it came also in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, - as far as the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the fifth month.

I, therefore - lo! I have set thee to-day as a fortified city, and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze, over all the land, - against the kings of Judah, against her princes, against her priests and against the people of the land.

Against him, have been roaring wild lions, They have uttered their voice, - and have made his land a desolation, His cities, have been burned, so as to have no inhabitant.

For, in age-past time, I brake thy yoke, I tare off thy fetters, And thou saidst, I will not transgress, - Nevertheless, on every high hill, and under every green tree, wast thou lying down as an unchaste woman.

A wild ass, taught of the desert, In the desire of her soul, she snuffeth the wind, In her occasion, who can turn her back? None who seek her, will weary themselves, In her month, they shall find her!

As the shame of a thief when he is found, So, hath been put to shame, the house of Israel, - They, their kings their princes, and their priests and their prophets:

In vain, have I smitten your children, Correction, have they not accepted, - Your sword hath devoured your prophets, as a lion that destroyeth.

How vigorously, thou goest about changing thy way! Even of Egypt, shalt thou be ashamed, just as thou wast ashamed of Assyria:

In those days, shall the house of Judah go unto the house of Israel, - that they may enter together out of the land of the North, upon the land which I gave as an inheritance unto your fathers.

But indeed as a wife goeth treacherously from her husband, so, have ye acted treacherously with me, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh.

Circumcise yourselves unto Yahweh So shall ye remove the impurity of your heart, ye men of Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, - Lest mine indignation, go forth as fire, and burn and there be none to quench it, Because of the wickedness of your doings.

There hath come up a lion out of his thicket, Yea, a destroyer of nations - hath set forward, hath come forth out of his place, - To make thy land a desolation, Thy cities, shall fall in ruins, so as to have no inhabitant.

Lo! like clouds, shall he come up, Even as a storm-wind, his chariots, Swifter than eagles, his horses, - Woe to us for we are laid waste!

As the keepers of a field, have they come against her round about, - For against me, hath she rebelled, Declareth Yahweh.

For a voice as of a woman in pangs, have I heard Anguish as of her that is bearing her firstborn. The voice of the daughter of Zion! She gaspeth for breath, She spreadeth forth her palms, - Surely woe to me! For my soul fainteth before murderers.

For these things, shall I not punish? Demandeth Yahweh: Yea on a nation such as this, must not my soul avenge herself?

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, For what cause hath Yahweh our God done to us all these things? Then shalt thou say unto them, - As ye forsook me, and served the gods of the foreigner in your own land, So, shall ye serve aliens in a land not your own.

Even for me, will ye have no reverence? Enquireth Yahweh, And because of me, will ye not he pained? In that though I placed the sand as a bound to the sea, A decree age-abiding, and it should not pass beyond it, - When they would toss themselves Then should they not prevail, When the waves thereof would roar Then should they not pass beyond it,

For there have been found among my people lawless men, - One lieth in wait, as with the stooping of fowlers, They have set a trap, they capture men:

As, a cage, is full of birds, So, are, their houses, full of unrighteous gain, - For this cause, have they become great and waxen rich:

Upon these things, shall I not bring punishment? Demandeth Yahweh. Or, on a nation such as this, shall not my soul avenge herself?

The prophets, have prophesied, falsely, And the priests tread down by their means, And, my people, love it, so, - What then can ye do as to her latter end?

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel - Turn back thy hand, as a grape gatherer over the tendrils.

Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing, they had done! Nay! they did not, at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how, to exhibit shame, Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when I punish them, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh.

Thus saith Yahweh - Stand ye at the ways - and see, And ask for the paths of age-past times, Where is the good way? And walk therein, And ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein !

Hear thou - O earth, Lo! I, am bringing in Calamity against this people the fruit of their own devices, - For unto my words, have they not given heed, And as for my law, they have rejected it.

We have heard the report thereof, Relaxed are our hands, - Anguish, hath taken hold on us, Pangs, as on her that is giving birth.

They all, are rebels of rebels, Slander-walkers They are bronze and iron! As for them all, corrupters, they are!

Therefore will I do to the house Whereon my Name hath been called Wherein, ye, are trusting, Even to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, - Just as I did unto Shiloh;

And will cast you out from before me, - Just as I have cast out All your brethren, All the seed of Ephraim.

And shall spread them out - To the sun, and To the moon, and To all the host of the heavens, Whom they have loved, And whom they have served, And after whom they have walked, And whom they have sought, And to whom they have bowed themselves down, - They shall not be gathered, Neither shall they be buried, As heaps of dung on the face of the ground, shall they be.

Therefore, will I give - Their wives to others, Their fields to such as shall take possession of them, For from the least, even unto the greatest, Every one, is, wholly given to extortion: From the prophet even unto the priest, Every one, dealeth, falsely.

Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing, they had done? Nay! they did not, at all turn pale Nay! they did not so much as know how to exhibit shame! Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when they are punished, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh:

Who have prepared e their tongue as their bow of falsehood, And, not by faithfulness, have they become mighty in the land, - For from wickedness unto wickedness, have they gone forth, But me, have they not known, Declareth Yahweh.

