; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity shall not come upon you.’
23:18For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, that he might see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and listened?
23:19Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD—fury has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it shall whirl upon the head of the wicked.
23:20The anger of the LORD shall not turn back until He has carried out and fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it clearly.
23:21“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
23:22But if they had stood in My counsel, then they would have proclaimed My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.
23:23“Am I a God at hand,” an utterance of the LORD, “and not a God far away?
23:24Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” an utterance of the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” an utterance of the LORD.
23:25“I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy falsehood in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’
23:26How long shall this continue in the heart of the prophets—the prophets of falsehood, prophets of the deceit of their own heart—
23:27who devise to cause My people to forget My Name by their dreams, which each one recounts to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal?
23:28The prophet who has a dream, let him recount the dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw to do with grain?” an utterance of the LORD.
23:29“Is not My word like fire?” an utterance of the LORD. “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
23:30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,” an utterance of the LORD, “each one stealing My words from his neighbor.
23:31Behold, I am against the prophets,” an utterance of the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘An utterance of the LORD.’
23:32Behold, I am against the prophets of false dreams,” an utterance of the LORD, “who recount them and cause My people to err by their falsehoods and their recklessness. I did not send them or command them; and they do not profit this people at all,” an utterance of the LORD.
23:33“And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What burden? I will cast you off,’” an utterance of the LORD.
23:34“And as for the prophet, the priest, or the people who say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his house.
23:35Thus shall each of you say to his neighbor and each to his brother: What has the LORD answered? And what has the LORD spoken?
23:36But ‘the burden of the LORD’ you shall mention no more; for each man’s word shall become his burden, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of Hosts, our God.
23:37Thus you shall say to the prophet: What has the LORD answered you? And what has the LORD spoken?
23:38But if you say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ then thus says the LORD: Because you say this phrase, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ though I sent word to you, saying, ‘You shall not say, The burden of the LORD,’
23:39therefore, behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from before My face—you and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers.
23:40And I will bring upon you enduring reproach and enduring shame, which shall not be forgotten.”

Chapter 24

24:1The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon.
24:2In one basket were very good figs, like the first-ripe figs; and in the other basket were very bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were so bad.
24:3Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
24:4Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
24:5“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles of Judah, whom I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
24:6And I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; and I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
24:7And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for God, for they shall return to Me with all their heart.
24:8And like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because they are so bad, surely thus says the LORD: So I will make Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.
24:9And I will make them a horror and a calamity to all the kingdoms of the earth—a reproach, a proverb, a byword, and a curse—in all the places to which I drive them.
24:10And I will send against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.”

Chapter 25

25:1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah—it was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—
25:2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
25:3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah 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 again and again; but you have not listened.
25:4And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again; but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear,
25:5saying, ‘Turn now, each one of you, from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers from age to age.
25:6And do not go after other gods to serve them and bow down to them; do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’
25:7But you have not listened to Me,” an utterance of the LORD, “but have provoked Me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own harm.
25:8Therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts: Because you have not listened to My words,
25:9behold, I am sending for all the families of the north,” an utterance of the LORD, “and for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant. I will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror, a hissing, and enduring ruins.
25:10And I will cause to cease from among them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp.
25:11And all this land shall become a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
25:12And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity,” an utterance of the LORD, “and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an enduring desolation.
25:13And I will bring upon that land all My words that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.
25:14For many nations and great kings shall also make them serve; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.”
25:15For thus says the LORD, God of Israel, to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink from it.
25:16And they shall drink and stagger and go mad, because of the sword that I am sending among them.”
25:17Then I took the cup from the hand of the LORD and caused all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me to drink:
25:18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a desolation, a horror, a hissing, and a curse, as they are this day;
25:19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;
25:20and all the mixed multitude; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
25:21Edom, Moab, and Ammon;
25:22all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands beyond the sea;
25:23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who clip the corners of their hair;
25:24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness;
25:25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;
25:26all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another; and all the kingdoms of the earth that are upon the face of the ground. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
25:27And you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Drink, become drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.
25:28And it shall come to pass, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, that you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of Hosts: You shall certainly drink.
25:29For behold, I am beginning to bring calamity upon the city called by My Name; and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” an utterance of the LORD of Hosts.
25:30And you, you shall prophesy all these words to them, and say to them: The LORD roars from on high and gives forth His voice from His holy habitation. He roars mightily over His pasture; He raises a shout like those who tread the grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth.
25:31A tumult reaches to the end of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He enters into judgment with all flesh; He gives the wicked to the sword,” an utterance of the LORD.
25:32Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Behold, calamity is going forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
25:33And the slain of the LORD shall be in that day from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the face of the ground.
25:34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; wallow in ashes, you leaders of the flock; for your days of slaughter and scattering have come, and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
25:35And refuge shall perish from the shepherds, and escape from the leaders of the flock.
25:36Hear the cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is laying waste their pasture.
25:37And the peaceful pastures are laid waste because of the fierceness of the anger of the LORD.
25:38He has left His lair like a young lion; for their land has become a desolation because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of His fierce anger.”

Chapter 26

26:1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,
26:2“Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the house of the LORD, and speak to all who come from the cities of Judah to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word.
26:3Perhaps they will listen, and each one will turn from his evil way; then I will relent concerning the calamity that I intend to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.
26:4And you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law that I have set before you,
26:5and to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again, though you have not listened,
26:6then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”
26:7Then the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
26:8And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!
26:9Why have you prophesied in the Name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
26:10Then the officials of Judah heard these things, and they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD, and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the LORD.
26:11Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “This man deserves the sentence of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”
26:12Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.
26:13And now, amend your ways and your deeds, and listen to the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will relent concerning the calamity that He has spoken against you.
26:14And I, behold, I am in your hand. Do to me as seems good and right in your eyes.
26:15Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its inhabitants; for in truth the LORD sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
26:16Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the Name of the LORD our God.”
26:17Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,
26:18“Micah the Morashite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD of Hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest.
26:19Did Hezekiah king of Judah or all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and entreat the favor of the LORD? And the LORD relented concerning the calamity that He had spoken against them. But we are about to bring great evil upon ourselves.”
26:20And there was also a man prophesying in the Name of the LORD—Uriah son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim. And he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.
26:21And King Jehoiakim, all his mighty men, and all the officials heard his words; and the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and was afraid, and he fled and went to Egypt.
26:22Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt—Elnathan son of Achbor and men with him.
26:23And they brought Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim; and he struck him with the sword and cast his corpse into the burial place of the common people.
26:24But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to be put to death.

Chapter 27

27:1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
27:2“Thus says the LORD to me: Make for yourself straps and yoke bars,
27:3and put them on your neck, and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
27:4And command them concerning their masters, saying, Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Thus you shall say to your masters:
27:5I made the earth, with man and beast that are upon the face of the earth, by My great power and My outstretched arm; and I have given it to whomever it seemed right in My eyes.
27:6And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant; and I have also given him the beasts of the field to serve him.
27:7And all the nations shall serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.
27:8And it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom that will not serve him—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—and will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with sword, famine, and pestilence,” an utterance of the LORD, “until I have consumed it by his hand.
27:9And you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your interpreters of omens, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon.
27:10For they are prophesying falsehood to you, so as to remove you far from your land, that I may drive you out and you perish.
27:11But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave on its land,” an utterance of the LORD, “and it shall cultivate it and dwell in it.”
27:12And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
27:13Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, and pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?
27:14And do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they are prophesying falsehood to you.
27:15For I have not sent them,” an utterance of the LORD, “yet they are prophesying falsely in My Name, so that I may drive you out and you perish—you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”
27:16And to the priests and to all this people I spoke, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the house of the LORD shall soon be brought back from Babylon; for they are prophesying falsehood to you.
27:17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?
27:18But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now intercede with the LORD of Hosts, that the vessels left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.
27:19For thus says the LORD of Hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,
27:20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, together with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—
27:21surely thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:
27:22They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall remain until the day I take notice of them,” an utterance of the LORD. “Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.”

