Before I formed thee at thy birth, I took knowledge of thee, And before thy nativity, I hallowed thee, - A prophet to the nations, I appointed thee.

Then said I - Ah! My Lord Yahweh! Lo! I know not how to speak, - For a child, am I!

Then said Yahweh unto me, Do not say, A child, am, I, - For against whomsoever I send thee, shalt thou go, And whatsoever I command thee, shalt thou speak:

Be not afraid of their faces, For with thee, am I, to deliver thee Declareth Yahweh.

See! I have set thee in charge this day, over the nations and over the kingdoms, To uproot and to break down, and to destroy and to tear in pieces, - To build and to plant.

Then said Yahweh unto me - Thou hast rightly seen, - for keeping watch, am I over my word to perform it.

Then will I pronounce my judgments against them, concerning all their wickedness, - in that they have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods, and have bowed down to the works of their own hands,

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.

And they will fight against thee but shall not prevail against thee, - for with thee, am I, Declareth Yahweh, to deliver thee.

Holiness, was Israel unto Yahweh, The first-fruit of his increase, - All that devoured it, were held guilty, Calamity used to come upon them, - Declareth Yahweh.

Then brought I you into a country of garden land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof, - and yet when ye entered, then defiled ye my land, and mine inheritance, ye made an abomination

For two wicked things, have my people committed, - Me, have they forsaken a fountain of living water, To hew out for themselves cisterns broken cisterns, that cannot hold water.

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.

Is not this what thou wast certain to do for thyself, - in that thou didst forsake Yahweh thy God, when he was leading thee by the way?

Now, therefore what hast thou to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

Let thy wickedness correct thee And thine apostasies, rebuke thee, Know therefore and see That it is a wicked thing and a bitter, that thou shouldest have forsaken Yahweh thy God, And that the dread of me should not have pertained to thee, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

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:

Saying, to a tree, My father, art thou! And to a stone, Thou, didst give us birth, For they have turned unto me the back and not the face, - But in the time of their calamity, they will say, Arise, and save us!

Where then are thy gods which thou hast made for thyself? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy calamity, - For according to the number of thy cities, have become thy gods O Judah.

How thou dost make winsome thy way, to seek love! Therefore, even unto wicked women, hast thou taught thy ways.

He hath said, If a man send away his wife, and she go from him and become another man's, will he return unto her, again? would not that land be, utterly defiled? And, thou, hast been unchaste with many neighbours, and yet thinkest to return unto me! Declareth Yahweh.

Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights and see - where thou hast not been unchastely embraced! beside the ways, hast thou sat to them, like the Arabian m the desert, - and hast defiled the land with thine unchastities, and with thy wickedness.

Therefore have been withholden the showers, And, the latter rain, hath not come, - Yet the forehead of an unchaste woman, hast thou, Thou hast refused to be ashamed.

Will he maintain his anger to times age-abiding? Will he keep it perpetually? Lo! thou hast spoken thus but hast done wicked things and had thy way!

And Yahweh said unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen what apostate Israel, did? She used to go upon every high mountain and beneath every green tree, and commit unchastity there.

Yea though it had come to pass that through the levity of her unchastity, she had defiled the land, - and committed adultery with Stone and with Tree,

Return, ye apostate sons, Urgeth Yahweh, for, I, am become your husband, - therefore will I take you one of a city, and two of a family, and will bring you to Zion;

and will give you shepherds according to mine own heart, - who will feed you with knowledge and discretion.

And it shall come to pass when ye shall be multiplied and become fruitful in the land, in those days, Declareth Yahweh, They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh, Neither shall it come up on the heart, Neither shall they remember it, Neither shall they miss it, Neither shall it be made any more.

At that time, shall they call Jerusalem, The throne of Yahweh, and there shall be gathered unto her all the nations - to the Name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem; and they shall walk no more after the stubbornness of their own wicked heart.

