Now, because you have done all these things," declares the LORD, "I spoke to you over and over again, but you didn't listen. I called to you, but you didn't answer.

"For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," declares the LORD. "They have put their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it.

They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn't command this, and it never entered my mind!

I've listened and I've heard, and what they say is not right. No one repents of his evil and says, "What have I done?' "They all turn to their own course like a horse racing into battle.

The wise men will be put to shame. They'll be dismayed and taken captive. Look, they have rejected the message from the LORD! So what kind of wisdom do they have?

They have treated my people's wound superficially, telling them, "Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.

Are they ashamed because they have done what is repugnant to God? They weren't ashamed at all; they don't even know how to blush! Therefore they'll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they'll be brought down," says the LORD.

"I would have gathered them," declares the LORD, "but there were no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and their leaves were withered. What I've given them has been taken away."'"

Why are we sitting here? Join together! Let's go to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has condemned us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

"Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, for then I would cry day and night for those of my people who have been killed.

People deceive their friends, and they don't tell the truth. They have taught their tongues to tell lies. They exhaust themselves practicing evil.

I'll weep and mourn for the mountains, and lament for the desert pastures, because they are desolate and no one passes through them. They don't hear the lowing of the cattle. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They're gone!

The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my Law that I gave them. They didn't obey me and didn't live according to it.

I'll scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I'll pursue them with the sword until I've finished them off."

For a sound of mourning is heard from Zion: "How we're ruined! Our shame is very great, because we have left the land, because our houses are torn down.'"

My tent is destroyed, and all my tent cords are broken. My sons have gone away from me, they no longer live. There is no one to pitch my tent again and set up my curtains.

Pour out your anger on the nations that don't acknowledge you, and on the families that don't call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured and consumed him; they have devastated his habitation.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old who refused to listen to my words. They followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant which I made with their ancestors."

Judah, you have as many gods as you have towns, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful idols as there are streets in Jerusalem. You burn incense to Baal on these altars.

"What right does my beloved have in my house, when she has carried out many evil schemes? Can sacrificial flesh turn disaster away from you, so you can rejoice?"

They have sown wheat, but they have harvested thorns. They have tired themselves out, but they don't show a profit. Now be disappointed about your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

After I've uprooted them, I'll again have compassion on them. I'll return each one of them to his inheritance, and each one to his own land.

If they have learned the ways of my people well, to swear by my name: "As surely as the LORD lives,' just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they'll be built up among my people.

I'll smash them against each other, even fathers against their sons," declares the LORD. "I'll have no pity, mercy, or compassion when I destroy them."'"

Say to the king and the queen mother, "Come take a lowly seat, because your beautiful crowns have fallen off your heads."

When you say to yourselves, "Why have all these things happened to me?' It's because of the extent of your iniquity that your skirt has been lifted up, and your heels have suffered violence.

"This is your fate, the portion I've measured out for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

LORD,even though our iniquities testify against us, do something for the sake of your name. Indeed, our apostasies are many, and we have sinned against you.

The people to whom they have prophesied will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters. I'll pour out on them the judgment they deserve.'"

Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you despise 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 there was only terror.

We acknowledge, LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our ancestors. Indeed, we have sinned against you.

"Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem, and who will grieve for you? Who will go out of his way to ask about your welfare?

You have deserted me," declares the LORD. "You keep going backward. I'll reach out my hand and destroy you. I'm tired of showing compassion.

The LORD said, "Have I not set you free for a good purpose? Have I not intervened for you with your enemies in times of trouble and times of distress?

I didn't sit in the company of those who have fun, and I didn't rejoice. Because of your hand on me, I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.

"You are not to take a wife, nor are you to have sons or daughters in this place."

"When you speak all these words to this people, they'll say to you, "Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

You have done even more evil than your ancestors, and each one of you is stubbornly following his own evil desires, refusing to listen to me.

I'll throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I'll show you no favor.'

First I'll repay them double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the dead bodies of their detestable images, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations."

You will let go of your inheritance which I gave you, and I'll make you serve your enemies in a land that you don't know. For with my anger you have started a fire that will burn forever.

LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn aside from you will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "Ask the nations. Who has ever heard of anything like this? You have done a most horrible thing, virgin Israel.

Yet my people have forgotten me, and they burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their journey on the ancient paths. They walk on trails, on a way that is not built up.

Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit to take my life. Remember! I stood before you and spoke good on their behalf in order to turn your wrath away from them.

Let a cry be heard from their houses because you have brought a raiding party against them suddenly. For they have dug a pit to capture me and have set traps for my feet.

""This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle. For they have forsaken me and have treated this place as foreign. In it they have burned incense to other gods that neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah knew. They have also filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

"Then you are to break the jug in front of the men who have come with you,

You, Pashhur, and all those living in your house will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon and there you will die. There you and all your loved ones to whom you have falsely prophesied will be buried.'"

because he didn't kill me in the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever pregnant.

Afterwards," declares the LORD, "I'll give King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people those who are left in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine into the control of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, right into the hand of their enemies and the hand of those who want to kill them. He'll execute them with swords and won't pity them. He won't spare them, nor will he have compassion on them."'

This is what the LORD says, house of David: "Judge appropriately every morning, and deliver those who have been robbed from the oppressor, so my anger does not break out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of your evil deeds.

