Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

Our guilt has been terrible from the days of our fathers until the present. Because of our iniquities we have been handed over, along with our kings and priests, to the surrounding kings, and to the sword, captivity, plundering, and open shame, as it is today.

Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: "I am about to send against them sword, famine, and plague and will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth-a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations where I will have banished them. [I will do this] because they have not listened to My words"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"that I sent to them with My servants the prophets time and time again.And you too have not listened." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

Judah has gone into exile following affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is bitter. Her adversaries have become [her] masters; her enemies are at ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary.

And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile on account of their iniquity, because they dealt unfaithfully with Me. Therefore, I hid My face from them and handed them over to their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid My face from them.


The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.


A Davidic psalm. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah.God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You.
I thirst for You;
my body faints for You
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.

For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.

He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.

In that day the beautiful young women,
the young men also, will faint from thirst.


When the Lord saw that man's wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky-for I regret that I made them."

Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.

Moab will be destroyed as a people
because he has exalted himself against the Lord.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I will reject you from serving as My priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your sons.


They will consume your harvest and your food.
They will consume your sons and your daughters.
They will consume your flocks and your herds.
They will consume your vines and your fig trees.
They will destroy with the sword
your fortified cities in which you trust.

כ KafAll her people groan
while they search for bread.
They have traded their precious belongings for food
in order to stay alive.
Lord, look and see
how I have become despised.

Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.

ק QofI called to my lovers,
but they betrayed me.
My priests and elders
perished in the city
while searching for food
to keep themselves alive.

For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke. The land is scorched by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one has compassion on his brother. They carve [meat] on the right, but they are [still] hungry; they have eaten on the left, but they are [still] not satisfied. Each one eats the flesh of his own arm. read more.
Manasseh is with Ephraim, and Ephraim with Manasseh; together, both are against Judah. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].

"You will eat your children, the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you. The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children, refusing to share with any of them his children's flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns. read more.
The most sensitive and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her refinement and sensitivity, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son, and her daughter, the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything [else] during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you within your gates.

On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: Judah mourns; her gates languish. [Her people] are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem's cry rises up. Their nobles send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns; they find no water; their containers return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads. read more.
The ground is cracked since no rain [has fallen] on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads. Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons [her fawn] since there is no grass. Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there are no green plants.

Joy and celebration are taken from the fertile field
and from the land of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;
no one will tread with shouts of joy.
The shouting is not a shout of joy.

My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. They cry out to their mothers: Where is the grain and wine? as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers. What can I say on your behalf? To what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you? read more.
Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guilt and so restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading. All who pass by [scornfully] clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash [their] teeth, saying, "We have swallowed [her] up. This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see [it]." The Lord has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old. He has demolished without compassion, letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your adversaries. The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let [your] tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest. Arise, cry out in the night, from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord's presence. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street. Lord, look and consider who You have done this to. Should women eat their own children, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord's sanctuary? [Both] young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young men and women have fallen by the sword. You have killed [them] in the day of Your anger, slaughtering without compassion. You summoned my attackers on every side, as if [for] an appointed festival day; on the day of the Lord's anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.

The nursing infant's tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them [any]. Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple [garments] huddle in garbage heaps. The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it. read more.
Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; [their] bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance [like] sapphire. [Now] they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry like wood. Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced [with pain] because the fields lack produce. The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.

The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. The storehouses are in ruin, and the granaries are broken down, because the grain has withered away. How the animals groan! The herds of cattle wander in confusion since they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. I call to You, Lord, for fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have devoured all the trees of the countryside. read more.
Even the wild animals cry out to You, for the river beds are dried up, and fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.


Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land. In my hearing the Lord of Hosts [has taken an oath]: Indeed, many houses will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants. For a ten-acre vineyard will yield only six gallons, and 10 bushels of seed will yield only [one] bushel. read more.
Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine. At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the Lord's actions, and they do not see the work of His hands. Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge; the dignitaries are starving, and the masses are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion's dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her! Humanity is brought low, man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled. But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice, and the holy God is distinguished by righteousness. Lambs will graze as [if in] their own pastures, and strangers will eat [among] the ruins of the rich. Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and [pull] sin along with cart ropes, to those who say: "Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it!" Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord's anger burns against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike]. He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look-how quickly and swiftly they come! None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose, and no sandal strap broken. Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses' hooves are like flint; their [chariot] wheels are like a whirlwind. Their roaring is like a lion's; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry [it] off, and no one can rescue [it]. On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.


Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.

Hear the word of the Lord, people of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in the land! Cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another. For this reason the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes, along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky; even the fish of the sea disappear. read more.
But let no one dispute; let no one argue, for My case is against you priests. You will stumble by day; the prophet will also stumble with you by night. And I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.


The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.


A Davidic psalm. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah.God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You.
I thirst for You;
my body faints for You
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.

For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.

He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.

In that day the beautiful young women,
the young men also, will faint from thirst.