Chapter 28

28:1And it came to pass in that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying,
28:2“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
28:3Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and carried to Babylon.
28:4And Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon, I will bring back to this place,” an utterance of the LORD, “for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
28:5Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the sight of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD—
28:6Jeremiah the prophet said, “So be it! May the LORD do so. May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the house of the LORD and all the exiles from Babylon to this place.
28:7Nevertheless, please hear this word that I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.
28:8The prophets who were before me and before you from days of old prophesied concerning many lands and great kingdoms, of war, calamity, and pestilence.
28:9The prophet who prophesies of peace—when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then that prophet shall be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.”
28:10Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, and broke it.
28:11And Hananiah spoke in the sight of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: In this way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two full years.” And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.
28:12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
28:13“Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden yokes, but you have made iron yokes in their place.
28:14For thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. And I have also given him the beasts of the field.”
28:15Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, O Hananiah: the LORD has not sent you, and you have caused this people to trust in falsehood.
28:16Therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I am removing you from the face of the ground. This year you shall die, for you have spoken rebellion against the LORD.”
28:17Then Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.

Chapter 29

29:1And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon,
29:2after Jehoiachin the king, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem—
29:3by the hand of Eleasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,
29:4“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:
29:5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
29:6Take wives and beget sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and do not decrease.
29:7And seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
29:8For thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are among you or your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that you dream.
29:9For they are prophesying falsehood to you in My Name; I have not sent them,” an utterance of the LORD.
29:10For thus says the LORD: “When seventy years are fulfilled for Babylon, I will take notice of you and fulfill My good word toward you, to bring you back to this place.
29:11For I know the plans I have for you,” an utterance of the LORD, “plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
29:12Then you shall call upon Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
29:13And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.
29:14And I will be found by you,” an utterance of the LORD, “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you out of all the nations and out of all the places to which I have driven you,” an utterance of the LORD, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.
29:15Because you have said, “The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,”
29:16for thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile—
29:17thus says the LORD of Hosts: Behold, I am sending among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence; and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten because they are so bad.
29:18And I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, an object of horror, a hissing, and a reproach—among all the nations to which I have driven them,
29:19because they have not listened to My words,” an utterance of the LORD, “which I sent to them again and again through My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,” an utterance of the LORD.
29:20And you, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
29:21Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying falsehood to you in My Name: Behold, I am giving them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them before your eyes.
29:22And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,
29:23because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and spoken falsely in My Name a word that I did not command them. And I am He who knows, and I am witness,” an utterance of the LORD.
29:24And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,
29:25“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
29:26The LORD has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be an overseer in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, that you should put him in the stocks and in the pillory.
29:27And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?
29:28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.”
29:29Then Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
29:30Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
29:31“Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has caused you to trust in falsehood,
29:32therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He shall have no one dwelling among this people, nor shall he see the good that I am doing for My people,” an utterance of the LORD, “for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.”

Chapter 30

30:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
30:2“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.
30:3For behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah,” says the LORD, “and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”
30:4And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:
30:5For thus says the LORD: “We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
30:6Ask now and see: Can a man bear a child? Why, then, do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and every face turned pale?
30:7Alas! For that day is great; there is none like it. It is a time of distress for Jacob, yet he shall be saved out of it.
30:8And it shall come to pass in that day,” an utterance of the LORD of Hosts, “that I will break his yoke from off your neck and tear apart your bonds; and strangers shall no longer enslave him.
30:9But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
30:10And you, do not be afraid, My servant Jacob,” an utterance of the LORD, “nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I am saving you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and be at rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
30:11For I am with you,” an utterance of the LORD, “to save you. For I will make an end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but of you I will not make an end. I will discipline you with justice, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”
30:12For thus says the LORD: “Your wound is incurable; your injury is grievous.
30:13There is none to plead your cause; there is no remedy for your wound, no healing for you.
30:14All who love you have forgotten you; they do not care for you. For I have struck you with the stroke of an enemy, with the discipline of a cruel one, because your iniquity is great and your sins are many.
30:15Why do you cry out over your wound? Your pain is incurable. Because your iniquity is great and your sins are many, I have done these things to you.
30:16Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your adversaries—every one of them—shall go into captivity. Those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give as prey.
30:17For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds,” an utterance of the LORD, “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘This is Zion, for whom no one cares.’”
30:18Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the palace shall stand in its rightful place.
30:19From them shall go forth thanksgiving and the voice of those who rejoice. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will honor them, and they shall not be insignificant.
30:20Their children shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them.
30:21Their noble shall be one of their own, and their ruler shall come forth from their midst. I will cause him to draw near, and he shall draw near to Me; for who is he who would pledge his heart to draw near to Me?” an utterance of the LORD.
30:22“And you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
30:23Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD—fury has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it whirls down upon the head of the wicked.
30:24The fierce anger of the LORD shall not turn back until He has done it, until He has fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it.

Chapter 31

31:1“At that time,” an utterance of the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”
31:2Thus says the LORD: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness, when Israel went to find rest.”
31:3The LORD appeared to me from afar: “I have loved you with everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with steadfast love.
31:4Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel. Again you shall take up your tambourines and go out in the dance of those who rejoice.
31:5Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and enjoy their fruit.
31:6For there shall be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’”
31:7For thus says the LORD: “Sing with joy for Jacob, and cry aloud at the head of the nations. Proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘Save, O LORD, Your people, the remnant of Israel.’
31:8Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth; among them are the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the woman in labor together. A great assembly shall return here.
31:9They shall come with weeping, and with pleas for mercy I will bring them. I will lead them beside streams of water, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
31:10Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it among the distant coastlands, and say: “He who scattered Israel gathers him, and guards him as a shepherd guards his flock.”
31:11For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
31:12And they shall come and sing on the height of Zion, and shall stream to the goodness of the LORD—for wheat, for new wine, for oil, and for the young of the flock and the herd. Their soul shall be like a watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more.
31:13“Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance, and young men and old men together. I will turn their mourning into joy, comfort them, and gladden them after their sorrow.
31:14I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness,” an utterance of the LORD.
31:15Thus says the LORD: “A voice is heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping: Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
31:16Thus says the LORD: “Withhold your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,” an utterance of the LORD, “and they shall return from the land of the enemy.
31:17And there is hope for your future,” an utterance of the LORD, “and your children shall return to their own border.
31:18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf. Turn me back, and I shall return, for You are the LORD my God.
31:19For after I turned back, I repented; and after I came to understand, I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and humiliated, for I bore the reproach of my youth.’
31:20Is Ephraim a precious son to Me, a child in whom I delight? For as often as I speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have compassion on him,” an utterance of the LORD.
31:21“Set up guideposts for yourself; make road markers for yourself. Set your heart toward the highway, the way by which you went. Return, O virgin of Israel; return to these cities of yours.
31:22How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land: a woman shall encompass a man.”
31:23Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: “They shall again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: ‘The LORD bless you, dwelling place of righteousness, holy mountain.’
31:24And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, farmers and those who move about with flocks.
31:25For I have refreshed the weary soul, and every languishing soul I have filled.”
31:26At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
31:27“Behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
31:28And it shall be, as I watched over them to pluck up and to break down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring calamity, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” an utterance of the LORD.
31:29“In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
31:30But each shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his own teeth shall be set on edge.
31:31Behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
31:32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” an utterance of the LORD.
31:33“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” an utterance of the LORD: “I will put My law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
31:34And they shall no longer teach, each his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest,” an utterance of the LORD, “for I will pardon their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
31:35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, the ordinances of the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His Name:
31:36“If these ordinances depart from before Me,” an utterance of the LORD, “then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.”
31:37Thus says the LORD: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, then I also will reject all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,” an utterance of the LORD.
31:38“Behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when the city shall be built for the LORD, from the Tower of Hananeel to the Corner Gate.
31:39And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill of Gareb, and shall turn toward Goah.
31:40And the whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook of Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate eastward, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Chapter 32

32:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah—it was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar—
32:2while the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the Court of the Guard that was in the house of the king of Judah,
32:3where Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him, saying, “Why are you prophesying, saying, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
32:4and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and see him eye to eye;
32:5and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend to him,” an utterance of the LORD. “Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.”
32:6Then Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
32:7Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum, your uncle, is coming to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption to buy it belongs to you.”
32:8Then Hanamel, my uncle’s son, came to me in the Court of the Guard, according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, “Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the right of redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
32:9So I bought the field that was in Anathoth from Hanamel, my uncle’s son, and weighed out the money to him—seventeen shekels of silver.
32:10And I signed the deed and sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the silver on the balances.
32:11Then I took the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy with the terms and conditions and the open copy.
32:12And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel, my uncle’s son, and in the sight of the witnesses whose names were written in the deed of purchase, before the eyes of all the Jews who were sitting in the Court of the Guard.
32:13And I commanded Baruch in their sight, saying,
32:14“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Take these deeds—this deed of purchase, both the sealed copy and the open copy—and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may remain many days.
32:15For thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”
32:16And I prayed to the LORD, after I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, saying,
32:17“Ah, Lord, the LORD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm; nothing is too difficult for You.
32:18You show steadfast love to thousands, and repay the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them. O great and mighty God—the LORD of Hosts is His Name—
32:19great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam, to give to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;
32:20who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, and in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.
32:21And You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.
32:22And You gave them this land that You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
32:23And they came in and possessed it; but they did not listen to Your voice or walk in Your law. They did not do anything that You commanded them to do; therefore You brought all this calamity upon them.
32:24Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. What You spoke has come to pass; and behold, You see it.
32:25Yet You have said to me, O Lord, the LORD, ‘Buy the field for yourself with money, and call witnesses’—though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”
32:26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
32:27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
32:28Therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it.
32:29And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come in, set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger.
32:30For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only what is evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have continually provoked Me with the work of their hands,” an utterance of the LORD.
32:31“For this city has aroused My anger and My fury from the day they built it even to this day, so that I should remove it from before My face,
32:32because of all the evil that the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done to provoke Me—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
32:33And they turned their back to Me, and not their face. Though I taught them again and again, they did not listen to receive instruction.
32:34And they set their abominations in the house called by My Name, to defile it.
32:35And they built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to make their sons and their daughters pass through to Molech—a thing I did not command them, nor did it enter My heart that they should do this abomination and cause Judah to sin.
32:36And now, therefore, thus says the LORD, God of Israel, concerning this city of which you are saying, ‘It has been given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence’:
32:37Behold, I am gathering them out of all the lands to which I drove them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and cause them to dwell in safety.
32:38And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
32:39And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their good and for the good of their children after them.
32:40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing good to them; and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they shall not turn aside from Me.
32:41And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them firmly in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.”
32:42For thus says the LORD: “As I brought upon this people all this great calamity, so I will bring upon them all the good that I am speaking concerning them.
32:43And fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’
32:44They shall buy fields with money, sign and seal deeds, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,” an utterance of the LORD.

Chapter 33

33:1Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still confined in the Court of the Guard, saying:
33:2“Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it—the LORD is His Name:
33:3Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will declare to you great and inaccessible things that you have not known.
33:4For thus says the LORD, God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are torn down to meet the siege mounds and the sword:
33:5They are coming to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill those houses with the dead bodies of the men whom I struck in My anger and in My wrath; for I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil.
33:6Behold, I will bring it health and healing; and I will heal them and reveal to them an abundance of peace and faithfulness.
33:7And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and I will build them as at the first.
33:8And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they sinned against Me and by which they transgressed against Me.
33:9And this city shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who shall hear of all the good that I am doing for them; and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I provide for it.”
33:10Thus says the LORD: “Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you are saying, ‘It is desolate, without man and without beast’—in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are desolate, without man, without inhabitant, and without beast,
33:11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good, for His steadfast love is forever,’ and of those who bring thanksgiving offerings into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at the first,” says the LORD.
33:12Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Again there shall be in this place, which is desolate, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a pasture for shepherds where they cause their flocks to lie down.
33:13In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of one who counts them,” says the LORD.
33:14“Behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will fulfill the good word that I spoke concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.
33:15In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and He shall administer justice and righteousness in the land.
33:16In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety; and this is what she shall be called: The LORD Is Our Righteousness.”
33:17For thus says the LORD: “David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,
33:18nor shall the Levitical priests ever lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices all the days.”
33:19Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
33:20“Thus says the LORD: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night do not come at their appointed time,
33:21then My covenant with David My servant may also be broken, so that he shall not have a son reigning on his throne, and My covenant with the Levitical priests, My ministers.
33:22As the host of the heavens cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.”
33:23Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
33:24“Have you not considered what this people has spoken, saying, ‘The two families whom the LORD chose, He has rejected’? Thus they despise My people, so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.”
33:25Thus says the LORD: “If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth,
33:26then I also will reject the seed of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take from his seed rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.”

Chapter 34

34:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the kingdoms of the lands under the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying:
34:2“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
34:3And you shall not escape from his hand; for you shall surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall enter Babylon.
34:4Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says the LORD concerning you: You shall not die by the sword.
34:5You shall die in peace; and as they burned spices for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn spices for you. And they shall lament for you, ‘Ah, lord!’ For I have spoken the word,” an utterance of the LORD.
34:6And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
34:7while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that remained, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these were the fortified cities that remained among the cities of Judah.
34:8The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,
34:9that each man should set free his Hebrew male slave and his Hebrew female slave, so that no one should enslave a fellow Jew.
34:10Then all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant obeyed, agreeing that each should set free his male slave and his female slave, so as not to enslave them anymore. They obeyed and set them free.
34:11But afterward they turned back and brought back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had set free, and forced them into slavery again.
34:12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
34:13“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,
34:14‘At the end of seven years, each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who sold himself to you and has served you six years; you shall set him free from you.’ But your fathers did not listen to Me or incline their ear.
34:15And recently you turned back and did what is right in My sight, each proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house called by My Name.
34:16But you turned back and profaned My Name, and each of you brought back his male slave and his female slave, whom you had set free according to their desire; and you forced them to become your male and female slaves again.”
34:17Therefore, thus says the LORD: “You have not listened to Me, to proclaim liberty, each to his brother and each to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming liberty to you,” an utterance of the LORD, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
34:18And I will make the men who transgressed My covenant, who did not keep the words of the covenant that they made before Me, like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its pieces—
34:19the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf—
34:20I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.
34:21And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.
34:22Behold, I am commanding,” an utterance of the LORD, “and I will bring them back to this city; and they shall fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

Chapter 35

35:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
35:2“Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”
35:3Then I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.
35:4And I brought them into the house of the LORD, to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold.
35:5Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”
35:6But they said, “We do not drink wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.
35:7You shall not build a house, sow seed, or plant a vineyard, nor shall you possess any of these; but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’
35:8And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us: not to drink wine all our days—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters;
35:9not to build houses in which to dwell; and we have no vineyard, field, or seed.
35:10We have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
35:11But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us enter Jerusalem because of the army of the Chaldeans and because of the army of the Arameans.’ So we dwell in Jerusalem.”
35:12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
35:13“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not receive instruction and listen to My words?’” an utterance of the LORD.
35:14“The words of Jonadab son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, have been kept; and they have not drunk to this day, for they have obeyed the commandment of their father. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not listened to Me.
35:15And I sent to you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying, ‘Please return, each one from his evil way, and amend your deeds; and do not go after other gods to serve them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and to your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to Me.
35:16Because the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have kept the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people have not listened to Me,
35:17therefore, thus says the LORD, God of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the calamity that I spoke against them, because I spoke to them and they did not listen; I called to them, and they did not answer.”
35:18And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites: “Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, observed all his commandments, and done according to all that he commanded you,
35:19therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Jonadab son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before Me all the days.”

