For the prophets my heart was broken in the midst of me, and all my bones were relaxed; I was as a man intoxicated, and as a man wine passing over him, from the face of Jehovah, and from the face of the words of his holiness.

For the land was filled from adulteries, for from the face of these the land mourned, the beautiful things of the desert were dried up, and their race will be evil, and their strength not right

For also the prophets, also the priests were polluted; also in my house I found their evil, says Jehovah.

And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, committing adultery and going in falsehood: and they strengthened the hands of those doing evil, they turned not back a man from his evil: they were to me all of them as Sodom, and those dwelling in her as Gomorrah.

I did not send those prophets. Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. I did not tell them anything. Yet they prophesied anyway.

Yahweh showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs placed {before} the temple of Yahweh--after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them [to] Babylon.

One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

And I gave to them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah: and they were to me for a people, and I will be to them for God: for they shall turn back to me with all their heart

So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.

And it was when seventy years were filled up, I will review over the king of Babel and upon this nation, says Jehovah, their iniquity, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, and I set it for eternal desolations

And they drank and they staggered, and they were mad from the face of the sword which I sent in the midst of them.

Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;

And the wounded of Jehovah were in that day from the extremity of the earth and even to the extremity of the earth: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

Wail, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves, ye chiefs of the flocks; for your days for slaughter and your dispersions were filled up, and ye fell as a vessel of desire.

And the dwellings of peace were destroyed from the face of the burning of the anger of Jehovah.

Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered unto Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.

And when all the people were gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, the princes of Judah heard of this rumor, and they came soon out of the king's Palace into the house of the LORD, and sat them down before the new door of the LORD.

I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakim's son King Jeconiah of Judah and all the exiles who were taken to Babylon.' Indeed, the Lord affirms, 'I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.'"

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet before the eyes of the priests and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh,

The prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord's temple and the people who were carried into exile.

The prophets who were {before} me and {before} you from ancient [times] prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms of war, and of disaster, and of plague.

either of peace, upon many nations and great kingdoms - were proved by this, if God had sent them in very deed: when the thing came to pass, which that prophet told before."

Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the rest of the elders who were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

(after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem,)

Which letter Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah did bear, whom Zedekiah the king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. These were the words of Jeremiah's letter:

"Thus hath the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, spoken unto all the prisoners, that were led from Jerusalem unto Babylon:

But just listen to what the Lord has to say about the king who occupies David's throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem and were not carried off into exile with you.

And their fate will be used as a curse by all the prisoners of Judah who are in Babylon, who will say, May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, who were burned in the fire by the king of Babylon;

Ask ye now, and see if a male brought forth? wherefore did I see every man his hands upon his loins as she bringing forth, and all faces were turned to paleness?

All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased.

Why criest thou for thy hurt? thy pain is incurable: for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

For this, all consuming thee shall be consumed; and all thine adversaries, all of them shall go into captivity; and they spoiling thee, were for spoiling, and all plundering thee I will give to plunder.

And their children will be as they were in the old days, and the meeting of the people will have its place before me, and I will send punishment on all who are cruel to them.

And ye were to me for a people, and I will be to you for God.

Thus saith Jehovah, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

I have indeed heard the people of Israel say mournfully, 'We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. You disciplined us and we learned from it. Let us come back to you and we will do so, for you are the Lord our God.

Is Ephraim a precious son to me? if a child of delights? for whenever my speaking against him, remembering, I shall remember him yet; for this the bowels were put in motion to me compassionating, I will compassionate him, says Jehovah.

I will say, 'My dear children of Israel, keep in mind the road you took when you were carried off. Mark off in your minds the landmarks. Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back. Return, my dear children of Israel. Return to these cities of yours.

How long will you vacillate, you who were once like an unfaithful daughter? For I, the Lord, promise to bring about something new on the earth, something as unique as a woman protecting a man!'"

In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. I, the Lord, affirm it!"

The Lord affirms, "The descendants of Israel will not cease forever to be a nation in my sight. That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights were to cease to operate before me."

and, then, the forces of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem, - and, Jeremiah the prophet, had been shut up in the guard-court, which was in the house of the king of Judah;

There were two copies of the deed of purchase. One was sealed and contained the order of transfer and the conditions of purchase. The other was left unsealed.

And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

And they came in and took it for their heritage, but they did not give ear to your voice, and were not ruled by your law; they have done nothing of all you gave them orders to do: so you have made all this evil come on them:

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and liquid offerings were poured out to other gods in order to provoke me.

For the people of Israel and the people of Judah were doing only evil in my eyes from their youth, for the people of Israel [were] only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands," {declares} Yahweh.

And they have turned to me [their] backs and not [their] faces, though {I have taught them over and over again}, but they [were] not listening to accept discipline.

And they were to me for a people, and I will be to them for God.

Thou hast cried unto me, and I have heard thee: I have showed great and high things, which were unknown unto you."

For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that were torn down [to make a defense] against the siege ramps and against the sword:

I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first.

