A wild ass accustomed to a wilderness, In the desire of her soul she hath swallowed up wind, Her meeting -- who doth turn her back? None seeking her do weary themselves, In her month they find her.

As the shame of a thief when he is found, So put to shame have been the house of Israel, They, their kings, their heads, And their priests, and their prophets,

In vain I have smitten your sons, Instruction they have not accepted, Devoured hath your sword your prophets, As a destroying lion.

What? thou art very vile to repeat thy way, Even of Egypt thou art ashamed, As thou hast been ashamed of Asshur,

Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness.

Be circumcised to Jehovah, And turn aside the foreskins of your heart, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury go out as fire, and hath burned, And there is none quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.

Lo, as clouds he cometh up, And as a hurricane his chariots, Lighter than eagles have been his horses, Woe to us, for we have been spoiled.

As the keepers of a field They have been against her round about, For with Me she hath been rebellious, An affirmation of Jehovah.'

For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, 'Woe to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'

For these do I not lay a charge? An affirmation of Jehovah, And on a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

Its quiver is as an open sepulchre, All of them -- mighty ones.

And it hath come to pass, when ye say, 'For what hath Jehovah our God done to us all these?' That thou hast said unto them, 'As ye have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So do ye serve strangers in a land not yours.

As a cage full of fowls, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.

For these do not I inspect, an affirmation of Jehovah, On a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

As the digging of a well, is for its waters, So she hath digged for her wickedness, Violence and spoil is heard in her, Before My face continually are sickness and smiting.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They surely glean, as a vine, the remnant of Israel, Put back thy hand, as a gatherer to the baskets.

Thus said Jehovah: Stand ye by the ways and see, and ask for paths of old, Where is this -- the good way? and go ye in it, And find rest for yourselves. And they say, 'We do not go.'

Bow and javelin they take hold of, Fierce it is, and they have no mercy, Their voice as a sea doth sound, And on horses they ride, set in array as a man of war, Against thee, O daughter of Zion.

'We have heard its sound, feeble have been our hands, Distress hath seized us, pain as of a travailing woman.

Lo, ye are trusting for yourselves On the words of falsehood, so as not to profit.

I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh.

And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.

The sons are gathering wood, And the fathers are causing the fire to burn, And the women are kneading dough, To make cakes to the queen of the heavens, And to pour out libations to other gods, So as to provoke Me to anger.

I have given attention, yea, I hearken, They do not speak right, No man hath repented of his wickedness, Saying, What have I done? Every one hath turned to his courses, As a horse is rushing into battle.

For these things do not I see after them? An affirmation of Jehovah, Against a nation such as this doth not My soul avenge itself?

Who is the wise man? and he understandeth this, And he to whom the mouth of Jehovah spake? And he doth declare it, For what hath the land perished? It hath been burnt up as a wilderness, Without any passing through.

Speak thus -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And fallen hath the carcase of man, As dung on the face of the field, And as a handful after the reaper, And there is none gathering.

As a palm they are stiff, and they speak not, They are surely borne, for they step not, Be not afraid of them, for they do no evil, Yea, also to do good is not in them.

In order to establish the oath that I have sworn to your fathers, To give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as this day. And I answer and say, 'Amen, O Jehovah.'

And I am as a trained lamb brought to slaughter, And I have not known That against me they have devised devices: We destroy the tree with its food, and cut him off From the land of the living, And his name is not remembered again.

And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known me, Thou seest me, and hast tried my heart with Thee, Draw them away as sheep to slaughter, And separate them for a day of slaughter.

Mine inheritance hath been to Me as a lion in a forest, She gave forth against Me with her voice, Therefore I have hated her.

And it hath come to pass, If they learn well the ways of My people, To swear by My name, 'Jehovah liveth,' As they taught My people to swear by Baal, Then they have been built up in the midst of My people.

and I go and hide it by Phrat, as Jehovah commanded me.

This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, Who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, And go after other gods to serve them, And to bow themselves to them, Yea it is -- as this girdle, that is not profitable for anything.