Chapter 36

36:1Then it came to pass, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
36:2“Take for yourself a scroll, and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you concerning Israel, concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day.
36:3Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity that I intend to bring upon them, so that each one may return from his evil way; and I will pardon their iniquity and their sin.”
36:4Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote upon a scroll, at Jeremiah’s dictation, all the words of the LORD that He had spoken to him.
36:5And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am barred; I am not able to enter the house of the LORD.
36:6But you shall enter and read from the scroll that you have written at my dictation the words of the LORD in the hearing of the people, in the house of the LORD, on the day of the fast; and you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come in from their cities.
36:7Perhaps their plea for mercy will come before the LORD, and each one will return from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that the LORD has spoken against this people.”
36:8Then Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the house of the LORD.
36:9Then it came to pass, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD for all the people in Jerusalem and for all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
36:10Then Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the LORD, in the hearing of all the people.
36:11Then Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll.
36:12Then he went down to the house of the king, to the chamber of the scribe; and behold, all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the officials.
36:13And Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.
36:14Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” And Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.
36:15Then they said to him, “Please sit down and read it in our hearing.” And Baruch read it in their hearing.
36:16And when they heard all the words, they looked in fear at one another and said to Baruch, “We shall surely declare all these words to the king.”
36:17And they asked Baruch, saying, “Please tell us: How did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?”
36:18Then Baruch said to them, “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them on the scroll with ink.”
36:19Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”
36:20Then they went to the king in the court; and they deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and declared all the words in the hearing of the king.
36:21Then the king sent Jehudi to take the scroll; and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the officials who were standing beside the king.
36:22And the king was sitting in the winter apartment, in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him.
36:23And when Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut them off with the scribe’s knife and cast them into the fire in the brazier, until the whole scroll was consumed in the fire in the brazier.
36:24Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments.
36:25And though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them.
36:26And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them.
36:27Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, saying:
36:28“Again, take for yourself another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
36:29And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says the LORD: You have burned this scroll and said, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon shall surely come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from it?’
36:30Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and to the cold by night.
36:31And I will punish him, his seed, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah all the calamity that I spoke against them. But they did not listen.”
36:32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah the scribe; and he wrote upon it, at Jeremiah’s dictation, all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Chapter 37

37:1Then Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah.
37:2But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that He spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.
37:3Then Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray for us to the LORD our God.”
37:4Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.
37:5And Pharaoh’s army came out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were laying siege to Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
37:6Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
37:7“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to seek Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which came out to help you, shall return to Egypt, its own land.
37:8And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city, and they shall capture it and burn it with fire.
37:9Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans shall surely go away from us,’ for they shall not go away.
37:10For even if you had struck down the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only wounded men remained among them, each man would rise in his tent and burn this city with fire.”
37:11And it came to pass, when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,
37:12that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin, to claim his share there among the people.
37:13And when he was at the Gate of Benjamin, an officer of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”
37:14Then Jeremiah said, “It is false! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him; and Irijah laid hold of Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.
37:15Then the officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison, in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made it into a prison.
37:16So Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and remained there many days.
37:17Then King Zedekiah sent for him; and the king questioned him in his house in secret, saying, “Is there a word from the LORD?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
37:18Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
37:19And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon shall not come against you or against this land’?
37:20And now, please hear, O my lord the king. Please let my plea for mercy come before you, and do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
37:21Then King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah be committed to the Court of the Guard; and they gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. And Jeremiah remained in the Court of the Guard.

Chapter 38

38:1Then Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying,
38:2“Thus says the LORD: He who remains in this city shall die by sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be his spoil.
38:3Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it.”
38:4Then the officials said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death, because he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but their harm.”
38:5Then King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hand, for the king can do nothing to oppose you.”
38:6Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the Court of the Guard; and they let Jeremiah down with cords. There was no water in the cistern, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
38:7Then Ebed-Melech the Cushite, a court official in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin.
38:8And Ebed-Melech went out from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying,
38:9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the cistern; and he will die there of hunger, for there is no more bread in the city.”
38:10Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, “Take thirty men with you from here, and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.”
38:11So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and entered the king’s house, to a place below the treasury, and took from there worn-out garments and rags, and let them down by cords into the cistern to Jeremiah.
38:12Then Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out garments and rags under your arms, beneath the cords.” And Jeremiah did so.
38:13Then they drew Jeremiah up with the cords and brought him up out of the cistern; and Jeremiah remained in the Court of the Guard.
38:14Then King Zedekiah sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to him at the third entrance into the house of the LORD; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; do not hide anything from me.”
38:15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I advise you, you will not listen to me.”
38:16And King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “As the LORD lives, who gave us life, I will not put you to death or give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
38:17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, God of Hosts, God of Israel: If you will surely go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, you and your house.
38:18But if you will not go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.”
38:19Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I fear the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and they mock me.”
38:20Then Jeremiah said, “They shall not give you up. Please listen to the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared.
38:21But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that the LORD has shown me:
38:22Behold, all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah shall be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon; and they shall say, ‘The men who sought your peace have deceived you and prevailed over you; your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned back.’
38:23And all your wives and your sons shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape from their hand; for you shall be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.”
38:24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.
38:25And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Now tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’
38:26then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my plea for mercy before the king, that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
38:27Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him; and he answered them according to all the words that the king had commanded. And they ceased speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard.
38:28And Jeremiah remained in the Court of the Guard until the day Jerusalem was captured; and he was there when Jerusalem was captured.

Chapter 39

39:1In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and laid siege to it.
39:2In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was breached.
39:3Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim the chief official, Nergal-Sharezer the chief magician, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.
39:4And when Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled and went out by night from the city, by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.
39:5Then the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment upon him.
39:6Then the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; and the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.
39:7And he blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to bring him to Babylon.
39:8And the Chaldeans burned with fire the king’s house and the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
39:9Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, carried away to Babylon the remnant of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained.
39:10But Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah the poor people who had nothing, and on that day he gave them vineyards and fields.
39:11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, saying,
39:12“Take him, and look after him, and do no harm to him; but do with him whatever he tells you.”
39:13Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, Nebushazban the chief official, Nergal-Sharezer the chief magician, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent men,
39:14and they took Jeremiah out of the Court of the Guard and gave him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to take him home; and he dwelt among the people.
39:15And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was detained in the Court of the Guard, saying:
39:16“Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing My words upon this city for harm and not for good; and they shall be fulfilled before you in that day.
39:17But I will deliver you in that day,” an utterance of the LORD, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men whom you fear.
39:18For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be your spoil, because you have trusted in Me,” an utterance of the LORD.