Though, I myself, had said, - How can I put thee among the sons, And give thee a land to be coveted, An inheritance of beauty, of the hosts of nations? Yet I said, My father, shalt thou call me, And away from me, shalt thou not turn.

Surely, to falsehood, pertain the hills The noisy throng on the mountains, - Surely, in Yahweh our God, is the salvation of Israel!

We must lie down in our shame And our reproach, be our covering, For, against Yahweh our God, have we sinned, We and our fathers, from our youth even until this day, - Neither have we hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh our God.

For thus saith Yahweh Unto the men of Judah and unto Jerusalem, Till ye the untilled ground, - And do not sow among thorns.

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.

Lift up an ensign - Zion-ward, Bring into safety, do not tarry, - For, calamity, am, I, bringing in from the North, Even, a great destruction:

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.

And it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth Yahweh, That the courage of the king shall fail, And the courage of the princes, - And the priests shall be astonished, And, the prophets, shall be amazed.

Then said I, - Ah! My Lord Yahweh! Surely, thou hast suffered this people and Jerusalem to be beguiled, saying, Peace, shall ye have, - whereas the sword shall reach unto the soul.

At that time, shall it be said of this people and of Jerusalem, - The sharp wind of the bare heights in the desert, cometh towards the daughter of my people, - not to winnow nor to cleanse.

A wind too strong for these, cometh in for me. Now, will, I also, pronounce sentences upon them:

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!

My bowels! My bowels! I am pained in the walls of my heart My heart beateth aloud to me I cannot be still! For the sound of a horn, hast thou heard O my soul, The loud shout of war!

How long shall I keep on seeing a standard, - continue to hear the sound of a horn?

Surely, perverse, is my people Me, have they not known, Foolish sons, they are, Yea without understanding, they are: Wise, they are to commit wickedness, But how to do well, they know not!

And when, thou, art laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with crimson Though thou deck thyself with ornaments of gold Though thou enlarge with antimony thine eyes, In vain, shalt thou make thyself fair, - Paramours have rejected thee, Thy life, will they seek!

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.

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And see I pray you and know and seek out in the broad places thereof, Whether ye can find, a man, Whether there is one Doing justice Demanding fidelity, - That I may pardon her.

Even though they say By the life of Yahweh, Yet in fact falsely, do they swear.

O Yahweh! thine own eyes, are they not directed to fidelity? Thou hast smitten them Yet have they not grieved, Thou hast consumed them - They have refused to receive correction, - They have made their faces bolder than a cliff, They have refused to return.

How, for this, can I pardon thee? Thine own sons, have forsaken me, And have sworn by No-gods, - When I had fed them to the full, Then committed they adultery, And the house of the unchaste woman, they used to throng:

Scale ye her walls and destroy, But a full end, do not make, - Remove her tendrils, For not to Yahweh, do, they, belong!

But the prophets, shall prove to be wind, And there is no one speaking in them, - Thus, shall it be done to themselves!

Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, Because ye have spoken this word, - Behold me! making my words in thy mouth to be fire, And, this people, - wood, So shall it devour them.

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,

They have waxed fat, they shine Yea they have overpassed the records of wickedness. The right, have they not determined, the right of the fatherless that they might prosper, - Yea justice to the helpless, have they not decreed.

An astounding and horrible thing, hath been brought to pass in the land:

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?

To a comely and delicate woman, have I likened the daughter of Zion:

Hallow ye against her a war, Arise! and let us go up in broad noon. Woe to us, for the day, hath turned, for the shadows of evening, stretch along.

For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Cut ye down timber, And cast up, against Jerusalem a mound, - That, is the city to be punished! There is, nothing, but oppression in her midst;

Unto whom, can I speak - and bear witness, that they may hear? Lo! uncircumcised, is their ear, that they cannot attend, - Lo! the word of Yahweh, hath become to them a reproach, they take no delight therein.