And it was to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for an honor to all the nations of the earth who shall hear all the good which I did them: and they trembled and were moved for all the good and for all the peace which I did to it

Thus said Jehovah: Yet shall be heard in this place which ye were saying it was laid waste without man and without cattle, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, being desolate without man and without inhabitant, and without cattle,

the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,
“Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
For the Lord is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting”;
and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and all his army, with all [the] kingdoms of [the] earth [under] the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples [were] fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, {saying},

In peace you will die, and as [there was] burning for your ancestors, the former kings who were {before you}, so they will burn for you, and they will lament for you, "Alas, lord!" For [the] word I have spoken,' {declares} Yahweh." '"

when the army of the king of Babylon [was] fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left over--Lachish and Azekah, for these remained among the cities of Judah, the cities of fortification.

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after king Zedekiah {made} a covenant with all the people who [were] in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them,

Each person was to set free his male and female slaves who were Hebrews, so that no Jewish person would enslave his brother.

Now as they had consented, even so they were obedient, and let them go free.

And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in mine eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

And I gave them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their soul; and their corpses were for food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.

The words of Jonadab son of Rechab who commanded his sons not to drink wine, were raised up; and they drank not even to this clay, for they heard the command of their father: and spake to you, rising early and speaking; and ye heard not to me.

Now it came about in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that it was given out publicly that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem, were to keep from food before the Lord.

he went down [to] the house of the king, to the chamber of the secretary, and look, all the officials [were] sitting there: Elishama the secretary, and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the [other] officials.

Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

So the king sent Jehudi to get the book, and he took it from the room of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi gave a reading of it in the hearing of the king and all the rulers who were by the king's side.

And the king and any of his servants who heard all these words were not startled, and they did not tear their garments.

"{Take again} for yourself another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burned.

Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides unto them many like words.

But neither he nor his officials nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that were spoken by Jeremiah the prophet.

And the army of Pharaoh had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who were laying siege to Jerusalem, heard their report and they withdrew from Jerusalem.

For even if you had overcome all the army of the Chaldaeans fighting against you, and there were only wounded men among them, still they would get up, every man in his tent, and put this town on fire.

And the officials were angry at Jeremiah and they struck him. And they put him [in] {prison}, [in] the house of Jonathan the secretary, for they had converted it to the {prison}.

Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

‘Then behold, all of the women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,
“Your close friends
Have misled and overpowered you;
While your feet were sunk in the mire,
They turned back.”

Then the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those deserting who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, deported [to] Babylon.

Go and say to the king's servant the Cushite, saying, Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Behold me bringing my words to this city for evil and not for good; and they were in that day before thee.

The thing that happened unto Jeremiah, from Yahweh, after Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had let him go from Ramah, - when he had taken him, he having been bound in fetters in the midst of all the captive-host of Jerusalem, and Judah, who were being carried away captive to Babylon.

Now, therefore, lo! I have loosed thee today, from the fetters which were upon thy hand: If it be good in thine eyes to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will set urine eyes upon thee, but if evil in thine eyes to come with me into Babylon, forbear, - see! all the land, is before thee, whither it may be good and right in thine eyes to go, thither, go!

Then came Jeremiah unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him in the midst of the people who were left in the land.

Now, when all the captains of the forces which were in the field - they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had set Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge over the land, - and that he had committed to him men and women and children, and the poor of the land of those who had not been carried away captive to Babylon,

So all these officers and their troops came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite.

Likewise also, all the Jews, who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in any of the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had granted a remnant to Judah, and that he had set in charge over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan,

then all the Judeans returned from all the places [to] which they were scattered. And they came [to] the land of Judah, to Gedaliah [at] Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit that yielded {in great abundance}.

But, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the princes of the forces which were in the field, came unto Gedaliah in Mizpah,

In the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they were eating bread together there in Mizpah,

Then arose Ishmael son of Nethaniah - and the ten men who were with him and they smote Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan - with the sword and slew him whom the king of Babylon had set in charge, over the land.

And Ishmael smote, all the Jews who were with him even with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there the men of war.

Some people came from Shechem, from Shiloh and Samaria, eighty men, with the hair of their faces cut off and their clothing out of order, and with cuts on their bodies, and in their hands meal offerings and perfumes which they were taking to the house of the Lord.

And so it was when they had come into the midst of the city, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah slew them and east them into the midst of a pit, he and the men who were with him.

But, ten men, were found among them, who said unto Ishmael - Do not put us to death, for we have secret treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey, So he forbare and put them not to death in the midst of their brethren.

Now the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, by the side of Gedaliah (the same was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel,) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.

Then did Ishmael take captive all the remnant of the people that was in Mizpah, - the daughters of the king, and all the people that were left remaining in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had committed unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam, - yea Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive, and departed to pass over unto the sons of Ammon.

But when Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him heard of all the wickedness which Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,

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.

And it came to pass, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then were they glad.

So all the people that Ishmael had carried away from Mizphah, were brought again. And when they returned, they came to Johanan the son of Kareah.