Chapter 40

40:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, released him at Ramah, having taken him while he was bound in chains among all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried away to Babylon.
40:2Then the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God spoke this calamity against this place.
40:3And the LORD has brought it about and done as He spoke, because you sinned against the LORD and did not listen to His voice; therefore this thing has come upon you.
40:4And now, behold, I have freed you today from the chains that were on your hands. If it is good in your sight to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it is wrong in your sight to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, all the land is before you; go wherever it is good and right in your sight to go.”
40:5While Jeremiah had not yet turned away, Nebuzaradan said, “Return then to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it is right in your sight to go.” And the captain of the guard gave him a ration and a gift, and sent him away.
40:6Then Jeremiah came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.
40:7Then all the commanders of the troops who were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land, and that he had entrusted to his care the men, women, and children, and some of the poor of the land who had not been carried away to Babylon.
40:8Then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
40:9And Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
40:10And as for me, behold, I will dwell in Mizpah to stand before the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in the cities you have taken.”
40:11And all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and in all the other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah, and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.
40:12Then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven, and came into the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and summer fruit in great abundance.
40:13And Johanan son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the troops who were in the field, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
40:14Then they said to him, “Do you truly know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.
40:15And Johanan son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, saying, “Please let me go and strike Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one shall know. Why should he take your life, so that all Judah who are gathered to you are scattered, and the remnant of Judah perishes?”
40:16Then Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsehood concerning Ishmael.”

Chapter 41

41:1Then it came to pass, in the seventh month, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.
41:2Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah rose up, and the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword and put him to death—the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
41:3And Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
41:4Then it came to pass, on the second day after Gedaliah had been put to death, while no one knew of it,
41:5that eighty men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, with their beards shaved, their garments torn, and cuts upon their bodies, carrying grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring to the house of the LORD.
41:6Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went; and when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”
41:7And when they came into the midst of the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah slaughtered them and cast them into the cistern, he and the men who were with him.
41:8But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have hidden stores in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey.” So he refrained and did not put them to death among their brothers.
41:9And the cistern into which Ishmael cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down because of Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made because of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
41:10Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizpah—the daughters of the king and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and went to cross over to the Ammonites.
41:11Then Johanan son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the troops who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done.
41:12And they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah; and they found him by the great pool at Gibeon.
41:13And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops who were with him, they rejoiced.
41:14Then all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.
41:15But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
41:16Then Johanan son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the troops who were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had brought back from Ishmael son of Nethaniah, after Ishmael had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam: the men of war, the women, the children, and the court officials whom he had brought back from Gibeon.
41:17And they went and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham, which was near Bethlehem, intending to enter Egypt,
41:18because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

Chapter 42

42:1Then all the commanders of the troops, Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest drew near.
42:2And they said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray for us to the LORD your God for all this remnant; for we have been left only a few out of many, as your eyes see us.
42:3And let the LORD your God declare to us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”
42:4Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words; and whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare to you. I will not withhold a word from you.”
42:5And they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to every word with which the LORD your God sends you to us.
42:6Whether it is good or bad, we will listen to the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God.”
42:7Then it came to pass, at the end of ten days, that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.
42:8Then he called Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the troops who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest.
42:9And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before Him:
42:10If you will surely remain in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I have relented concerning the calamity that I have done to you.
42:11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not be afraid of him,” an utterance of the LORD, “for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand.
42:12And I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your own land.
42:13But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ refusing to listen to the voice of the LORD your God,
42:14saying, ‘No, but we will enter the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, hear no sound of a horn, and hunger for no bread; and there we will dwell’—
42:15now therefore hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: If you firmly set your faces to enter Egypt and go to sojourn there,
42:16then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you there in Egypt, and there you shall die.
42:17And so shall it be with all the men who have set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there: they shall die by sword, by famine, and by pestilence; and none of them shall survive or escape the calamity that I am bringing upon them.
42:18For thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: As My anger and My fury were poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My fury shall be poured out upon you when you enter Egypt; and you shall become an object of cursing, a horror, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.
42:19The LORD has spoken against you, O remnant of Judah: Do not enter Egypt. Know for certain that I have warned you today.
42:20For you have led yourselves astray at the cost of your lives, when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and according to all that the LORD our God says, so declare to us, and we will do it.’
42:21And I have declared it to you today, but you have not listened to the voice of the LORD your God or to anything with which He sent me to you.
42:22And now, know for certain that by sword, by famine, and by pestilence you shall die in the place where you desire to go to sojourn.”

Chapter 43

43:1Then it came to pass, when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them—all these words—
43:2that Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the insolent men spoke to Jeremiah, saying, “You are speaking falsehood. The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not enter Egypt to sojourn there.’
43:3For Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us, in order to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to put us to death and to carry us away to Babylon.”
43:4So Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the troops, and all the people did not listen to the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.
43:5Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah:
43:6the men, the women, the children, the daughters of the king, and every person whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, together with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.
43:7And they entered the land of Egypt, for they did not listen to the voice of the LORD; and they came as far as Tahpanhes.
43:8Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
43:9“Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the mortar in the pavement at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah.
43:10And you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I am sending for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden; and he shall spread his royal canopy over them.
43:11And he shall come and strike the land of Egypt: those destined for death shall go to death; those destined for captivity, to captivity; and those destined for the sword, to the sword.
43:12And I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall wrap the land of Egypt around himself as a shepherd wraps his garment; and he shall go out from there in peace.
43:13And he shall break the pillars of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt, and he shall burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.”

Chapter 44

44:1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who were dwelling in the land of Egypt—those dwelling in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros—saying,
44:2“Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: You have seen all the calamity that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and behold, they are a desolation to this day, and no one dwells in them,
44:3because of the wickedness they committed, provoking Me to anger by going to burn incense and serve other gods whom neither they, you, nor your fathers knew.
44:4And I sent to you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying, ‘Please do not do this abomination that I hate.’
44:5But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn back from their wickedness and cease burning incense to other gods.
44:6Therefore My fury and My anger were poured out, and it burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a ruin and a desolation, as they are this day.
44:7And now, thus says the LORD, God of Hosts, God of Israel: Why are you committing this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from Judah man and woman, infant and nursing child, so as to leave yourselves no remnant,
44:8by provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to sojourn, so as to cut yourselves off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
44:9Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
44:10They have not humbled themselves to this day, nor have they been afraid, nor have they walked in My law and in My statutes, which I set before you and before your fathers.
44:11Therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I am setting My face against you for harm, even to cut off all Judah.
44:12And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to enter the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed in the land of Egypt. They shall fall by sword and be consumed by famine; from the least even to the greatest, they shall die by sword and by famine. And they shall become an object of cursing, a horror, a curse, and a reproach.
44:13And I will punish those dwelling in the land of Egypt, as I punished Jerusalem, with sword, with famine, and with pestilence.
44:14And none of the remnant of Judah who entered the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or survive so as to return to the land of Judah, to which they set their hearts on returning and dwelling; for none shall return except fugitives.”
44:15Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by—a great assembly—even all the people dwelling in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying:
44:16“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the Name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.
44:17For we will surely perform every word that has gone out from our lips: to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done—we and our fathers, our kings and our officials—in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, prospered, and saw no calamity.
44:18But from the time we ceased to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things and have been consumed by sword and by famine.”
44:19“And when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to fashion her image, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands?”
44:20Then Jeremiah said to all the people—to the men, to the women, and to all the people who had answered him—saying,
44:21“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land—did not the LORD remember it, and did it not come to His mind?
44:22And the LORD could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations that you had committed; therefore your land has become a ruin, a horror, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
44:23Because you burned incense, sinned against the LORD, did not listen to the voice of the LORD, and did not walk in His law, His statutes, or His testimonies, therefore this calamity has come upon you, as it is this day.”
44:24Then Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.
44:25Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ By all means confirm your vows and perform your vows.
44:26Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great Name, says the LORD, that My Name shall no longer be proclaimed by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As Lord, the LORD, lives.’
44:27Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by sword and by famine until they are consumed.
44:28And the survivors of the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah who came into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs.
44:29And this shall be the sign to you,” an utterance of the LORD, “that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words shall surely stand against you for harm:
44:30thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.”