For, as the girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, So I caused to cleave unto Me The whole house of Israel, And the whole house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah, To be to Me for a people, and for a name, And for praise, and for beauty, And they have not hearkened.

And have dashed them one against another, And the fathers and the sons together, An affirmation of Jehovah, I do not pity, nor spare, nor have I mercy, So as not to destroy them.

What dost thou say, when He looketh after thee? And thou -- thou hast taught them to be over thee -- leaders for head? Do not pangs seize thee as a travailing woman?

And I scatter them as stubble, Passing away, by a wind of the wilderness.

O Hope of Israel -- its saviour in time of trouble, Why art Thou as a sojourner in the land? And as a traveller turned aside to lodge?

Why art Thou as one dumb? As a mighty one not able to save? And Thou art in our midst, O Jehovah, And Thy name over us is called, leave us not.

For who hath pity on thee, O Jerusalem? And who doth bemoan for thee? And who turneth aside to ask of thy welfare?

Why hath my pain been perpetual? And my wound incurable? It hath refused to be healed, Thou art surely to me as a failing stream, Waters not stedfast.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah: If thou turnest back, then I bring thee back, Before Me thou dost stand, And if thou bringest out the precious from the vile, As My mouth thou art! They -- they turn back unto thee, And thou dost not turn back unto them.

Ye also have done evil above your fathers, And lo, ye are walking each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me.

As their sons remember their altars and their shrines, By the green tree, by the high hills.

And he hath been as a naked thing in a desert, And doth not see when good cometh, And hath inhabited parched places in a wilderness, A salt land, and not inhabited.

And hath been as a tree planted by waters, And by a rivulet he sendeth forth his roots, And he doth not see when heat cometh, And his leaf hath been green, And in a year of dearth he is not sorrowful, Nor doth he cease from making fruit.

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 it hath been, if ye certainly hearken unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, So as not to bring in a burden By the gates of this city on the day of rest, And to sanctify the day of rest, So as not to do in it any work --

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!'

and marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he hath turned and he maketh it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So are ye in My hand, O house of Israel.

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.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Ask, I pray you, among the nations, Who hath heard like these? A very horrible thing hath the virgin of Israel done.

As an east wind I scatter them before an enemy, The neck, and not the face, I shew them, In the day of their calamity.'

and hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Thus do I break this people and this city, as one breaketh the potter's vessel, that is not able to be repaired again, and in Tophet they bury -- without place to bury;

so I do to this place -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and to its inhabitants, so as to make this city as Tophet;

and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, have been -- as the place of Tophet -- defiled, even all the houses on whose roofs they have made perfume to all the host of the heavens, so as to pour out oblations to other gods.'

And I said, 'I do not mention Him, Nor do I speak any more in His name,' And it hath been in my heart As a burning fire shut up in my bones, And I have been weary of containing, And I am not able.

And Jehovah is with me, as a terrible mighty one, Therefore my persecutors stumble and prevail not, They have been exceedingly ashamed, For they have not acted wisely, Confusion age-during is not forgotten.

Then hath that man been as the cities, That Jehovah overthrew, and repented not, And he hath heard a cry at morning, And a shout at time of noon.

And as to the house of the king of Judah, Hear ye a word of Jehovah;

O house of David, thus said Jehovah: Decide ye judgment at morning, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, Lest My fury go forth as fire, And hath burned, and none is quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.

The burial of an ass -- he is buried, Dragged and cast out thence to the gates of Jerusalem.

O dweller in Lebanon, making a nest among cedars, How gracious hast thou been when pangs come to thee, Pain -- as of a travailing woman.

In reference to the prophets: Broken hath been my heart in my midst, Fluttered have all my bones, I have been as a man -- a drunkard, And as a man -- wine hath passed over him, Because of Jehovah, and of His holy words.

Therefore is their way to them as slippery places, Into thick darkness they are driven, And they have fallen in it, For I bring in against them evil, The year of their inspection, An affirmation of Jehovah.

