For behold, this day do I make thee a strong fenced town, an iron pillar, and a wall of steel against the whole land; against the kings and mighty men of Judah; against the priests and people of the land.

And when I had brought you into a pleasant well builded land, that ye might enjoy the fruits and all the commodities of the same: ye went forth and defiled my land, and brought mine heritage to abomination.

“For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience]
And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you];
You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’
For on every high hill
And under every green tree
You have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute.

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.

Therefore smitten them hath a lion out of the forest, A wolf of the deserts doth spoil them, A leopard is watching over their cities, Every one who is going out of them is torn, For many have been their transgressions, Mighty have been their backslidings.

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.

They have become fat and sleek.
They have also excelled in evil matters.
They have not taken up cases,
such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,
and they have not defended the rights of the needy.

"This is what the Lord says: 'Beware! An army is coming from a land in the north. A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

The Lord said to the people of Judah, "The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: 'You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!

They have also builded an altar at Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom: that they might burn their sons and daughters - which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought.

From Dan hath been heard the snorting of his horses, From the voice of the neighings of his mighty ones, Trembled hath all the land, And they come in and consume the land and its fulness, The city and the inhabitants in it.

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

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

And they bend their tongue, their bow is a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah!

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

O thou beloved, why doest thou so shameful great blasphemies in my house? Even as though that holy flesh might absolve thee, specially when thou hast made thy boast of thy wickedness.

I, the Lord, once called you a thriving olive tree, one that produced beautiful fruit. But I will set you on fire, fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. Then all your branches will be good for nothing.

The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding. Then he showed me what the people were doing.

Righteous are You, O Jehovah, that I might contend with You; yet let me speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those happy who deal treacherously?

For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

Can the Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,
you who are instructed in evil.

I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.

“O Lord, though our many sins testify against us” [prays Jeremiah],
“Act now [for us and] for Your name’s sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]!
For our backslidings are countless;
We have sinned against You.

Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

“You will say this word to them,
‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely infected wound.

Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.

At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.

Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;

Is evil to be the reward of good? for they have made a deep hole for my soul. Keep in mind how I took my place before you, to say a good word for them so that your wrath might be turned away from them.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

Wherefore, I thought from henceforth not to speak of him, nor to preach anymore in his name. But the word of the LORD was a very burning fire in my heart and in my bones, which when I would have stopped, I might not.

For I have heard the gossip of many people,
“Terror is on every side!
Report him; let’s report him!”
Everyone I trusted watches for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we might prevail against him
and take our vengeance on him.”

But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?

I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, rage, and great wrath.

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

But if they had stood in my council, Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked way and from the wickedness of their doings.

After that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had led away captive Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the mighty men also of Judah, with the workmasters, and cunning men of Jerusalem, unto Babylon. The LORD showed me a vision: Behold, there stood two mounds of figs before the Temple of the LORD.

In the one mound were very good figs, even like as those that be first ripe. In the other mound were very naughty figs, which might not be eaten they were so evil.

Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

The Lord who rules over all says, 'Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. A mighty storm of military destruction is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.'

Perhaps they will listen and return—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

So now, correct your ways and deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God so that He might relent concerning the disaster that He warned about.

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.

And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;

But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death.

"I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, and I give it to whomever I see fit.

For they preach you lies, to bring you far from your land, and that I might cast you out, and destroy you.

For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.

If they're prophets, and if they have a message from the LORD, let them plead with the LORD of the Heavenly Armies so that the utensils that remain in the LORD's Temple, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem might not be taken to Babylon.

and with that said Hananiah, that all the people might hear, "Thus hath the LORD spoken: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, from the neck of all nations; yea, and that within this two years." And so the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also put the wild animals under him.’”

For I know what I have devised for you sayeth the LORD. My thoughts are to give you peace, and not trouble, which I give you already; and that ye might have hope again.

And beside all this, he hath sent us word unto Babylon, and told us plainly, that our captivity shall long endure: that we should build us houses to dwell therein, and to plant us gardens, that we might enjoy the fruit thereof.'

For lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, Saith Yahweh, - and will bring them back into the land which I gave to their fathers that they might possess it.

all loving thee have forgotten thee, Thee they do not seek, For with the stroke of an enemy I smote thee, The chastisement of a fierce one, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins!

What! -- thou criest concerning thy breach! Incurable is thy pain, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins! I have done these to thee.

And his mighty one was from himself, and his ruler shall go forth from his midst.; and I caused him to draw near, and he came near to me: for who this pledging his heart to approach to me? says Jehovah.

Behold, on the other side shall the wrath of the LORD break out as a stormy water, as a mighty whirlwind: and shall fall upon the heads of the ungodly.

Alas! My Lord, Yahweh! Lo! thou thyself, didst make the heavens, and the earth, by thy great might, and by thine outstretched arm, - There is nothing, too wonderful for thee:

Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,

Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt.

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, Shall enter, and Shall set this city on fire, and Shall consume it, - With the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger; For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been nothing but doers of wickedness in my sight from the days of their youth, -

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

then my covenant with my servant David might also be broken so that he wouldn't have a son sitting on his throne, and so also with my servants the Levitical priests.

then I might also reject the seed of Jacob and of My servant David—not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.”

That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:

Yet you backed out [of the covenant] and profaned My Name, and each man took back his servants, male and female, whom had been set free in accordance with their desire, and you brought them into servitude [again] to be your male servants and your female servants.”’

Then read Baruch the words of Jeremiah out of the book within the house of the LORD, out of the treasury of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the Scribe, which is beside the higher loft of the new door of the LORD's house: that all the people might hear.

And they said unto him, "Sit down, and read the book that we may hear also." So Baruch read, that they might hear.

And they went in to the king to the court. but they kept the book in the chamber of Elishama the Scribe, and told the king all the words that he might hear.

So the king sent Jehudi to fetch him the book, which he brought out of Elishama the Scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it, that the king and all the princes, which were about him might hear.

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me."

Then said Johanan the son of Kareah unto Gedaliah in Mizphah these words, secretly, "Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, so that nobody shall know it. Wherefore will he kill thee? That all the Jews which resort unto thee, might be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?"

Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:

and they departed, and dwelt in the khan of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, - that they might go to enter Egypt;

They were afraid of what the Babylonians might do because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

But they gave no attention, and their ears were not open so that they might be turned from their evil-doing and from burning perfume to other gods.

In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

Insomuch that the LORD might no longer suffer the wickedness of your inventions, and the abominable things which ye did? Is not your land desolate and void; yea, and abhorred, so that no man dwelleth therein any more, as it is come to pass this day?

Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.

Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.

“Why have your mighty ones become prostrate?
They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them down.

“The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like [the rustling of] an escaping serpent,
For her foes advance with a mighty army
And come against her like woodcutters with axes.

From the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his mighty ones, From the rushing of his chariot, the noise of his wheels, Fathers have not turned unto sons, From feebleness of hands,

How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war?

“Show sympathy for him, all you [nations] who are around him,
And all you [distant nations] who know his name;
Say, ‘How has the mighty scepter [of national power] been broken,
And the splendid staff [of glory]!’

Moab's might will be crushed. Its power will be broken. I, the Lord, affirm it!

Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.