Chapter 45

45:1The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
45:2“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, concerning you, O Baruch:
45:3You have said, ‘Woe to me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my sighing, and I have found no rest.’
45:4Thus you shall say to him: Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am tearing down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—even this whole land.
45:5And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am bringing calamity upon all flesh,” an utterance of the LORD, “but I will give your life to you as spoil in all places where you go.”

Chapter 46

46:1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
46:2Concerning Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
46:3“Prepare shield and large shield, and draw near to battle.
46:4Harness the horses and mount, O riders; take your positions with helmets. Polish the javelins; put on the coats of mail.
46:5Why have I seen them dismayed and turning backward? Their mighty men are beaten down; they have fled for refuge and do not look back. Terror is on every side,” an utterance of the LORD.
46:6“Let not the swift flee, nor the mighty escape. Northward, beside the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen.
46:7Who is this rising like the Nile, whose waters surge like rivers?
46:8Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters surge like rivers. And it says, ‘I will rise; I will cover the land; I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it.’
46:9Charge, O horses; rage, O chariots. Go forth, O mighty men: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, and Lud, who handles and draws the bow.
46:10And that day belongs to the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on His adversaries. And the sword shall devour and be satisfied, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for there is a sacrifice for the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, in the land of the north, beside the Euphrates River.
46:11Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you have multiplied medicines; there is no healing for you.
46:12The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land; for warrior has stumbled against warrior, and together they have both fallen.”
46:13The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
46:14“Declare it in Egypt, and announce it in Migdol; announce it in Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say, ‘Stand firm and prepare yourself, for the sword has devoured those around you.’
46:15Why has your mighty bull been swept away? He did not stand, because the LORD thrust him down.
46:16He made many stumble; indeed, each fell upon his neighbor. And they said, ‘Arise, and let us return to our own people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressing sword.’
46:17There they cried, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has missed the appointed time.’
46:18As I live,” an utterance of the King, whose Name is the LORD of Hosts, “surely as Tabor is among the mountains and Carmel is by the sea, so he shall come.
46:19Prepare your baggage for exile, O inhabitant, daughter of Egypt; for Memphis shall become a desolation, burned and without inhabitant.
46:20Egypt is a beautiful heifer; a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
46:21Even her mercenaries in her midst are like stall-fed calves; for they also have turned and fled together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment.
46:22Her voice is like a serpent’s hiss, for they advance with an army and come against her with axes, like those who cut trees.
46:23They shall cut down her forest,” an utterance of the LORD, “though it cannot be penetrated; for they are more numerous than locusts and cannot be counted.
46:24The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she has been given into the hand of the people of the north.
46:25The LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, has said: “Behold, I am punishing Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods, her kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.
46:26And I will give them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants; and afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in days of old,” an utterance of the LORD.
46:27“And you, do not be afraid, My servant Jacob,” an utterance of the LORD, “nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I am saving you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and be at rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
46:28Do not be afraid, My servant Jacob,” an utterance of the LORD, “for I am with you. For I will make an end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make an end. I will discipline you with justice, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

Chapter 47

47:1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza:
47:2“Thus says the LORD: Behold, waters are rising from the north, and they shall become an overflowing torrent; and they shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. And men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
47:3At the thunder of the stamping hooves of his stallions, at the rushing of his chariots, at the noise of his wheels, fathers do not turn back to their sons, because their hands are feeble,
47:4because of the day that has come to devastate all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains. For the LORD is devastating the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
47:5Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has been silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself?
47:6Alas, sword of the LORD, how long until you are quiet? Gather yourself into your sheath; rest and be still.
47:7How can you be quiet, when the LORD has commanded you? Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—there He has appointed you.”

Chapter 48

48:1Concerning Moab: “Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated. Kiriathaim is put to shame and captured; the stronghold is put to shame and shattered.
48:2The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her: ‘Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation.’ You also, O Madmen, shall be silenced; the sword shall pursue you.
48:3A sound of crying comes from Horonaim: devastation and great destruction.
48:4Moab is shattered; her little ones have made their cry heard.
48:5For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping bitterly; and on the descent to Horonaim an anguished cry of destruction is heard.
48:6Flee; save your lives, and be like a shrub in the desert.
48:7For because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be captured; and Chemosh shall go into exile, his priests and his princes together.
48:8And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape. The valley shall perish, and the plateau shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.
48:9Give wings to Moab, that she may fly away; and her cities shall become a desolation, without inhabitant.
48:10Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD negligently, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from blood.
48:11Moab has been at ease from his youth and settled upon his dregs. He has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; therefore his taste remains in him, and his fragrance has not changed.
48:12Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will send those who pour him out; they shall pour him out, empty his vessels, and shatter his jars.
48:13And Moab shall be ashamed because of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed because of Bethel, their confidence.
48:14How can you say, ‘We are mighty men and men of valor for battle’?
48:15Moab is devastated; one has gone up against her cities, and the choicest of her young men have gone down to slaughter,” an utterance of the King, whose Name is the LORD of Hosts.
48:16The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hastens swiftly.
48:17Mourn for him, all who are around him, and all who know his name. Say, “How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!”
48:18Come down from glory and sit on parched ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you and has destroyed your fortifications.
48:19Stand by the road and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer. Ask the man who flees and the woman who escapes; say, “What has happened?”
48:20Moab is put to shame, for it is shattered. Wail and cry out; declare by the Arnon that Moab is devastated.
48:21And judgment has come upon the land of the plateau: upon Holon, Jahaz, and Mephaath;
48:22upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim;
48:23upon Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,
48:24Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
48:25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” an utterance of the LORD.
48:26“Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against the LORD. Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall become a derision.
48:27And was Israel not a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you spoke of him, you shook your head.
48:28Forsake the cities and dwell in the rock, you inhabitants of Moab; and be like a dove that makes her nest on the sides of the mouth of a chasm.
48:29We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is exceedingly proud—of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the exaltation of his heart.
48:30I know his insolence,” an utterance of the LORD, “but it is empty; his boasts are not true, and what they do is not right.
48:31Therefore I wail for Moab; for all Moab I cry out. For the men of Kir-hareseth I moan.
48:32With the weeping of Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah. Your branches crossed the sea; they reached as far as the Sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit and your harvest.
48:33Gladness and joy are removed from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses; no one treads with a shout—the shouting is no shout of joy.
48:34From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh, they have raised their voice; from Jahaz to Zoar, to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate.
48:35And I will cause to cease in Moab,” an utterance of the LORD, “the one who offers upon the high place and the one who burns incense to his god.
48:36Therefore My heart moans like flutes for Moab, and My heart moans like flutes for the men of Kir-hareseth; therefore the abundance they gained has perished.
48:37For every head is bald, and every beard is clipped; upon all hands are cuts, and sackcloth is upon the waist.
48:38On all the rooftops of Moab and in her squares there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” an utterance of the LORD.
48:39“How it is shattered! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! Moab has become a derision and a terror to all around him.”
48:40For thus says the LORD: “Behold, one shall fly like an eagle and spread his wings over Moab.
48:41Kerioth is captured, and the strongholds are seized; and the heart of the mighty men of Moab in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.
48:42And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he magnified himself against the LORD.
48:43Terror, the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab,” an utterance of the LORD.
48:44“He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for I will bring upon her, upon Moab, the year of their punishment,” an utterance of the LORD.
48:45In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand powerless; for fire has gone forth from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon. It consumes the corner of Moab and the crown of the sons of tumult.
48:46Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished. For your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters have gone into captivity.
48:47Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days,” an utterance of the LORD. Thus far is the judgment concerning Moab.