But I'll punish you according to what you have done," declares the LORD. "I'll start a fire in her forest, and it will consume everything around her."'"

This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place.

Then people will respond, "It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.'

Go up to Lebanon and cry out, to Bashan and lift up your voice. Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, "You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven't taken care of them, and now I'm about to take care of you because of your evil deeds," declares the LORD.

Indeed, the land is full of adulterers. Indeed, the land mourns because of the curse; the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The adulterers' lifestyles are evil, and they use their strength for what is not right.

They keep on saying to those who despise me, "The LORD has said, "You will have peace."' To all who stubbornly follow their own desires they say, "Disaster won't come upon you.'

If they had stood in my council and had delivered my words to my people, then they would have turned them back from their evil way, from their evil deeds."

"I've heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said: "I had a dream; I had a dream.'

Let the prophet who has a dream relate the dream, but let whoever receives my message speak my message truthfully. What does straw have in common with wheat?" declares the LORD.

"As for the prophet, the priest, or the people who say, "I have an oracle of the LORD,' I'll judge that person and his household.

But you are to no longer mention the oracle of the LORD, because the oracle is only for the person to whom the LORD gives his message, and you have overturned the words of the living God, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, our God.

Since you're saying, "We have an oracle of the LORD,' therefore this is what the LORD says: He will answer your message with this message, "Burden of the LORD,' and I'll send you away with these words: "Don't say, "Oracle of the LORD."'

"Then when the seventy years have passed, I'll judge the king of Babylon and that nation, declares the LORD, I'll judge the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity and I'll make it a desolation forever.

Indeed many nations and great kings will make slaves even of them, and I'll repay them according to their deeds, according to what they have done.'"

Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD that this house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be without an inhabitant?" Then all the people gathered around Jeremiah at the LORD's Temple.

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.

"Go and say to Hananiah, "This is what the LORD says: "You have broken wooden yokes, but you have made iron yokes in their place."

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you will die because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.'"

Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so they may have sons and daughters. Increase in numbers there, don't decrease.

For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, "plans for well-being, and not for calamity, in order to give you a future and a hope.

"Indeed, you have said, "The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.'

therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to judge Shemaiah from Nehelam along with his descendants. He won't have anyone related to him living among these people. Nor will he see the good that I'll do for my people," declares the LORD, "because he advocated rebellion against the LORD."'"

"Indeed, this is what the LORD says: "We have heard a sound of terror and of fear, and there is no peace.

Ask about this and think about it Can a man give birth to a child? Why then do I see every strong man with his hands on his thighs like a woman giving birth, and all their faces have turned pale?

All your lovers have forgotten you; they don't seek you. Indeed, I've struck you down with the blow of an enemy, with the punishment of a cruel foe because your wickedness is great, and your sins are numerous.

Indeed, I'll bring you healing, and I'll heal you of your wounds,' declares the LORD, "because they have called you an outcast and have said, "It is Zion, no one cares for her!"'"

"This is what the LORD says: "I'm going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings. A city will be rebuilt on its ruins and a palace will sit on its rightful place.

"I've certainly heard Ephraim shuddering with grief as they said, "You have disciplined me, and I'm disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and let me return, for you are the LORD my God.

"Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? Indeed, as often as I've spoken about him, I surely still remember him. Therefore I deeply yearn for him. I'll surely have great compassion on him," declares the LORD.

"In those days people will no longer say, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, but the children's teeth have been set on edge.'

Instead, each person will die for his own iniquity. Everyone who eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge."

This is what the LORD says: "If the heavens could be measured above, or the foundations of the earth be searched out below, then I also would reject all the descendants of Israel because of everything they have done," declares the LORD.

"Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the LORD had said, and he told me, "Please buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin because you have the right to possess it, and the right to redeem it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.' So I knew that this was a message from the LORD.

Look, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it. Because of the sword, famine, and plague, the city has been given over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you said has happened, and you are watching it occur!

Lord, you have told me, "Buy the field for yourself with money and call in witnesses," even though the city is being given over to the Chaldeans.'"

Indeed, the Israelis and Judeans have been doing only evil in my presence since their youth. Indeed, the Israelis have done nothing but provoke me by what they have made with their hands," declares the LORD.

because of all the evil that the Israelis and Judeans have done to provoke me. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, the people of Judah, and those living in Jerusalem have done these things.

They have turned their backs to me rather than their faces. Even though I taught them, teaching them again and again, they didn't listen to accept correction.

I'll cleanse them from all their sin that they have committed against me, and I'll forgive all their sins that they committed against me and by which they rebelled against me.

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.

"Haven't you noticed what these people have been saying? "The LORD rejected the two families that he had chosen!' They have contempt for my people and no longer consider them a nation.

then I might reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David by not taking some of his descendants as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I'll restore their fortunes, and I'll have compassion on them.'"

We have obeyed everything that our ancestor, Rechab's son Jonadab, commanded us. So we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters have drunk no wine all our lives,

and have built no houses to live in. We don't have vineyards, fields, or seed.

We have lived in tents. We have obeyed and have done everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.

Indeed the descendants of Rechab's son Jonadab have carried out the command of their ancestor that he gave them, but this people has not obeyed me."

Then Jeremiah told the house of the Rechabites, "This is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel says: "Because you obeyed the commandment of your ancestor Jonadab, have observed all his commandments, and have done everything that he commanded you,'