Then I said, Ah, lord LORD! Behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a child.

But LORD said to me, Say not, I am a child. For to whomever I shall send thee thou shall go, and whatever I shall command thee thou shall speak.

Be not afraid because of them, for I am with thee to deliver thee, says LORD.

Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them.

And they shall fight against thee. But they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, says LORD, to deliver thee.

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says LORD, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, how thou went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

The priests did not say, Where is LORD? and those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me. And the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Has a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Have thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou have forsaken LORD thy God when he led thee by the way?

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou have forsaken LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, says the Lord, L

For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot.

How can thou say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baalim? See thy way in the valley. Know what thou have done, a swift dromedary traversing her ways,

a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs up the wind in her desire. In her time of estrus who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month they shall find her.

who say to a block of wood, Thou are my father, and to a stone, Thou have brought me forth. For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. Thou did not find them breaking in. But it is because of all these things.

Yet thou said, I am innocent. Surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou say, I have not sinned.

Thou shall also go forth from there with thy hands upon thy head. For LORD has rejected those in whom thou trust. And thou shall not prosper with them.

O LORD, do not thine eyes look upon truth? Thou have stricken them, but they were not grieved. Thou have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused t

Then I said, Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of LORD, nor the law of their God.

Shall I not visit for these things? says LORD. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not LORD's.

They have denied LORD, and said, It is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine.

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says LORD. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou know not, nor understand what they say.

But even in those days, says LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, who have eyes, and see not, who have ears, and hear not:

Do ye not fear me? says LORD. Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevai

They have grown fat. They shine. Yea, they overflow in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper. And they do not judge the right of the needy.

Shall I not visit for these things? says LORD. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee, lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says LORD.

Thus says LORD, Stand ye in the ways and see. And ask for the old paths where is the good way. And walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk.

And I set watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it.

To what purpose does there come to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy, [and] terror, are on every side.

The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed of the fire. In vain do they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.

Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of LORD, the temple of LORD, the temple of LORD, are these.

if ye do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own hurt,

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known,

And now, because ye have done all these works, says LORD. And I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not,

Therefore pray thou not for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them. Neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee.

See thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Do they provoke me to anger? says LORD, [and] not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?

Therefore thus says lord LORD: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground. And it shall burn, and shall not be quen

For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices.

But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in [their own] counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Yet they hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.

And thou shall speak all these words to them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shall also call to them, but they will not answer thee.

And thou shall say to them, This is the nation that has not hearkened to the voice of LORD their God, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

Moreover thou shall say to them, Thus says LORD: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall he turn away, and not return?

I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright. No man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his course as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the law of LORD.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says LORD.

For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says LORD.

Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Is not LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities?

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

And they bend their tongue--their bow--for falsehood, and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says LORD.

Take ye heed each one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

And they will deceive each one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves to commit iniquity.

Shall I not visit them for these things? says LORD. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

And LORD says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked in it,

Thus says LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches,

Thus says LORD: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them.

They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak. They must be carried, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.

Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? For to thee it appertains, inasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like thee.

But LORD is the TRUE God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.

Thus ye shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.

The portion of Jacob is not like these. For he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. LORD of hosts is his name.

My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My sons have gone forth from me, and they are not. There is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

O LORD, correct me, but in measure, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. For they have devoured Jacob. Yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

and say thou to them, Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant,

Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.

Therefore thus says LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape. And they shall cry to me, but I will not hearken to them.

Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

Therefore do not pray thou for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.

But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, [saying], Let us destroy the tree with the fruit of it. And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that hi

Therefore thus says LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek thy life, saying, Thou shall not prophesy in the name of LORD, that thou not die by our hand.

How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

For even thy brothers, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.

But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says LORD.

Thus says LORD to me, Go, and buy thee a linen sash, and put it upon thy loins, and do not put it in water.

Therefore thou shall speak to them this word. Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says LORD. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.

Hear ye, and give ear, be not proud, for LORD has spoken.

But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for [your] pride. And my eye shall weep greatly, and run down with tears, because LORD's flock is taken captive.

What will thou say when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou thyself have taught to be friends to thee? Shall not sorrows take hold of thee as of a woman in travail?

I have seen thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills, in the field. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! Thou will not be made clean. How long shall it yet be?

O thou hope of Israel, the Savior of it in the time of trouble, why should thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to tarry for a night?

Why should thou be as a man frightened, as a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name. Do not leave us.

Thus says LORD to this people: Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.