Chapter 49

49:1Concerning the Ammonites: “Thus says the LORD: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then has Milcom possessed Gad, and his people dwelt in its cities?
49:2Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will cause the shout of battle to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her surrounding towns shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,” says the LORD.
49:3Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, daughters of Rabbah; gird yourselves with sackcloth. Lament, and run to and fro among the walls; for Milcom shall go into exile, his priests and his princes together.
49:4Why do you boast in your valleys, your flowing valley, O faithless daughter, who trusts in her treasures, saying, “Who shall come against me?”
49:5Behold, I am bringing terror upon you,” an utterance of the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, “from all around you; and each of you shall be driven out headlong, and no one shall gather the fugitives.
49:6But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” an utterance of the LORD.
49:7Concerning Edom: “Thus says the LORD of Hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the discerning? Has their wisdom decayed?
49:8Flee; turn back; dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan. For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time when I punish him.
49:9If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only until they had enough?
49:10But I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he cannot conceal himself. His offspring are destroyed, along with his brothers and his neighbors; and he is no more.
49:11Leave your orphans; I will preserve them alive. And let your widows trust in Me.”
49:12For thus says the LORD: “Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink the cup shall surely drink it; and are you the one who shall go entirely unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.
49:13For I have sworn by Myself,” an utterance of the LORD, “that Bozrah shall become a horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all her cities shall become enduring ruins.”
49:14I have heard a report from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: “Gather yourselves and come against her, and rise up for battle.”
49:15For behold, I have made you small among the nations, despised among men.
49:16The terror you inspired and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dweller in the clefts of the rock, who holds the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, from there I will bring you down,” an utterance of the LORD.
49:17And Edom shall become a desolation; everyone who passes by her shall be astonished and hiss because of all her wounds.
49:18As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns,” says the LORD, “no one shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in her.
49:19Behold, he comes up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against an enduring pasture; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And whoever is chosen, I will appoint over her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? And who is the shepherd who will stand before Me?
49:20Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has counseled against Edom, and His purposes that He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock shall drag them away; surely their pasture shall be appalled at their fate.
49:21At the sound of their fall the earth shakes; the sound of their cry is heard at the Sea of Reeds.
49:22Behold, He comes up and flies like an eagle, and spreads His wings over Bozrah; and the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.”
49:23Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report. They melt in fear; there is anxiety by the sea, which cannot be quiet.
49:24Damascus has become feeble; she turns to flee, and panic seizes her. Distress and pangs have taken hold of her, like a woman in labor.
49:25How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of My joy?
49:26Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” an utterance of the LORD of Hosts.
49:27“And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”
49:28Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down: “Thus says the LORD: Arise, go up against Kedar, and devastate the sons of the east.
49:29They shall take their tents and their flocks, their curtains and all their vessels; they shall carry away their camels for themselves. And they shall call out concerning them, ‘Terror on every side!’
49:30Flee; wander far away; dwell deep, O inhabitants of Hazor,” an utterance of the LORD, “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you and devised a plan against you.
49:31Arise, go up against a nation at ease, dwelling securely,” an utterance of the LORD, “which has neither gates nor bars; they dwell alone.
49:32And their camels shall become plunder, and the multitude of their livestock a spoil. I will scatter to every wind those who clip the corners of their hair, and from every side I will bring their calamity,” an utterance of the LORD.
49:33“And Hazor shall become a habitation of jackals, a desolation forever; no one shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in it.”
49:34The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
49:35“Thus says the LORD of Hosts: Behold, I am breaking the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might.
49:36And I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four ends of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds; and there shall be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam do not come.
49:37And I will shatter Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their lives. I will bring calamity upon them, My fierce anger,” an utterance of the LORD. “And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
49:38And I will set My throne in Elam, and I will destroy king and princes from there,” an utterance of the LORD.
49:39“But it shall come to pass in the latter days that I will restore the fortunes of Elam,” an utterance of the LORD.

Chapter 50

50:1The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
50:2“Declare it among the nations and proclaim it; lift up a banner and proclaim it; do not conceal it. Say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Merodach is shattered. Her idols are put to shame; her images are shattered.’
50:3For a nation from the north has come up against her; it shall make her land a desolation, and there shall be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have fled; they are gone.
50:4In those days and at that time,” an utterance of the LORD, “the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together. They shall go along weeping, and they shall seek the LORD their God.
50:5They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in an enduring covenant that shall not be forgotten.’
50:6My people have been a lost flock; their shepherds caused them to go astray, leading them away upon the mountains. They went from mountain to hill; they forgot their resting place.
50:7All who found them devoured them, and their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
50:8Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out from the land of the Chaldeans; be like male goats before the flock.
50:9For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north. They shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be captured. Their arrows are like those of a skillful warrior; none returns empty.
50:10And Chaldea shall become plunder; all who plunder her shall be satisfied,” an utterance of the LORD.
50:11“Because you rejoice and exult, O plunderers of My inheritance; because you frolic like a heifer in the grass and neigh like stallions,
50:12your mother shall be greatly ashamed; she who bore you shall be put to shame. Behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
50:13Because of the wrath of the LORD, it shall not be inhabited, but shall become a complete desolation. Everyone who passes by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss because of all her wounds.
50:14Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her; spare no arrow, for she has sinned against the LORD.
50:15Raise a shout against her all around. She has surrendered; her foundations have fallen, and her walls are thrown down. For this is the vengeance of the LORD. Take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her.
50:16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who handles the sickle at harvest time. Because of the destroying sword, each shall turn to his own people, and each shall flee to his own land.
50:17Israel is a scattered sheep; lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.
50:18Therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I am punishing the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria.
50:19And I will bring Israel back to his pasture, and he shall graze on Carmel and Bashan; and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and in Gilead.
50:20In those days and at that time,” an utterance of the LORD, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will forgive those whom I preserve.
50:21Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Slay and devote their remnant to destruction,” an utterance of the LORD, “and do according to all that I have commanded you.
50:22The sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
50:23How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and shattered! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
50:24I set a snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon, though you did not know it. You were found and also seized, because you contended against the LORD.
50:25The LORD has opened His armory and brought out the weapons of His indignation; for the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, has a work in the land of the Chaldeans.
50:26Come against her from the farthest border; open her storehouses. Pile her up like heaps and devote her to destruction; let no remnant remain to her.
50:27Slay all her young bulls; let them go down to slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.
50:28A sound of fugitives and escaped ones comes from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of His temple.
50:29Summon archers against Babylon, all who draw the bow. Encamp against her all around; let her have no escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has acted proudly against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
50:30Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be silenced in that day,” an utterance of the LORD.
50:31“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” an utterance of the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, “for your day has come, the time when I punish you.
50:32And the arrogant one shall stumble and fall, and no one shall raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all around him.”
50:33Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “The sons of Israel are oppressed, together with the sons of Judah; and all who took them captive hold them fast and refuse to release them.
50:34Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His Name. He will surely plead their cause, to give rest to the earth and unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
50:35A sword is upon the Chaldeans,” an utterance of the LORD, “and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, upon her princes and her wise men.
50:36A sword is upon her boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.
50:37A sword is upon her horses, her chariots, and all the mixed peoples in her midst, and they shall become like women. A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be plundered.
50:38A drought is upon her waters, and they shall dry up; for it is a land of carved images, and they go mad over idols.
50:39Therefore desert creatures shall dwell there with jackals, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again be inhabited, nor shall she be dwelt in from generation to generation.
50:40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns,” an utterance of the LORD, “no one shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in her.
50:41Behold, a people is coming from the north, a great nation; and many kings are stirred up from the remotest parts of the earth.
50:42They seize bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, arrayed as one man for battle against you, O daughter of Babylon.
50:43The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands have grown feeble. Distress has seized him, pain like a woman in labor.
50:44Behold, he comes up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against an enduring pasture; but I will suddenly make them run away from her. And whoever is chosen, I will appoint over her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? And who is the shepherd who will stand before Me?
50:45Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has counseled against Babylon, and His purposes that He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of the flock shall drag them away; surely their pasture shall be appalled at their fate.
50:46At the sound of Babylon being captured, the earth shakes, and a cry is heard among the nations.”

