if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do.

And it hath done the evil thing in Mine eyes, So as not to hearken to My voice, Then I have repented of the good That I have spoken of doing to it.

So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem this: The Lord says, 'I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.'

And they have said, It is incurable, For after our own devices we do go, And each the stubbornness of his evil heart we do.

Therefore, the Lord says, "Ask the people of other nations whether they have heard of anything like this. Israel should have been like a virgin. But she has done something utterly revolting!

Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level.

Wherethrough they have brought their land into an everlasting wilderness and scorn: So that whosoever traveleth thereby, shall be abashed, and wag their heads.

Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember [with compassion] that I stood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
To turn Your anger away from them.

Let cries of terror be heard in their houses when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for me to step into.

But you, Lord, have knowledge of all the designs which they have made against my life; let not their evil-doing be covered or their sin be washed away from before your eyes: but let it be a cause of falling before you: so do to them in the time of your wrath.

I will do so because these people have rejected me and have defiled this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children.

They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!

I will make the purpose of Judah and Jerusalem come to nothing in this place; I will have them put to the sword by their haters, and by the hands of those who have designs on their life; and their dead bodies I will give to be food for the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.

I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it.

I will make them take the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters for food, they will be making a meal of one another, because of their bitter need and the cruel grip of their haters and those who have made designs against their life.

The Lord continued, "Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you.

'Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: Even so will I destroy this people and city: as a Potter breaketh a vessel, that cannot be made whole again. In Tophet shall they be buried, for they shall have none other place.

The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth, all the houses on whose rooftops incense has been burned to all the host of heaven (sun, moon, stars), and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods.”’”

"The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, 'I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused to pay any attention to what I have said!'"

For thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am making thee for a fear to thyself, And to all loving thee, And they have fallen by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes are beholding, And all Judah I give into the hand of the king of Babylon, And he hath removed them to Babylon, And he hath smitten them with the sword.

And I have given all the strength of this city, And all its labour, and all its precious things, Yea, all the treasures of the kings of Judah I do give into the hand of their enemies, And they have spoiled them, and taken them, And have brought them into Babylon.

You, Pashhur, and all your household will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.'"

Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. Now I have become a constant laughingstock. Everyone ridicules me.

because I have now preached long against malicious Tyranny, and showed them of destruction. For the which cause they cast the word of the LORD in my teeth, and take me ever to the worst.

Wherefore, I thought from henceforth not to speak of him, nor to preach anymore in his name. But the word of the LORD was a very burning fire in my heart and in my bones, which when I would have stopped, I might not.

For I have heard the whispering and defaming words of many,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my familiar and trusted friends,
[Those who are] watching for my fall, say,
“Perhaps he will be persuaded and deceived; then we will overcome him,
And take our revenge on him.”

But Jehovah is with me as a mighty one and a terrible: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

O Lord who rules over all, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people's hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

A curse on the man who gave the news to my father, saying, You have a male child; making him very glad.

Because he did not kill me before my birth,
So that my mother might have been my grave,
And her womb always pregnant.

Why did I ever come forth from the womb
To look on trouble and sorrow,
So that my days have been spent in shame?

that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, 'The forces at your disposal are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city.

And I -- I have fought against you, With a stretched-out hand, and with a strong arm, And in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath,

And I have smitten the inhabitants of this city, Both man and beast, By a great pestilence do they die.

Then afterward,” says the Lord, “I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the virulent disease, the sword, and the famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemy, into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have mercy and compassion on them.”’

He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty.

For I have set My face against this city to do harm and not good,” says the Lord. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.”’

O royal family descended from David. The Lord says: 'See to it that people each day are judged fairly. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you. It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out because of the evil that you have done.

And I have laid a charge against you, According to the fruit of your doings, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have kindled a fire in its forest, And it hath consumed -- all its suburbs!

The Lord says, "Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. Do not kill innocent people in this land.

For, if ye certainly do this thing, Then come in by the gates of this house Have kings sitting for David on his throne, Riding on chariot, and on horses, He, and his servants, and his people.

But if ye will not hear these words, By myself have I sworn Declareth Yahweh - That, a ruin, shall this house become.

"'For the Lord says concerning the palace of the king of Judah, "This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me. It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes. But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness whose towns have all been deserted.

And I have separated for thee destroyers, Each with his weapons, And they have cut down the choice of thy cedars, And have cast them on the fire.

And many nations have passed by this city, And they have said, each to his neighbour, For what hath Jehovah done thus to this great city?

And they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

he will die in the place where they led him captive and not see this land again.

He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord.

But you have eyes and a heart for nothing
except your own dishonest profit,
shedding innocent blood
and committing extortion and oppression.