Every one, of his neighbour, beware ye, And in no brother, may ye trust, - For, every brother, supplanteth! And every neighbour, as a tale-bearer, goeth about;

For these things, shall I not bring punishment on them? Demandeth Yahweh, - On a nation such as this, must not my soul avenge herself!

Who, is the man that is wise That he may discern this? And, unto whom, hath the mouth of Yahweh spoken, That he may declare it? For what cause Hath the land perished, Hath it been burned as a wilderness that no man passeth through?

For as for the prescribed customs of the peoples, vanity, they are, - For a tree out of the forest, one cutteth down, Work for the hands of a skilled workman with the axe:

Who would not revere thee, O King of nations? For, thee, doth it beseem; Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations And throughout all their royal estate, None, there is like unto thee.

That the oath may be established which I sware to your fathers, To give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then answered I and said, Amen, O Yahweh!

But, I, was as a gentle lamb that is to be led to the slaughter, - and I knew not that against me, they had devised devices saying - Let us destroy the tree with its fruit Yea let us cut him off out of the land of the living, And, his name, shall be remembered no more!

But thou O Yahweh, knowest me, Wilt thou observe me and try my heart towards thee? Drag them away, as sheep for slaughter, And hallow them for the day when they are to be slain.

Mine inheritance, hath become to me as a lion in a jungle, - She hath given forth against me her voice, For this cause, have I hated her.

It hath been made a desolation, It hath mourned unto me as desolate, - All the land hath become a desolation, For, no man, layeth it to heart.

Thus, saith Yahweh, Concerning all my wicked neighbours, who have been touching the inheritance which I gave as an inheritance unto my people Israel, - Behold me! uprooting them from off their own soil, Whereas the house of Judah, will I uproot out of their midst.

And it shall come to pass - If they will, diligently learn, the ways of my people - To swear by my Name saying, By the life of Yahweh, As they taught my people to swear by Baal, Then shall they be built in the midst of my people.

So I went, and hid it, by the Euphrates, as Yahweh had commanded me.

For as a girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, so caused I to cleave unto me - the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah Declareth Yahweh, to become mine - For a people, and For a name, and For a praise and For an adorning, - but they hearkened not.

What wilt thou say when he shall bring punishment upon thee, Since, thou thyself, hast accustomed them to be over thee as friends in chief? Shall not, pangs, seize thee, as of a woman in childbirth?

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

So much of the word of Yahweh as came unto Jeremiah, concerning the matter of the drought: -

Thou Hope of Israel, His Saviour in the time of distress, - Wherefore shouldst thou be as a sojourner in the and? Or as a wayfarer, who hath turned aside to lodge for the night?

Wherefore, shouldst thou be as a man astounded, As a mighty man who cannot save? Yet, thou, art in our midst - O Yahweh And, thy Name, on us, hath been called Do not abandon us!

And it shall come to pass when they say unto thee Whither shall we go? Then shalt, thou say unto them, Thus saith Yahweh - Such as are for death, to death, and Such as are for t he sword, to the sword, and Such as are for famine, to the famine, and Such as are for captivity, to captivity.

For who shall have pity upon thee O Jerusalem? And who shall lament for thee? And who shall turn aside, to ask for thy welfare?

Wherefore hath my pain become perpetual? And my wound, incurable? Refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou, indeed be, to me As a brook that disappointeth, Waters that cannot be trusted?

Wherefore Thus, saith Yahweh - If thou wouldst return, I will cause thee to return Before me, shalt thou stand, Yea if thou wilt bring out the precious from among the vile, As mine own mouth shalt thou be, - Let them return unto thee, But thou, shalt not return unto them;

Of deaths from diseases, shall they die, They shall not be lamented, Neither shall they be buried, As heaps of dung on the face of the ground, shall riley serve, - Yea by sword and by famine, shall they be consumed, And, their dead bodies shall become, food - To the bird of the heavens, and To the beast of the earth.

And, ye, have done more wickedly than your fathers, - for look at you! walking every man after the stubbornness of his wicked heart, so as not to hearken unto me,

So long as their sons remember their altars, and their Sacred Stems, By the green tree, - Upon the high hills,

Therefore shall he become as a shrub in the waste plain, Neither shall he perceive when good cometh, But shall inhabit Parched places in a wilderness, A land of salt that cannot he dwelt in.

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.

But as for me, I have neither forced myself away from tending the flock after thee, Nor yet for the woeful day, have I longed - thou, knowest, - That which came out of my lips, before thy face, was uttered.

Neither shall ye take forth any burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, Nor any manner of work, shall ye do, - But ye shall hallow the sabbath day, As I commanded your fathers.

Then was marred, the vessel that he was making, while yet it was clay in the hand of the potter, - so he turned and made of it another vessel, as seemed right in the eyes of the potter to make it.