Chapter 51

51:1Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am stirring up a destroying wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.
51:2And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they shall winnow her and empty her land; for they shall come against her from every side in the day of calamity.
51:3Let the archer not bend his bow, nor let him rise in his armor. Have no pity on her young men; devote all her army to destruction.
51:4And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and those pierced through in her streets.
51:5For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, by the LORD of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
51:6Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each man save his life. Do not perish because of her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He is rendering repayment to her.
51:7Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, making all the earth drunk. The nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.
51:8Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered. Wail for her; take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed.
51:9We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go, each to his own land; for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the clouds.
51:10The LORD has brought forth our vindication. Come, and let us recount in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
51:11Sharpen the arrows; fill the quivers. The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of Media, for His purpose is against Babylon, to destroy her. For this is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of His temple.
51:12Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon; strengthen the watch, station the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes. For the LORD has both purposed and done what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
51:13O you who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your dishonest gain.
51:14The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you with men like locusts, and they shall raise a shout over you.”
51:15He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.
51:16When He gives forth His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens. He causes vapors to rise from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
51:17Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast-metal image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
51:18They are vanity, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
51:19The 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.
51:20You are My war club and weapon of war; and with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms.
51:21With you I shatter horse and rider; with you I shatter chariot and charioteer.
51:22With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter old and young; with you I shatter young man and virgin.
51:23With you I shatter shepherd and flock; with you I shatter farmer and his team; with you I shatter governors and prefects.
51:24And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion before your eyes,” an utterance of the LORD.
51:25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,” an utterance of the LORD, “you who destroy the whole earth. I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.
51:26And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner or a stone for foundations; for you shall become enduring desolations,” an utterance of the LORD.
51:27“Lift up a banner in the land; blow the trumpet among the nations; consecrate nations against her; summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; cause the horses to come up like bristling locusts.
51:28Consecrate nations against her—the kings of Media, its governors and all its prefects, and all the land of their dominion.
51:29Then the earth shakes and writhes, for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand firm, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
51:30The mighty men of Babylon have ceased to fight; they remain in the strongholds. Their strength has failed; they have become like women. Her dwelling places are burned; her bars are broken.
51:31Runner runs to meet runner, and messenger to meet messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city is captured from end to end;
51:32that the fords are seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified.
51:33For thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.”
51:34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel. He has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies and cast me out.
51:35Let the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” the inhabitant of Zion shall say; “and let my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem shall say.
51:36Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am pleading your cause and taking vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.
51:37And Babylon shall become heaps, a habitation of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
51:38They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
51:39When they are inflamed, I will set their feast and make them drunk, so that they exult and then sleep an enduring sleep and never awaken,” an utterance of the LORD.
51:40“I will bring them down like lambs to slaughter, like rams and male goats.
51:41How Sheshach is captured; the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
51:42The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.
51:43Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land where no one dwells and through which no son of man passes.
51:44And I will punish Bel in Babylon and bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon has fallen.
51:45Come out from her midst, O My people, and let each save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD.
51:46And let not your heart grow faint, nor be afraid at the report heard in the land. A report shall come in one year, and after it another report in the next year; and violence shall be in the land, ruler against ruler.
51:47Therefore, behold, days are coming when I will punish the carved images of Babylon; and all her land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.
51:48Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall shout for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against her from the north,” an utterance of the LORD.
51:49“Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
51:50You who have escaped the sword, go on; do not stand still. Remember the LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come to your heart.
51:51We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; shame covers our faces, for strangers have entered the holy places of the house of the LORD.
51:52Therefore, behold, days are coming,” an utterance of the LORD, “when I will punish her carved images, and the wounded shall groan throughout her land.
51:53Though Babylon ascends to the heavens, and though she fortifies her lofty stronghold, destroyers shall come from Me against her,” an utterance of the LORD.
51:54“A sound of crying comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.
51:55For the LORD is destroying Babylon and silencing her loud voice. Their waves roar like many waters; the sound of their voice rises.
51:56For a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon; and her mighty men are captured, their bows are shattered. For the LORD is a God of recompense; He will surely repay.
51:57And I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her prefects, and her mighty men drunk; and they shall sleep an enduring sleep and never awaken,” an utterance of the King, whose Name is the LORD of Hosts.
51:58Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “The broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly demolished, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”
51:59The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.
51:60And Jeremiah wrote in one scroll all the calamity that would come upon Babylon, all these words written concerning Babylon.
51:61Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,
51:62and say, ‘O LORD, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that none shall dwell in it, from man to beast, but it shall become an enduring desolation.’
51:63And it shall come to pass, when you finish reading this scroll, that you shall tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,
51:64and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink and not rise again, because of the calamity that I am bringing upon her; and they shall grow weary.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Chapter 52

52:1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
52:2And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
52:3For through the anger of the LORD this came upon Jerusalem and Judah, until He cast them from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
52:4And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siegeworks all around it.
52:5And the city remained under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
52:6In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.
52:7Then the city wall was breached, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night through the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city; and they went toward the Arabah.
52:8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.
52:9Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment upon him.
52:10And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah at Riblah.
52:11Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon; and he put him in prison until the day of his death.
52:12And in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
52:13And he burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every prominent house he burned with fire.
52:14And the whole army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.
52:15And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard deported some of the poorest people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.
52:16But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
52:17And the Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD, the stands, and the bronze Sea that was in the house of the LORD, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.
52:18And they took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels used in the service.
52:19The captain of the guard also took the basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups—whatever was made of gold or silver.
52:20As for the two pillars, the one Sea, and the twelve bronze oxen beneath the Sea, along with the stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.
52:21As for the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a cord of twelve cubits went around it; its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow.
52:22And upon it was a bronze capital five cubits high. Around the capital were latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze; and the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates.
52:23And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates upon the latticework all around were one hundred.
52:24Then the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
52:25And from the city he took one official who was in command of the men of war, seven men admitted to the king’s presence who were found in the city, the chief scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found within the city.
52:26And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
52:27And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was exiled from its land.
52:28This is the number of people whom Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Jews;
52:29in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred thirty-two persons from Jerusalem;
52:30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard deported seven hundred forty-five Jews. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.
52:31And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison.
52:32And he spoke kindly to him and set his seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
52:33And Jehoiachin changed his prison garments and ate regularly at the king’s table all the days of his life.
52:34And his allowance—a continual allowance—was given to him by the king of Babylon, the portion for each day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.