And in prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Yea, they strengthened the hands of evil doers, So that they have not turned back Each from his wickedness, They have been to me -- all of them -- as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah.

Who are devising to cause My people To forget My name by their dreams, That they recount each to his neighbour, As their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

Is it not thus? My word is as a fire, An affirmation of Jehovah. And as a hammer -- it breaketh in pieces a rock.

And when this people, or the prophet, Or a priest, doth ask thee, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? Then thou hast said unto them: Ye are the burden, and I have left you, An affirmation of Jehovah.

And ye have not hearkened unto Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- so as to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands for evil to you.

Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, And its kings, its heads, To give them to waste, to astonishment, To hissing, and to reviling, as at this day.

And thou, thou dost prophesy unto them all these words, and hast said unto them: Jehovah from the high place doth roar, And from His holy habitation giveth forth His voice, He surely roareth for His habitation, A shout as of treaders down, God answereth all the inhabitants of the land,

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, And roll yourselves, ye honourable of the flock, For full have been your days, For slaughtering, and for your scatterings, And ye have fallen as a desirable vessel.

He hath forsaken, as a young lion, His covert, Surely their land hath become a desolation, Because of the oppressing fierceness, And because of the fierceness of His anger!

Then I have given up this house as Shiloh, and this city I give up for a reviling to all nations of the earth.'

Wherefore hast thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, 'As Shiloh this house shall be, and this city is wasted, without inhabitant?' and all the people are assembled unto Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.

And the priests and the prophets speak unto the heads, and unto all the people, saying, 'Judgment of death is for this man, for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.'

And I, lo, I am in your hand, do to me as is good and as is right in your eyes;

Only, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan hath been with Jeremiah so as not to give him up into the hand of the people to put him to death.

For falsehood they are prophesying to you, so as to remove you far from off your ground, and I have driven you out, and ye have perished.

Why do ye die, thou and thy people, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken concerning the nation that doth not serve the king of Babylon?

For I have not sent them -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and they are prophesying in My name falsely, so as to drive you out, and ye have perished, ye, and the prophets who are prophesying to you.'

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Lo, I am sending among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I have given them up as figs that are vile, that are not eaten for badness.

And taken from them hath been a reviling by all the removed of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah doth set thee as Zedekiah, and as Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted with fire;

Ask, I pray you, and see, is a male bringing forth? Wherefore have I seen every man, His hands on his loins, as a travailing woman, And all faces have been turned to paleness?

And his sons have been as aforetime, And his company before Me is established, And I have seen after all his oppressors.

Hear a word of Jehovah, O nations, And declare ye among isles afar off, and say: He who is scattering Israel doth gather him, And hath kept him as a shepherd doth his flock,

And they have come in, And have sung in the high place of Zion, And flowed unto the goodness of Jehovah, For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, And for the young of the flock and herd, And their soul hath been as a watered garden, And they add not to grieve any more.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, 'Thou hast chastised me, And I am chastised, as a heifer not taught, Turn me back, and I turn back, For thou art Jehovah my God.

And it hath been, as I watched over them to pluck up, And to break down, and to throw down, And to destroy, and to afflict; So do I watch over them to build, and to plant, An affirmation of Jehovah.

In that thou hast done signs and wonders in the land of Egypt unto this day, and in Israel, and among men, and Thou dost make for Thee a name as at this day.

And come in have the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city, and they have set this city on fire, and have burned it, and the houses on whose roofs they made perfume to Baal, and poured out libations to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger.

Because of all the evil of the sons of Israel, and of the sons of Judah that they have done, so as to provoke Me -- they, their kings, their heads, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

'And they set their abominations in the house over which My name is called, so as to defile it;

And they build the high places of Baal, that are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come up on my heart to do this abomination, so as to cause Judah to sin.

and I have made for them a covenant age-during, in that I turn not back from after them for My doing them good, and My fear I put in their heart, so as not to turn aside from me;

'For thus said Jehovah: As I brought in unto this people all this great evil, so I am bringing in on them all the good that I am speaking concerning them;