"As for you, get ready! Stand up and tell them everything that I've commanded you. Don't be frightened as you face them, or I'll frighten you right in front of them.

"As for me, today I'm making you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the whole land against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

"Go and announce to Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: "I remember the loyal devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. You followed me in the desert, in a land that was not planted.

"They didn't ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don't pass through, and where no one lives?'

"Indeed, go over to the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar and pay very close attention. See if there has ever been such a thing as this!

I planted you myself as a choice vine, from the very best seed. How did you turn against me into a degenerate and foreign vine?

"As a thief is disgraced when he's caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,

"But where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rise up, if they can deliver you in the time of your trouble. You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

Why do you go about changing your mind so much? You will also be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were disappointed by Assyria.

In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they'll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance."

If you swear, "as surely as the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast."

A wind too strong for that is coming at my bidding. Now I'm judging them as I speak."

Look, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots are like a whirlwind. His horses are as swift as eagles. Woe to us we're destroyed!

Although they say, "As surely as the LORD lives,' still they are swearing falsely."

When the people ask, "Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you are to say to them, "Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'"

"You don't fear me, do you?' declares the LORD. "You don't tremble before me, do you? I'm the one who put the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail against it, though they roar, they cannot cross it.'

As a well keeps its waters fresh, so the city keeps her wickedness fresh. Violence and destruction are heard in her, sickness and wounds are always before me.

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as they would the vine. Pass your hand over them like grape gatherers over the branches.

This is what the LORD says: "Stand beside the roads and watch. Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it and find rest for yourselves. But they said, "We won't walk in it!'

They grab bow and spear; they're cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea as they ride on horses, deployed like men ready for battle against you, daughter of Zion."

Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as one mourns at the death of an only son. For the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

"I've made you an assayer of my people, as well as a fortress. You know how to test their way."

All of them are very rebellious, going around as slanderers. They're bronze and iron, and all of them are corrupt.

Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

I'll cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

"As for you, don't pray on behalf of this people, don't cry or offer a petition for them, and don't plead with me, for I won't listen to you.

"Beware of your neighbors, and don't trust any of your relatives. For all of your relatives act deceitfully, and every friend goes around as a slanderer.

Instead, they followed their rebellious hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors taught them."

As a result, I'll fulfill the oath that I made with your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, just as is the case today."'" Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."

Judah, you have as many gods as you have towns, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful idols as there are streets in Jerusalem. You burn incense to Baal on these altars.

This is what the LORD says about all the wicked neighbors who strike out against the land I've given to my people Israel as their inheritance: "I'm about to uproot them from their land, and I'll uproot the house of Judah from among them.

If they have learned the ways of my people well, to swear by my name: "As surely as the LORD lives,' just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they'll be built up among my people.

So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, just as the LORD had commanded me.

For just as the belt clings tightly to a person's waist, so I've made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah cling tightly to me,' declares the LORD. "I did this so that they would be my people, name, praise, and glory. But they wouldn't listen.'

What will you say when the LORD appoints over you as your head those whom you taught to be your allies? Pain will seize you like that seizing a woman about to give birth, will it not?

"Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem, and who will grieve for you? Who will go out of his way to ask about your welfare?

"I'll give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder, for free, because of all your sins throughout your territory.

For this is what the LORD says: "Don't go to a house where there is mourning, don't go to lament, nor to express sorrow to them. For I've taken my peace away from this people," declares the LORD, "as well as gracious love and compassion.

"Therefore, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, "As surely as the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt.'

Rather it will be said, "As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.

My mountain in the field, your wealth and your treasures I'll give as spoil; along with your high places as the price of your sin throughout your territory.

As a partridge gathers together eggs that it didn't lay, so is a person who amasses wealth unjustly. In the middle of his life it will leave him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool."

The LORD told me, "Go, stand in the gate of the people, where the kings of Judah come in and go out, and in the other gates of Jerusalem as well.

Don't bring any load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor are you to do any work. You are to consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.

But if you don't listen to me, to consecrate the Sabbath day and not carry any load as you enter the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I'll start a fire in its gates. It will consume the palaces of Jerusalem and won't be extinguished."'"

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "Ask the nations. Who has ever heard of anything like this? You have done a most horrible thing, virgin Israel.

""This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle. For they have forsaken me and have treated this place as foreign. In it they have burned incense to other gods that neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah knew. They have also filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

They built the high places for Baal to burn their children in the fire as a burnt offering to Baal something I didn't command, didn't say, nor did it ever enter my mind!

I'll shatter the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I'll make them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hands of those seeking their lives. I'll give their dead bodies as food to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the land.

and say to them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "In this same way I'll break this people and this city, just as someone breaks a potter's vessel which he then cannot put back together again. They'll bury corpses in Topheth until there is no more room to bury anyone.

The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be polluted like Topheth, as will be all the houses on whose roofs people burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out liquid offerings to other gods."'"

Indeed, as often as I speak, I cry out, and shout, "Violence and destruction!" For this message from the LORD has caused me constant reproach and derision.

Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live. He will save his life as a spoil of war.

"As certainly as I'm alive and living," declares the LORD, "even if Jehoiakim's son King Jehoiachin of Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off

As for the land to which you want to return, you won't return there!