People of Jerusalem, go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning. Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly. Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. For your allies have all been defeated.

While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. But you said, "I refuse to listen to you." That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind! Your allies will go into captivity. Then you will certainly be disgraced and put to shame because of all the wickedness you have done.

O inhabitress of Lebanon that makest thy nest in the cedars, - How hast thou bemoaned thyself Now that pangs have overtaken thee, Anguish, as of her that giveth birth.

By my life, says the Lord, even if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, was the ring on my right hand, even from there I would have you pulled off;

And I have given thee into the hand of those seeking thy life, And into hands of which thou art afraid, Into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, And into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I have cast thee, And thy mother who bore thee, unto another country, Where ye were not born, and there do ye die.

“Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his descendants been hurled out
And cast into a land that they had not known?

Write this man among the outlaws, for no prosperity shall this man have all his life long. Neither shall any of his seed be so happy as to sit upon the seat of David, and to bear rule in Judah."

So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: "You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the Lord, affirm it!

Then I myself will regather those of my people who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. They will greatly increase in number.

And I have raised for them shepherds, And they have fed them, And they fear no more, nor are affrighted, Nor are they lacking -- an affirmation of Jehovah.

Lo, days are coming -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have raised to David a righteous shoot, And a king hath reigned and acted wisely, And done judgment and righteousness in the earth.

In his days Judah will have salvation and Israel will be living without fear: and this is the name by which he will be named, The Lord is our righteousness.

but - As Yahweh liveth who hath brought up and who hath brought in the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither I have driven them, - And they shall remain upon their own soil.

As for the prophets:
My heart is broken within me,
All my bones tremble;
I have become like a drunken man,
Even like a man overcome with wine,
Because of the Lord
And because of His holy words.

For the land is full of men who are untrue to their wives; because of the curse the land is full of grief; the green fields of the waste land have become dry; and they are quick to do evil, their strength is for what is not right.

Moreover, the Lord says, "Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

For this cause their steps will be slipping on their way: they will be forced on into the dark and have a fall there: for I will send evil on them in the year of their punishment, says the Lord.

“And I have seen a foolish and an offensive thing in the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.

“Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become like Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

So then I, the Lord who rules over all, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: 'I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.'"

“They are continually saying to those who despise Me [and My word],
‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace”’;
And they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart,
‘No evil will come on you.’

Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord's inner circle so they could see and hear what he has to say? Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

The wrath of the Lord will not be turned back till he has done, till he has put into effect, the purposes of his heart: in days to come you will have full knowledge of this.

I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in my inner circle, they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

The Lord says, "I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, 'I have had a dream! I have had a dream!'

who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord.

Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

The Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, 'What burdensome message do you have from the Lord?' Tell them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the Lord, affirm it!

"As for the prophet, the priest, or the people who say, "I have an oracle of the LORD,' I'll judge that person and his household.

And you will no longer put people in mind of the word of weight of the Lord: for every man's word will be a weight on himself; for the words of the living God, of the Lord of armies, our God, have been twisted by you

But if you say, The word of weight of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said: Because you say, The weight of the Lord, and I have sent to you, saying, You are not to say, The weight of the Lord

Therefore, lo, I -- I have taken you utterly away, And I have sent you out, And the city that I gave to you, And to your fathers, from before My face,

And I have put on you reproach age-during, And shame age-during that is not forgotten!

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

And I have set Mine eyes on them for good, And have brought them back to this land, And built them up, and I throw not down, And have planted them, and pluck not up.

And I will give them a heart to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord: and they will be my people, and I will be their God: for they will come back to me with all their heart.

"I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: 'King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

And I have given them for a trembling, For evil -- to all kingdoms of the earth, For a reproach, and for a simile, For a byword, and for a reviling, In all the places whither I drive them.

And I have sent against them the sword, The famine and the pestilence, Till their consumption from off the ground, That I gave to them and to their fathers!

“For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened.

Over and over again the Lord has sent his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention.

So, now the Lord says, 'You have not listened to me. But you have made me angry by the things that you have done. Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.'

"Therefore, the Lord who rules over all says, 'You have not listened to what I said.

Lo, I am sending, and have taken all the families of the north -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- even unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and have brought them in against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and have devoted them, and appointed them for an astonishment, and for a hissing, and for wastes age-during.

And I have destroyed from them the voice of rejoicing, and the voice of joy, voice of bridegroom and voice of bride, noise of millstones, and the light of lamps.

And all this land hath been for a waste, for an astonishment, and these nations have served the king of Babylon seventy years.

"Then when the seventy years have passed, I'll judge the king of Babylon and that nation, declares the LORD, I'll judge the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity and I'll make it a desolation forever.