For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

The heart is more deceitful than anything else,
and incurable—who can understand it?

“Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.

The word of the Lord came to me:

Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.

I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

This is what the Lord says:

Stand by the roadways and look.
Ask about the ancient paths:
Which is the way to what is good?
Then take it
and find rest for yourselves.
But they protested, “We won’t!”

It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Do not be afraid of anyone,
for I will be with you to deliver you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

“The days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David.
He will reign wisely as king
and administer justice and righteousness in the land.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.

Israel was holy to the Lord,
the firstfruits of His harvest.
All who ate of it found themselves guilty;
disaster came on them.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.

This is what the Lord says:

The man who trusts in mankind,
who makes human flesh his strength
and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed.

“Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.

Your words were found, and I ate them.
Your words became a delight to me
and the joy of my heart,
for I am called by Your name,
Yahweh God of Hosts.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

But Yahweh is the true God;
He is the living God and eternal King.
The earth quakes at His wrath,
and the nations cannot endure His rage.

But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

The man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.

Then the Lord said to me:

Do not say, “I am only a youth,”
for you will go to everyone I send you to
and speak whatever I tell you.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:

I have now filled your mouth with My words.

Have you not lately called to Me, “My Father.
You were my friend in my youth.

You are to say this to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

This is what the Lord says:

The wise man must not boast in his wisdom;
the strong man must not boast in his strength;
the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.

See, I have appointed you today
over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.

Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but don’t let me be put to shame.
Let them be terrified, but don’t let me be terrified.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
shatter them with total destruction.

Again the word of the Lord came to me inquiring, “What do you see?”

And I replied, “I see a boiling pot, its lip tilted from the north to the south.”

This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke even though I had married them”—the Lord’s declaration.

Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.
A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them.
A leopard keeps watch over their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,
their unfaithful deeds numerous.

The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over My word to accomplish it.”

I know, Lord,
that a man’s way of life is not his own;
no one who walks determines his own steps.

Then the Lord said to me, “Disaster will be poured out from the north on all who live in the land.

Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.
Cry out loudly and say:
Assemble yourselves,
and let’s flee to the fortified cities.

I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,
everything has fled—they have gone away.

Today, I am the One who has made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population.

Indeed, I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

They will come, and each king will set up his throne
at the entrance to Jerusalem’s gates.
They will attack all her surrounding walls
and all the other cities of Judah.

“Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?

As a well gushes out its water,
so she pours out her evil.
Violence and destruction resound in her.
Sickness and wounds keep coming to My attention.

They will fight against you but never prevail over you, since I am with you to rescue you.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

“I will pronounce My judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

“Now, get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them.

Will He bear a grudge forever?
Will He be endlessly infuriated?”
This is what you have said,
but you have done the evil things
you are capable of.

The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom do they really have?

Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.
Run for cover! Don’t stand still!
For I am bringing disaster from the north—
a great destruction.

“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;
they gashed themselves at the prostitute’s house.

Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by his carved image,
for his cast images are a lie;
there is no breath in them.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and who say, ‘There will never be sword or famine in this land.’ By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.

This is what the Lord said to me, “Go and stand at the People’s Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem.

They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the Lord’s burning anger.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.

Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you;
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitants.

Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.

When He thunders,
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,
and He causes the clouds to rise
from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from His storehouses.

“But return to My place that was at Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel.

all the kings of the north, both near and far from one another;
that is, all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth.
Finally, the king of Sheshach will drink after them.

This is what the Lord says:

What fault did your fathers find in Me
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols,
and became worthless themselves?

In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there.

for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight.

Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts’?

They are well-fed, eager stallions,
each neighing after someone else’s wife.

I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.”

A lion has gone up from his thicket;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to make your land a waste.
Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

Jacob’s Portion is not like these
because He is the One who formed all things.
Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.

This is what the Lord says: “Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them.

They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness,
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived?”

Gather up your belongings from the ground,
you who live under siege.

Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Announce to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.

For this is what the Lord says:

Look, I am slinging out
the land’s residents at this time
and bringing them such distress
that they will feel it.

Pay attention to me, Lord.
Hear what my opponents are saying!

I never sat with the band of revelers,
and I did not celebrate with them.
Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone,
for You filled me with indignation.

“Send a message to all the exiles, saying: This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you trust a lie,

I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.

The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them—they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them.”

I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

Glean the remnant of Israel
as thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer
over the branches.

You residents of Lebanon,
nestled among the cedars,
how you will groan when labor pains come on you,
agony like a woman in labor.

I brought you to a fertile land
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled My land;
you made My inheritance detestable.

Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,
but do not finish them off.
Prune away her shoots,
for they do not belong to the Lord.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:

Therefore, I will give their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Now, because you have done all these things”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn’t listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,

“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.

If they will diligently learn the ways of My people—to swear by My name, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among My people.

I will first repay them double for their guilt and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols.”

The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law no longer knew Me,
and the rulers rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed useless idols.

Because of this, put on sackcloth;
mourn and wail,
for the Lord’s burning anger
has not turned away from us.

Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah, and the altars you have set up to Shame—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

My tent is destroyed;
all my tent cords are snapped.
My sons have departed from me and are no more.
I have no one to pitch my tent again
or to hang up my curtains.

Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

Cross over to Cyprus and take a look.
Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:

Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?

Who can I speak to and give such a warning
that they will listen?
Look, their ear is uncircumcised,
so they cannot pay attention.
See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them—
they find no pleasure in it.

This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will bring a case against your children’s children.

For the shepherds are stupid:
they don’t seek the Lord.
Therefore they have not prospered,
and their whole flock is scattered.

Woe to me because of my brokenness—
I am severely wounded!
I exclaimed, “This is my intense suffering,
but I must bear it.”

They have treated superficially the brokenness
of My dear people,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.

Discipline me, Lord, but with justice—
not in Your anger,
or You will reduce me to nothing.

Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev bringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.

But the Lord said to me, “These prophets are prophesying a lie in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.

Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.

Be horrified at this, heavens;
be shocked and utterly appalled.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Why has my pain become unending,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
You truly have become like a mirage to me—
water that is not reliable.

Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?

This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,

Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say:

Return, unfaithful Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,
for I am unfailing in My love.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not be angry forever.

Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship.

They are worthless, a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment
they will be destroyed.

The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned My instruction that I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.

They have placed their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and have defiled it.

Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart—only in pretense.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

“On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”

I said, “Oh no, Lord God, You have certainly deceived this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;
I am tired of holding it back.
Pour it out on the children in the street,
on the gang of young men as well.
For both husband and wife will be captured,
the old with the very old.

Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember how I stood before You
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn Your anger from them.

The word of the Lord came to me:

Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?
(But they were not gods!)
Yet My people have exchanged their Glory
for useless idols.

If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him to marry another,
can he ever return to her?
Wouldn’t such a land become totally defiled?
But you!
You have played the prostitute with many partners—
can you return to Me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.

The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them.”

“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to My dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift;

Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, house of Israel.

They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
have dealt very treacherously with Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Return, you faithless children”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name—the house in which you trust—the place that I gave you and your ancestors.

I am against those who prophesy false dreams”—the Lord’s declaration—“telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

What right does My beloved have
to be in My house,
having carried out so many evil schemes?
Can holy meat prevent your disaster
so you can rejoice?

The Lord informed me, so I knew.
Then You helped me to see their deeds,

Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”
says the Lord.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

If you return, I will restore you;
you will stand in My presence.
And if you speak noble words,
rather than worthless ones,
you will be My spokesman.
It is they who must return to you;
you must not return to them.

Listen! A noise—it is coming—
a great commotion from the land to the north.
The cities of Judah will be made desolate,
a jackals’ den.

The Lord named you
a flourishing olive tree,
beautiful with well-formed fruit.
He has set fire to it,
and its branches are consumed
with a great roaring sound.

They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially,
claiming, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.

I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill.

This is what the Lord says:

If the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below explored,
I will reject all of Israel’s descendants
because of all they have done—
this is the Lord’s declaration.

At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh’s Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

“As I live,” says the Lord, “though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it.

The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have also broken your skull.

The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke Me to anger.

Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

I will gather them and bring them to an end.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.

For long ago I broke your yoke;
I tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you lie down like a prostitute.

If I go out to the field,
look—those slain by the sword!
If I enter the city,
look—those ill from famine!
For both prophet and priest
travel to a land they do not know.

Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?
Why else has he become a prey?

For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

Their houses will be turned over to others,
their fields and wives as well,
for I will stretch out My hand
against the inhabitants of the land.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Look, he advances like clouds;
his chariots are like a storm.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!

“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:

I remember the loyalty of your youth,
your love as a bride—
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.

I planted you, a choice vine
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?

But, Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests heart and mind,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to You.

“Therefore, I am about to inform them,
and this time I will make them know
My power and My might;
then they will know that My name is Yahweh.”

They have contradicted the Lord
and insisted, “It won’t happen.
Harm won’t come to us;
we won’t see sword or famine.”

When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days”—the Lord’s declaration—“no one will say any longer, ‘The ark of the Lord’s covenant.’ It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made.

