But Yahweh of hosts, who judges [in] righteousness, who tests [the] {inmost being}, and [the] {mind}, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have revealed my legal case.

So this is what the Lord of armies has said about the men of Anathoth who have made designs against your life, saying, You are not to be a prophet in the name of the Lord, or death will overtake you by our hands:

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

Righteous art Thou, O Jehovah, When I plead towards thee, Only, judgments do I speak with Thee, Wherefore did the way of the wicked prosper? At rest have been all treacherous dealers.

Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

But you, O LORD, know me: you have seen me, and tested my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

{How long} will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? [The] animals and [the] birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future."

"If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in {a peaceful land}, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

For even your relatives, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they call {loudly} after you. You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.

I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance. I have given the beloved one of my {heart} into the hand of her enemies.

My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest: she hath uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her.

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made {my pleasant field} like the desert of desolation.

They have made it a desolation. Desolate, it mourns to me. All the land is made desolate, but there is no person taking [it] to heart.

Upon all [the] barren heights in the desert destroyers have come, for [the] sword of Yahweh devours, from [one] end of [the] land to the [other] end of the land, there is no peace for all flesh.

They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns. They are exhausted, they do not profit. And they will be ashamed of your produce, because of {the burning anger} of Yahweh."

Thus saith Jehovah against all mine evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

{And then} after my driving them out, I will once again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance, and each one to his land.

And it will be that, if they give their minds to learning the ways of my people, using my name in their oaths, By the living Lord; as they have been teaching my people to take oaths by the Baal; then their place will be made certain among my people.

But if they will not give ear, then I will have that nation uprooted, and given to destruction, says the Lord.

Take the belt that you have bought, which is upon your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.

This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who go in the stubbornness of their hearts, and have gone after other gods, to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, let them be like this loincloth which is not good for anything.

For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith Jehovah; that they may be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

And thou hast said unto them this word, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, 'Every bottle is full of wine,' And they have said unto thee: 'Do we not certainly know that every bottle is full of wine?'

And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together," {declares} Yahweh. "I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them." '"

Give ye to Jehovah your God honour, Before He doth cause darkness, And before your feet stumble on dark mountains, And ye have waited for light, And He hath made it for death-shade, And hath appointed it for thick darkness.

Say to the king and the queen mother:
Take a humble seat,
for your glorious crowns
have fallen from your heads.

The cities of the south have been shut up, And there is none opening, Judah hath been removed -- all of her, She hath been removed completely --

What will you say when he sets over you-- and you have taught them--allies as head over you? Will not labor pains take hold of you, like a woman giving birth?

And if you say in your heart, 'Why have these [things] happened to me?' Because of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered; your heels have endured violence.

Is it possible for the skin of the Ethiopian to be changed, or the markings on the leopard? Then it might be possible for you to do good, who have been trained to do evil.

Therefore have I scattered them, As broken straw passing away, by the wind of the desert.

This [is] your lot, the portion of your measure from me," {declares} Yahweh, "because you have forgotten me, and you have trusted in the lie.

So I will have your skirts uncovered before your face, in order that your shame may be seen.

Your adulteries, and your neighings, the shameful behavior of your fornications on [the] hills in the countryside, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem! {How long will you continue to be unclean}?"

Mourned hath Judah, and her gates have languished, They have mourned to the earth, And the cry of Jerusalem hath gone up.

And their nobles send their little ones for water: they come to the pits, they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed, they are confounded, and have covered their heads.

Because the ground hath been broken, For there hath been no rain in the land, Ashamed have been husbandmen, They have covered their head.

And wild asses have stood on high places, They have swallowed up wind like dragons, Consumed have been their eyes, for there is no herb.

Although our iniquities testify against us, Yahweh, act for the sake of your name. Yes, our apostasies are many; we have sinned against you.

You have been the object of Israel's hopes. You have saved them when they were in trouble. Why have you become like a resident foreigner in the land? Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

Thus says Yahweh concerning this people: "They have loved so much to wander, they have not spared their feet. Therefore Yahweh is not favorable to them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."

Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

And Yahweh said to me, "The prophets [are] prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them, and I have not commanded them, and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, and a divination, worthless, and the deceitfulness of their {minds}."

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they [are] saying, "Sword and famine will not be in this land." "By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

"Tell these people this, Jeremiah: 'My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. For my people, my dear children, have suffered a crushing blow. They have suffered a serious wound.

If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, they that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.

Have you completely rejected Judah? Or has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hope for peace, but there is no good, and for a time of healing, but look, there is terror.

We know, Yahweh, our wickedness, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you.

Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? are not you he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon you: for you have made all these things.

Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel came before me, I would have no desire for this people: send them away from before me, and let them go.

And I have appointed over them four kinds, an affirmation of Jehovah, The sword to slay, and the dogs to drag, And the fowl of the heavens, And the beast of the earth, to consume and to devour.

And I have given them for a trembling To all kingdoms of the earth, Because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah, For that which he did in Jerusalem.

