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.

Thou, therefore, shalt gird thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them, all that, I, command thee, - be not dismayed because of them, lest I dismay thee before their face.

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

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying - Thus saith Yahweh, I remember in thy behalf, the lovingkindness of thy youthful days, The love of thy bridal estate, - Thy coming out after me, Through the desert, Through a land, not sown:

The priests, said not Where is Yahweh? And, they who handled the law, did not acknowledge me, And the shepherds transgressed against me, - And the prophets, prophesied by Baal, And so after things that could not profit, did they walk.

Hath a nation, changed gods, although they were No-gods? Yet my people have changed my glory for that which could not profit!

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?

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.

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.

How canst thou say, I have not defiled myself, After the Baalim, have I not gone? See thy way, in the valley, Own what thou hast done, - A nimble young she-camel, crossing her own ways;

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!

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

O generation see, ye, the word of Yahweh, A desert, became I unto Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Wherefore, have my people said, We have roved about, We will not come in any more unto thee?

Even in thy skirts, is there found, The blood of the lives of the helpless innocents, - Not in the act of breaking in, didst thou find them, yet the blood is on all these.

Although thou saidst, Because I am innocent, surely hath his anger turned back from me, - Behold me! entering into judgment with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned!

Even from this one, shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head, - For Yahweh hath rejected those in whom thou confidest, and thou shalt not prosper with them.

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.

Hast thou not from this time, cried unto me, My father! the friend of my youth, art, thou?

And I said, after she had been doing all these things, Unto me, shall thou return? and she returned not, - and her treacherous sister Judah saw it!

Though she saw that for all this, apostate Israel having committed adultery, I had sent her away, and had given a scroll of divorcement unto her, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but, she also, went and committed unchastity.

yet, in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah returned not unto me, with all her heart, - but, falsely, Declareth Yahweh.

Go, and proclaim these words, towards the North and say - Return! thou apostate - Israel, Urgeth Yahweh, I will not lower my face against you, - for full of lovingkindness, I am, Declareth Yahweh, I will not maintain mine anger unto times age-abiding.

Only, acknowledge thine iniquity, that against Yahweh thy God, hast thou transgressed, - and hast gone hither and thither unto foreigners under every green tree, and unto my voice, ye have not hearkened Declareth Yahweh.

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.

If thou wilt return, O Israel, Declareth Yahweh, Unto me, mayst thou return, - And if thou wilt remove thine abominations from before me, Then shalt thou not become a wanderer.

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

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:

On this account, gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl, - Because the glow of the anger of Yahweh hath not turned from us.

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.

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!

I beheld, The earth; and lo! it was waste and wild, - The heavens also and their light was not:

For, thus, saith Yahweh, A desolation, shall all the land become - Nevertheless a full end, will I not make.

For this cause, shall the land mourn, and the heavens above be overcast: Because I have spoken have purposed, and have not repented nor will I turn back therefrom.

At the noise of horseman and archer, The whole city is in flight, They have entered dark thickets, Yea unto the crags, have they gone up, - Every city, is forsaken, There remaineth not in them a man!

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.

And, I, said, - Only, poor people, are they, - They act foolishly, For they know not the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God!

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

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

They have acted deceptively against Yahweh, And have said, Not He! Neither shall there come upon us, calamity, Nor sword nor famine, shall we see;

Behold me! bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh, - A nation invincible, it is, A nation from age-past times, hath it been, A nation whose tongue thou shalt not know, Neither shalt thou understand what it speaketh:

Yet, even in those days, Declareth Yahweh, Will I not make of you, a full end.

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.

Hear this, I pray you ye people - foolish and without heart, - Eyes, have they, and see not, Ears, have they, and hear not!

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.

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

Arise! and let us go up in the night, And let us destroy her palaces.

Receive thou correction O Jerusalem, Lest my soul be torn from thee, - Lest I make thee A desolation, A land not habitable.

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!

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.

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.

Bow and javelin, shall they grasp, Cruel, is he! So they will not have compassion, Their voice, like the sea, will roar, And on horses, will they ride, - Arrayed each one, like a man for battle, Against thee, O daughter of Zion!

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

An assayer, have I set thee amongst my people, of gold-ore, - That thou mayest note and try their way:

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:

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,

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;

Now, therefore - Because ye have done all these deeds Declareth Yahweh, - And though I spake unto you betimes speaking, Yet ye hearkened not, And though I cried unto you Yet ye answered not,

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.

Dost thou not see what, they, are doing In the cities of Judah, - and In the streets of Jerusalem?

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!

Is it me, they are provoking? Enquireth Yahweh, - Is it not themselves, - unto the shame of their own faces?

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;

Yet they hearkened not Neither inclined their ear, But walked, In the counsels - In the stubbornness of their own wicked heart; And went backward, and not forward.

Yet they hearkened not unto me, Neither inclined their ear, - But stiffened their neck, They did more wickedly than their fathers.

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; -

But thou shalt say unto them, - This, is the nation that hearkened not unto the voice of Yahweh its God, Neither accepted they correction, - Perished is fidelity, And is cut off out of their mouth.

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,

Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be called any more - The Topheth, nor The valley of Ben-hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter, - And they shall bury in Topheth, for want of place;

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 shalt thou say unto them - Thus, saith Yahweh, Will men fall and not arise? Will one turn away, and not 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.

Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, And the turtle and the swallow and the crane, observe the season for coming; But my people know not the just sentence of 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 they are punished, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh:

Lo! the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a land far away, Is, Yahweh, not in Zion? Is, her King, not within her? Why, have they provoked me with their carved images, with their foreign vanities?

The harvest is passed, The fruit-gathering, is ended; And we are not saved!

Balsam, is there none, in Gilead? Is there no physician, there? Why hath not appeared the healing of the daughter of my people?

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!

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.

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.

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

Then said Yahweh, - Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, - And have not hearkened to hay voice neither walked therein;

Thus, saith Yahweh Let not, the wise man, glory in his wisdom, Neither let, the mighty man, glory, in his might, - Let not, the rich man, glory in his riches;

Thus, saith Yahweh - Unto the way of the nations, become not ye accustomed, Nor at the signs of the heavens, be ye dismayed, - Because the nations are dismayed at them.

With silver and with gold, he decketh it, - With nails and with hammers, they fasten them, that it may not totter.

Mere palm-trunks turned, they are and cannot speak, They must needs be, carried, for they cannot take a step, Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do harm, And even to do good, is not in their power.

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.

Thus, shall ye say unto them, The gods that made not the heavens, And the earth, Shall perish out of the earth, And from under these heavens!

Not like these, is the portion of Jacob, For the fashioner of all things, is, he, And, Israel, is his inherited sceptre, - Yahweh of hosts, is his name.

My tent, is laid waste, And all my tent-cords, are broken, - My children, are gone forth from me and they, are not. There is none, To stretch out any more my tent, Or to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds, have become brutish, And Yahweh, have they not sought, - For this cause, have they not prospered, And, all their flock, is scattered.

I know O Yahweh, That not to a son of earth, pertaineth his own path, - Not, to the man who walketh, also to direct his own steps.