Have you not brought this on yourself
by abandoning the Lord your God
while He was leading you along the way?

“The Lord of Hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you, because of the harm the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

You will be righteous, Lord,
even if I bring a case against You.
Yet, I wish to contend with You:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the treacherous live at ease?

Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze
to this people.
They will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.
You have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree
and have not obeyed My voice.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

for the customs of the peoples are worthless.
Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;
it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

I am about to gather them from all the lands where I have banished them in My anger, rage and great wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety.

Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt
to drink the waters of the Nile?
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.

My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick.

Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth who want to take your life. They warn, “You must not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will certainly die at our hand.”

In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.”

The young lions have roared at him;
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.

Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,
says the Lord.

Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
Or can the skies alone give showers?
Are You not the Lord our God?
We therefore put our hope in You,
for You have done all these things.

Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of soap,
the stain of your sin is still in front of Me.
This is the Lord God’s declaration.

I am about to bring a nation
from far away against you,
house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know
and whose speech you do not understand.

Because of Your name, don’t despise us.
Don’t disdain Your glorious throne.
Remember Your covenant with us;
do not break it.

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, My anger—My burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”

for I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter.
I didn’t know that they had devised plots against me:
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit;
let’s cut him off from the land of the living
so that his name will no longer be remembered.”

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink.

The prophets become only wind,
for the Lord’s word is not in them.
This will in fact happen to them.

I thought: How I long to make you My sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.
I thought: You will call Me, my Father,
and never turn away from Me.

Give glory to the Lord your God
before He brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the mountains at dusk.
You wait for light,
but He brings darkest gloom
and makes thick darkness.

You are to speak this word to them:
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
day and night may they not stop,
for the virgin daughter of my people
has been destroyed by a great disaster,
an extremely severe wound.

Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;
I love strangers,
and I will continue to follow them.”

Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Return, you faithless children.
I will heal your unfaithfulness.
“Here we are, coming to You,
for You are the Lord our God.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon).

Pour out Your wrath on the nations
that don’t recognize You
and on the families
that don’t call on Your name,
for they have consumed Jacob;
they have consumed him and finished him off
and made his homeland desolate.

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony!
Oh, the pain in my heart!
My heart pounds;
I cannot be silent.
For you, my soul,
have heard the sound of the ram’s horn—
the shout of battle.

The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain?”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

From Dan the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.

However, as a woman may betray her lover,
so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household.

I will scatter them among the nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”

However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.

This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

Consider, and summon the women who mourn;
send for the skillful women.

How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,

Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has destroyed us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.

They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.

Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts within you?

Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of distress,
the nations will come to You
from the ends of the earth, and they will say,
“Our fathers inherited only lies,
worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it
because of your evil deeds.

Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.

Roam through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look and take note;
search in her squares.
If you find one person,
any who acts justly,
who seeks to be faithful,
then I will forgive her.

We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

“Then you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.

Therefore, hand their children over to famine,
and pour the sword’s power on them.
Let their wives become childless and widowed,
their husbands slain by deadly disease,
their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Hosts says:

Because you have spoken this word,
I am going to make My words
become fire in your mouth.
These people are the wood,
and the fire will consume them.

a wind too strong for this comes at My call. Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”

A sound is heard on the barren heights,
the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,
for they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.

You must not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but you must consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.

Yahweh, there is no one like You.
You are great;
Your name is great in power.

Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens
and fortify her tall fortresses,
destroyers will come against her from Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

a wild donkey at home in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become tired;
they will find her in her mating season.

Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
so the house of Israel has been put to shame.
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,
their idols cannot speak.
They must be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them for they can do no harm—
and they cannot do any good.

“For My people are fools;
they do not know Me.
They are foolish children,
without understanding.
They are skilled in doing what is evil,
but they do not know how to do what is good.”

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz
from the hands of a goldsmith,
the work of a craftsman.
Their clothing is blue and purple,
all the work of skilled artisans.

Therefore, look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will punish her carved images,
and the wounded will groan
throughout her land.

But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?

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If this fixed order departs from My presence—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
then also Israel’s descendants will cease
to be a nation before Me forever.

But are they really provoking Me?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”

Their quiver is like an open grave;
they are all mighty warriors.

If you return, Israel—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will return to Me,
if you remove your detestable idols
from My presence
and do not waver,

Look to the barren heights and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.

Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,
commotion from the mountains,
but the salvation of Israel
is only in the Lord our God.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not hear them.

say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to Me
and not their face,
yet in their time of disaster they beg,
“Rise up and save us!”