"For who will have compassion on you, Jerusalem, or who will show sympathy to you, or who will turn aside {to ask about your welfare}?

You have forsaken me," {declares} Yahweh. "You go backward, so I have stretched my hand against you, and I have destroyed you. I am tired of becoming remorseful.

And I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land. I am bereaved. I have destroyed my people. They did not turn back from their ways.

Their widows will be more numerous before me than [the] sand of [the] seas. I have brought to them, against [the] mothers of young men, a destroyer at noon. I will suddenly drop on her anguish and horror.

She that hath born seven children, shall have none; her heart shall be full of sorrow. The Sun shall fail her in the clear day, when she shall be confounded and faint for very heaviness. As for those that remain, I will deliver them unto the sword of their enemies, sayeth the LORD."

Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of contention and quarreling {to the whole land}. I have not lent out and {I have not borrowed}. All of them [are] cursing me.

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

I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder. I will give it away free of charge for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

And I have caused thine enemies To pass over into the land -- Thou hast not known, For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, Against you it doth burn.

O Jehovah, thou knowest; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.

Thy words have been found, and I eat them, And Thy word is to me for a joy, And for the rejoicing of my heart, For Thy name is called on me, O Jehovah, God of Hosts.

I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand: for you have filled me with indignation.

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.

Because of this, the Lord said, "You must repent of such words and thoughts! If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless, I will again allow you to be my spokesman. They must become as you have been. You must not become like them.

And I have made thee to this people For a wall -- brazen -- fenced, And they have fought against thee, And they do not prevail against thee, For with thee am I to save thee, And to deliver thee -- an affirmation of Jehovah,

And I have delivered thee from the hand of evil doers, And I have ransomed thee From the hand of the terrible!

Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in this place.

For this is what the Lord has said about the sons and daughters who come to birth in this place, and about their mothers who have given them birth, and about their fathers who have given life to them in this land:

For thus says Yahweh, "You must not enter [the] house of [the] funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people," {declares} Yahweh, "the loyal love and the compassion.

And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them.

{And then} when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, '{Why} has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what [is] our iniquity, and what [is] our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?'

Then you shall say to them, '{Because} your ancestors have forsaken me,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws.

And {you have behaved badly} more than your ancestors, and look, you [are] going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me.

So I will throw you from this land to the land that you have not known, you or your ancestors, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show you favor.

But, 'Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of the north, And out of all the lands whither He drove them,' And I have brought them back to their land, That I gave to their fathers.

Lo, I am sending for many fishers, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have fished them, And after this I send for many hunters, And they have hunted them from off every mountain, And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks.

For Mine eyes are upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes.

And {I will first doubly repay} their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies of their abhorrences, and [with] their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.'"

Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in [the] day of distress, to you [the] nations will come from the ends of [the] earth, and they will say, "Our ancestors have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.

Therefore, lo, I am causing them to know at this time, I cause them to know My hand and My might, And they have known that My name is Jehovah!

and on the mountains and in the fields. I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder. I will give it away as the price for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever.

The Lord says, "I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.

For he will be like a tree planted by the waters, pushing out its roots by the stream; he will have no fear when the heat comes, but his leaf will be green; in a dry year he will have no care, and will go on giving fruit.

The heart is a twisted thing, not to be searched out by man: who is able to have knowledge of it?

I, the Lord, probe into people's minds. I examine people's hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

As a partridge gathereth eggs she did not lay, So is he that maketh riches but not with justice, - In the midst of his days, shall he leave them, And in his latter end, prove to have been base.

Then I said, "Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high. You are the place where we can find refuge.

Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all [those who] forsake you will be put to shame, and [those who] turn aside from you in the earth will be recorded, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, Yahweh.

Lord, grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief. Rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued.

But I, I have not run away from being a shepherd {who follows you}, and I have not desired the disastrous day. You, you know the pronouncement of my lips, it was before your face.

Thus said Jehovah, Take ye heed to yourselves, And ye bear not a burden on the day of rest, Nor have ye brought it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

Nor do ye take out a burden from your houses on the day of rest, Yea, any work ye do not do, And ye have sanctified the day of rest, As I have commanded your fathers.

And they have not hearkened nor inclined their ear, And they stiffen their neck not to hear, And not to receive instruction.

Then entered by the gates of this city have kings and princes, Sitting on the throne of David, Riding in a chariot, and on horses, They, and their princes, the man of Judah, And inhabitants of Jerusalem, And this city hath remained to the age.

And they have come in from cities of Judah, And from suburbs of Jerusalem, And from the land of Benjamin, And from the low country, And from the hill-country, and from the south, Bringing in burnt-offering, and sacrifice, And present, and frankincense, And bringing praise to the house of Jehovah.

And if ye do not hearken unto me to sanctify the day of rest, And so as not to bear a burden, And to come in at the gates of Jerusalem on the day of rest, Then I have kindled a fire in its gates, And it hath consumed the high places of Jerusalem, And it is not quenched!'