For see, I am starting to send evil on the town which is named by my name, and are you to be without any punishment? You will not be without punishment: for I will send a sword on all people living on the earth, says the Lord of armies.

A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery.

And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house [Jeremiah], and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

thus said Yahweh to me--"Make for yourself fetters and yokes and put them on your neck,

And now I gave all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, my servant; and also the beasts of the field gave I to him to serve him.

Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:

For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

I also told them, "If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord's temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away to Babylon.

They will be taken away to Babylon, and there they will be till the day when I send their punishment on them, says the Lord. Then I will take them up and put them back in their place.

Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon.

Take ye wives and beget sons and daughters, And take wives, for your sons, and, your daughters, give ye to husbands, That they may bear sons and daughters, - And so become ye many there and do not become few;

And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither hearken ye to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Yahweh, hath made thee priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be deputies in the house of Yahweh, to any man who is raving and prophesying, so shalt thou put him into the stocks and into the pillory:

Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying,

Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:

For I am with you,' {declares} Yahweh, 'to save you. For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations to which I scattered you, but you I will not make a complete destruction. And I will chastise you to the measure, and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.'

But all who destroyed you will be destroyed. All your enemies will go into exile. Those who plundered you will be plundered. I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged.

Yes, I will restore you to health. I will heal your wounds. I, the Lord, affirm it! For you have been called an outcast, Zion, whom no one cares for."

The Lord has said, Grace came in the waste land to a people kept safe from the sword, even to Israel on the way to his resting-place.

For thus said Jehovah: Sing, O ye to Jacob, with joy, And cry aloud at the head of the nations, Sound ye, praise ye, and say, Save, O Jehovah, thy people, the remnant of Israel.

They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye;

And he will take Zedekiah away to Babylon, where he will be till I have pity on him, says the Lord: though you are fighting with the Chaldaeans, things will not go well for you?

Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy my field in Anathoth for yourself, for you own the right of redemption to buy it.’

And I buy the field, that is in Anathoth, from Hanameel, my uncle's son, and I weigh to him the money -- seventeen shekels of silver.

So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:

Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying,

and I have given to them one heart, and one way, to fear Me all the days, for good to them, and to their sons after them:

For thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, being torn away to the mounds and to the sword;

They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.

Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

You will not escape from his hand, for you will definitely be captured and handed over to him; you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face; and you will go to Babylon.’”’

That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.

'And ye turn back, ye to-day, and ye do that which is right in Mine eyes, to proclaim liberty each to his neighbour, and ye make a covenant before Me in the house over which My name is called.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying,

This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Go and say to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, Is there no hope of teaching you to give ear to my words? says the Lord.

"Get a scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now.

Then came the word of Yahweh to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘This is what you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will return to Egypt, to their own land.

And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.

But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives, who made our lives, be assured that I will not put you to death or put you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”

And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.

But Jeremiah said, “They will not hand you over [to them]. Please obey [the voice of] the Lord [who speaks to you through me] in what I am saying to you. Then it will go well with you and you will live.

But if the princes (court officials) hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not execute you,’

And more than this, he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and had him put in chains to take him away to Babylon.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the residue of the people that remained.

But now, listen carefully, [because of your innocence] I am freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you [carefully]; but if you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, then do not do so. Look, all the land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right (convenient) for you to go.”

While Jeremiah was still hesitating, the captain of the bodyguard said, “Go on back then to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed [governor] over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people; or else go wherever it seems right for you to go.” So the captain of the bodyguard gave him an allowance of food and a gift and let him go.

Now when it came to the ears of all the captains of the forces who were in the field, and their men, that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, ruler in the land, and had put under his care the men and women and children, all the poorest of the land, those who had not been taken away to Babylon;

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know [who is responsible]. Why should he kill you and cause all the Jews who are gathered near you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”

That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth of Mizphah weeping, to meet them. Now when he met them, he said, "Go your way to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam."

then took they all the men, and went their way to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah, - and found him near the many waters which were in Gibeon.

They traveled and then stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt

that the LORD thy God may show us a way to go in, and tell us what we should do."

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to act in accordance with all the things that the Lord your God sends you to tell us.

Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to and honor the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

then the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine of which you are afraid will follow closely after you in Egypt, and you will die there.

'Jehovah hath spoken against you, O remnant of Judah, do not enter Egypt: know certainly that I have testified against you to-day;

And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.

Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the proud and insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are not telling the truth! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go into Egypt to live there.’

So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies, and all the people did not listen to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah.

So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you to bring disaster, to cut off all Judah.

Take this for a token, that I will visit you in this place, sayeth the LORD, and that ye may know, how that I, without doubt, will perform my purpose upon you to punish you.

'Thou hast said, Woe to me, now, for Jehovah hath added sorrow to my pain, I have been wearied with my sighing, and rest I have not found.

Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the Lord, affirm that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity. But I will allow you to escape with your life wherever you go."'"

Get you to horseback, roll forth the Chariots, come forth ye worthies: ye Ethiopians, ye Libyans with your bucklers, ye Libyans with your bows:

You must not be afraid, my servant Jacob," {declares} Yahweh, "for I [am] with you. For I will make a complete destruction in all the nations where I scattered you, but you I will not make a complete destruction, though I will chastise you to the measure, and I will certainly not leave you unpunished."

Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.

Concerning Moab.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Woe (judgment is coming) to [the city of] Nebo, for it has been destroyed!
Kiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured;
Misgab [the high fortress] has been shamed, broken down and crushed.

"Come down from glory, and sit on parched ground, O woman who lives in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab will come up against you to destroy you. He will destroy your strongholds.

O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.

Woe to thee, Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone; for thy sons are taken away in captivity, and thy daughters are captives.

For thus says the Lord, “Behold, those (Israel) who were not sentenced to drink the cup [of wrath] shall certainly drink it, and are you to remain unpunished? You will not be acquitted and go unpunished, but you will certainly drink [from the cup of wrath and judgment].

The people of the earth will quake when they hear of their downfall. Their cries of anguish will be heard all the way to the Gulf of Aqaba.

Damascus has grown slack. She has turned away to flee and panic. Anxiety has seized [her], and labor pains have grasped her, like a woman in labor.

They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

My people have become lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They led them away [to the] mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their resting place.

Shout against her round about, She hath given forth her hand, Fallen have her foundations, Thrown down have been her walls, For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, Be avenged of her, as she did -- do ye to her.

Kill all her young bulls [her strength—her young men];
Let them go down to the slaughter!
Woe (judgment is coming) to the Chaldeans, for their day has come,
The time of their punishment.

Publish against Babylon ye chiefs of all who tread the bow - Encamp against her round about Let there be none to escape, Recompense to her according to her work, According to all which she did, do ye to her, - For Against Yahweh, hath she acted presumptuously, Against the Holy One of Israel.

Let not the treader tread his bow, Nor lift himself up in his coat of mail, Nor have ye pity on her young men, Devote ye to destruction all her host.

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

"Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.