Do you not fear Me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Do you not tremble before Me,
the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,
an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot pass over it.

You planted them, and they have taken root.
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,
but far from their conscience.

Flight will be impossible for the shepherds,
and escape, for the leaders of the flock.

Listen—the cry of my dear people
from a far away land,
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,
her King not within her?”
Why have they provoked me to anger
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols?

Hear this,
you foolish and senseless people.
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
They have ears, but they don’t hear.

How long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
Because of the evil of its residents,
animals and birds have been swept away,
for the people have said,
“He cannot see what our end will be.”

This is why the showers haven’t come—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look of a prostitute
and refuse to be ashamed.

Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed.
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

But the one who boasts should boast in this,
that he understands and knows Me—
that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

He decorates it with silver and gold.
It is fastened with hammer and nails,
so it won’t totter.

They are both stupid and foolish,
instructed by worthless idols
made of wood!

“Run for cover, Benjaminites,
out of Jerusalem!
Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa;
raise a smoke signal over Beth-haccherem,
for disaster threatens from the north,
even great destruction.

Disaster after disaster is reported
because the whole land is destroyed.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my tent curtains, in a moment.

Who should not fear You,
King of the nations?
It is what You deserve.
For among all the wise people of the nations
and among all their kingdoms,
there is no one like You.

I will deliver you from the power of evil people
and redeem you from the control of the ruthless.

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;
they have trampled My plot of land.
They have turned My desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.

I will bring on you everlasting shame and humiliation that will never be forgotten.”

Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.

The Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to the word of His mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,

Your way of life and your actions
have brought this on you.
This is your punishment. It is very bitter,
because it has reached your heart!

I have abandoned My house;
I have deserted My inheritance.
I have given the love of My life
into the hands of her enemies.

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.

You must say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? and What has the Lord spoken?

They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.

You must tell them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the Lord has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.

The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it like this.
But what will you do at the end of it?

From the time of our youth
the shameful one has consumed
what our fathers have worked for—
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.

Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.”

If they refuse to take the cup from you and drink, you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: You must drink!

Let us lie down in our shame;
let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our fathers,
from the time of our youth even to this day.
We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

They have not said to themselves,
‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season,
who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

Listen, earth!
I am about to bring disaster on these people,
the fruit of their own plotting,
for they have paid no attention to My word.
They have rejected My instruction.

But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.
They have turned aside and have gone away.

For a voice announces from Dan,
proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.

As for You, Lord, You know me; You see me.
You test whether my heart is with You.
Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter
and set them apart for the day of killing.

which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace.’ I declared: ‘Obey Me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God,’

The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.

Therefore listen, you nations
and you witnesses,
learn what the charge is against them.

They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them time and time again, they do not listen and receive discipline.

For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again, ‘Obey My voice.’

in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.”

I answered, “Amen, Lord.”

Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.

“For this is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on these people, so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them.

“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.

Even the stork in the sky
knows her seasons.
The turtledove, swallow, and crane
are aware of their migration,
but My people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.

Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids soaked with weeping.

They have her surrounded
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin!

for wicked men live among My people.
They watch like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
they catch men.

My inheritance has acted toward Me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against Me.
Therefore, I hate her.

They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before Me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.

“But even in those days”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will not finish you off.

Even your brothers—your own father’s household—
even they were treacherous to you;
even they have cried out loudly after you.
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.

You must say, ‘Lord, You have threatened to cut off this place so that no one will live in it—man or beast. Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.’

A horrible, terrible thing
has taken place in the land.

Why do you bring a case against Me?
All of you have rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Is My inheritance like a hyena to Me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;
bring them to devour her.

Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.
Your sins have withheld My bounty from you,

Because of this, the earth will mourn;
the skies above will grow dark.
I have spoken; I have planned,
and I will not relent or turn back from it.

I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people—
a refiner—
so you may know and assay their way of life.

Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear people.
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place.

And you, devastated one, what are you doing
that you dress yourself in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
You beautify yourself for nothing.
Your lovers reject you;
they want to take your life.

When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

How long must I see the signal flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?

A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

Break up the unplowed ground;
do not sow among the thorns.

I appointed watchmen over you
and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.
But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

But if you will not listen,
my innermost being will weep in secret
because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
for the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

This is what the Lord says:

Look, an army is coming from a northern land;
a great nation will be awakened
from the remote regions of the earth.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;
fathers and sons together will stumble over them;
friends and neighbors will also perish.

“Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then the nations will be blessed by Him
and will pride themselves in Him.

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.

“You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:

Do people fall and not get up again?
If they turn away, do they not return?

I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.

Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.