So then with the indignation of Yahweh, am I full I am too weary to hold it in, am constrained to pour it out, upon the boy in the street, and upon the circle of young men, together, - For, even husband with wife, will be captured, The eider with him who is full of days;

And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together, - For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, Declareth Yahweh.

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 !

Therefore will I raise up over you, watchmen, Give ye heed to the sound of a horn, - But they said, We will not give heed!

What then is it to me that - Frankincense from Shebah come in, or Sweet cane from a land afar off? Your own ascending-offerings, are not acceptable, Nor are, your sacrifices, pleasing to me.

Do not go out into the field, And in the road, do not walk,-Because a sword, hath the foe, - Terror round about!

Scorched are the bellows, By fire, is lead wont to be, consumed, - In vain, hath he gone on refining, For the wicked, have not been drawn out:

Stand thou in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and thou shalt proclaim there this word, - and shalt say - Hear ye the word of Yahweh all Judah ye who are entering in at these gates, to bow down unto Yahweh:

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts God of Israel, Amend your ways, and your doings, - That I may cause you to dwell in this place.

Do not, on your part trust in false words, saying, - The temple of Yahweh The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh they are!

The sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, shall not oppress, And innocent blood, shall not shed in this place, - And after other gods, shall not walk to your own hurt,

Then will I cause you to dwell In this place, In the land which I gave to your fathers, - From one age even unto another,

Lo! ye, on your part, are trusting in false words, - To no profit!

Are ye to steal, commit murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, - and walk after other gods whom ye have not known;

For go I pray you, unto my place which was in Shiloh, Where I made my Name to dwell, at first, - And see what I did to it, because of the wickedness of my people Israel!

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;

Thou, therefore - Do not pray for this people Neither lift up for them cry or prayer Neither intercede with me, - For I am not going to heat thee.

The children, gather wood, and The fathers, kindle the fire, and The women, knead dough, - To make sacrificial cakes to the queen of the heavens, And to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, Provoking me to anger!

Wherefore, Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh - Lo! mine anger and mine indignation, are about to be poured out upon this place, On man and on beast, and On the tree of the field and On the fruit of the ground, - And it shall burn and shall not be quenched.

For I bade not your fathers Neither commanded I them, In the day I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, - Concerning the matter of ascending-offering and peace-offering;

But, this thing, I commanded them - saying, Hearken ye unto my voice, So will I become unto you - a God, And, ye, shall become unto me - a people, - Ye shall therefore walk in all the way that I may command you, To the end it may be well with you;

Ever since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, until this day, Have I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, Daily, betimes, sending them;

Therefore shalt thou speak unto them all these words, Though they do not hearken unto thee, - And thou shalt cry aloud unto them Though they do not answer thee; -

For the sons of Judah, have done, that which was wicked in mine eyes, Declareth Yahweh, - They have set their abominations in the house whereon my Name hath been called to defile it;

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn up their sons and their daughters in the fire, - Which I commanded not, Neither came it up on my heart,

And the dead bodies of this people shall become food, For the bird of the heavens, and For the beast of the earth, - And there shall be none to drive them away.

So will I cause to cease, From the cities of Judah, and, From the streets of Jerusalem, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom, and The voice of the bride, - For, a desolation, shall the land become.

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.

Wherefore hath this people of Jerusalem apostatized with an enduring apostacy, - Taken fast hold of deceit, Refused to come back?

I hearkened and heard - Not aright, did they speak, - Not a man, repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done! They have every one, turned to their course again, Like a horse sweeping on through the battle.

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:

Why are, well sitting still? Gather yourselves together and let us enter the defenced cities And let us be silent there, - For, Yahweh our God, hath put us to silence And made us drink poisoned water, Because we have sinned against Yahweh.

Oh that my head were waters, And mine eyes a fountain of tears, - That I might weep day and night, For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Yea, every one, of his neighbour, maketh a dupe, And, truth, they do not speak, - They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, In acting perversely, they have wearied themselves.

Therefore, thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Behold me! melting them, so will I try them, - For how else should I do because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people?