This is what the LORD says: "Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.'"

"Therefore, the time is coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, "As surely as the LORD lives who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt,'

but they'll say, "As surely as the LORD lives who brought the descendants of the Israelis from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them and brought them into the land.' Then they'll live in their own land."

With their dreams that they relate to one another, they plan to make my people forget my name just as their ancestors forgot my name by embracing Baal.

"Jeremiah, when these people, the prophet, or a priest ask you, "What is the oracle of the LORD?' say to them, "You are the burden, and I'll cast you out,'" declares the LORD.

"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.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Like these good figs, so I'll regard as good the exiles of Judah whom I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

But you didn't listen to me," declares the LORD, "so as to provoke me with the idols you make with your hands to your own harm.

Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, its kings and officials to make them into a ruin, an object of horror and scorn, and a curse, as it is this day;

Flight will be impossible for the shepherds, as will be escape for the leaders of the flock.

The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened as Jeremiah spoke these words at the LORD's Temple.

As soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that the LORD had commanded him to say to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him, telling him as they did: "You must certainly die!

The priests and prophets told the officials and all the people, "A death sentence for this man, because he prophesied against this city, as you heard with your own ears!"

All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his country's time also comes, and then many nations and great kings will use him as a slave.

Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by plague as the LORD has decreed about the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

When a prophet prophesies peace, and what the prophet speaks comes about, he will be known as the prophet whom the LORD has truly sent."

The LORD made you a priest instead of Jehoiada the priest to serve in the LORD's Temple as an official against every crazy prophet, and to put him in stocks and restraints.

Ask about this and think about it Can a man give birth to a child? Why then do I see every strong man with his hands on his thighs like a woman giving birth, and all their faces have turned pale?

Their children will be as they were before, and their congregation will be established before me. I'll punish all who oppress them.

They'll come crying, and I'll lead them as they pray for mercy. I'll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won't stumble. For I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn."

Nations, listen to this message from the LORD, and declare it in the distant coastlands. Say, "The one who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock."

"I've certainly heard Ephraim shuddering with grief as they said, "You have disciplined me, and I'm disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and let me return, for you are the LORD my God.

"Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? Indeed, as often as I've spoken about him, I surely still remember him. Therefore I deeply yearn for him. I'll surely have great compassion on him," declares the LORD.

"Look, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah using people and animals as seed.

Just as I've watched over them to pull up, tear down, overthrow, destroy, and bring disaster, so I'll watch over them to build and to plant," declares the LORD.

The whole valley of dead bodies and ashes and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east will be holy to the LORD. It won't be uprooted or overthrown again, forever."

"Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the LORD had said, and he told me, "Please buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin because you have the right to possess it, and the right to redeem it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.' So I knew that this was a message from the LORD.

In their presence, I instructed Baruch as follows:

You are great in regards to your purposes and mighty in regards to your works. Your eyes are open to everything that people do, and will reward each one according to their ways and just as their actions deserve.

"Indeed, this is what the LORD says: "Just as I'm bringing all this great disaster on this people, so I'll bring on them all the good things that I'm promising concerning them.

I'll restore the security of Judah and Israel and rebuild them as they were at first.

the sounds of rejoicing and gladness, the sounds of the bridegroom and the bride, and the sounds of those saying, "Give thanks to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, for the LORD is good, and his gracious love lasts forever," as they bring thanksgiving offerings to the LORD's Temple. For I'll restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,' declares the LORD.

As the heavenly bodies cannot be counted, and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I'll multiply the descendants of my servant David and the descendants of Levi who serve me.'"

then I might reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David by not taking some of his descendants as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I'll restore their fortunes, and I'll have compassion on them.'"

You will die peacefully, and as they burned fires for your ancestors, the former kings who were before you, so they'll burn fires for you, wailing, "Oh how terrible, your majesty!"' For I've spoken the message," declares the LORD.

So Neriah's son Baruch did just as Jeremiah the prophet instructed him, reading the words of the LORD from the scroll at the LORD's Temple.

In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, a fast was proclaimed in the LORD's presence in Jerusalem for all the people of Jerusalem, as well as all the people who were coming from the towns of Judah.

As Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut it with a scribe's knife and throw it into the fire which was in the stove, until all the scroll was burned in the fire in the stove.

Ebed-melech the Ethiopian told Jeremiah, "Put the worn out rags and clothes under your armpits under the ropes," and Jeremiah did as he said.

King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to him at the third entrance to the LORD's Temple. The king told Jeremiah, "I'm going to ask you something, and don't hide anything from me."

Then King Zedekiah, in secret, swore an oath to Jeremiah: "As surely as the LORD lives, who gave us this life to live, I won't have you put to death, nor will I hand you over to these men who are seeking to kill you."

When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he replied to them exactly as the king had ordered him. So they stopped speaking with him because the conversation had not been overheard.

And now the LORD has brought it about and has done just as he said. Because you people sinned against the LORD and didn't obey him, this has happened to you.

As for me, I'll remain at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil. Put it in your containers and live in your cities that you have taken over."

Now on the day after Gedaliah was killed, when as yet no one knew about it,