Like this potter, can I not deal with you O house of Israel? Demandeth Yahweh: Lo! as clay in the hand of the potter, So, are, ye, in my hand O house of Israel.

Therefore, Thus saith Yahweh, Ask I pray you among the nations, - Who hath heard such things as these? A very horrible thing, hath, the virgin, Israel done!

Then said they, - Come ye and let us devise against Jeremiah devices, For the law shall not perish from the priest, Nor, counsel, from the wise, Nor, the word from the prophet: Come and let as smite him with the tongue, And let us not give ear to any of his words!

Because they have forsaken me, And have treated this as a foreign place, And have burned incense therein to other gods, which neither they, nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah, have known; And have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

And have built the high places of Baal for burning up their sons in the fire as ascending-sacrifices to Baal, - Which I commanded not, Nor spake, Neither came it up on my heart,

and shalt say unto them - Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts - Thus and thus, will I break this people, and this city, As one breaketh the vessel of a potter, which cannot be made whole any more, - And in Topheth, shall they bury, for want of place to bury.

For, as often as I speak, I make outcry, Violence and wasting, I proclaim, - Yea the word of Yahweh hath become to me a reproach and derision lull the day

Therefore I say - I will not mention him Neither will I speak any more in his name, But then it becometh in my heart as a fire that burneth, Shut up in my bones, - And I am weary of restraint and cannot refrain.

But, Yahweh, is with me, as a mighty one striking terror, For this cause, shall my persecutors stumble and not prevail, - They have turned very pale, For they have not prospered, Confusion age-abiding, it shall not be forgotten!

Making him very glad: Yea let that man be - as the cities which Yahweh overthrew and repented not, - And let him hear An outcry in the morning, and A war-shout at broad noon!

Enquire for us I pray thee of Yahweh, in that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, maketh war against us, - Peradventure Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wonders, as that he go up from us.

And after that, Declareth Yahweh - Will I deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants, and the people - even such as are left in this city from the pestilence from the sword and from the famine, - into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, even into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them who are seeking their life, - and he will smite them with the edge of the sword, he will not have pity on them nor will he spare nor will he have compassion.

Now, as to the house of the king of Judah, - hear ye the word of Yahweh: -

With the burial of an ass, shall he be buried, Dragged along and cast forth, beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

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.

As I live, Declareth Yahweh, - Even though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet-ring upon my right hand, yet, from thence, would I pull thee off;

Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will raise up to David A righteous Bud, And he shall reign as king, and prosper, And shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be said any more As Yahweh liveth, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

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, - Broken is my heart within me Trembled have all my bones, I have become as a drunken man, And as a strong man whom wine hath overcome, - Because of Yahweh, And because of his holy words.

But among the prophets of Jerusalem, have I seen a horrible thing, - Committing adultery, And walking in falsehood, And so strengthening the hands of doers of wickedness, not to return any man from his wickedness: They have all of them become to me as Sodom, And her inhabitants as Gomorrah.

Who lay a plot to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they relate every man to his neighbour, - Just as their fathers forgat, my name, for Baal.

The prophet with whom is a dream, Let him relate it as a dream, And he with whom is my word, Let him speak my word as truth, - What is the chaff to the wheat? Demandeth Yahweh:

Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness, - whereas, I, had not sent them nor commanded them, so that they could be of no, profit, to this people, Declareth Yahweh.

But when this people or a prophet or a priest shall ask thee saying What is the oracle of Yahweh? Then shalt thou say unto them Ye, yourselves, are the oracle, Therefore will I reject you Declareth Yahweh;

yea I will deliver them up, as a terror of calamity, to all the kingdoms of the earth, - as a reproach and as a byword, as a mockery and as a contempt, in every place whither I will drive them;

For many nations and great kings have used, even them, as slaves, So will I recompense to them - According to their deed and According to the work of their own hands.

Yea they shall drink and reel to and fro and act as madmen, because of the sword which I am sending between them.

to wit said he - Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and her kings her princes, - making them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a contempt, as at this day;

Thou, therefore, shalt prophesy against them all these words, - and shalt say unto them - Yahweh, from on high, will roar Yea from his holy habitation, will utter his voice, He will, roar mightily over his home, With a shout as of them who tread the winepress, will he answer unto all the inhabitants of the earth.

There hath come in a tumult as far as the end of the earth, For a controversy, hath Yahweh with the nations, Himself, hath entered into judgment with all flesh, - As for the lawless, he hath delivered them to the sword Declareth Yahweh.

Then shall the slain of Yahweh in that day, be from one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth, - They shall not be lamented, nor gathered together nor buried, As dung, on the face of the ground, shall they serve.

He hath left as a lion his covert, For their land hath become a horror, Because of the fierceness of oppression and Because of the fierceness of his anger.

Peradventure they will hear, and return every man from his wicked way, - and I shall repent as to the calamity which I am devising to execute upon them because of the wickedness of their doings:

Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and unto all the people, saying, - Worthy of death, is this man, because he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your own ears, Then spake Jeremiah, unto all the princes and unto all the people, saying, -