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

Neither said they, Where is Yahweh, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, - Who led us Through the desert, Through a land of wastes and clefts, Through a land of parched places and of death-shade, Through a land, Along which no man had passed, And in which no son of earth dwelt?

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

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.

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.

Withhold thy foot from being unshod, And thy throat from thirst! But thou saidst Hopeless! No! for I love foreigners and after them, will I go.

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.

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.

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

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, And lo! there was no human being, - Yea, all the birds of the heavens! had fled:

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.

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

I will betake me unto the great men, and will speak, with them! For, they, know the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God! Yea but, they, with one accord have broken the yoke, torn off the bands.

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:

Lusty, well-fed horses, had they become, Every man unto his neighbours wife, would neigh!

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

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:

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,

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.

And so they have healed the grievous wound of my people, slightly, Saying, Peace, peace, when there was no peace,

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.

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

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,

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.

And so they have healed the grievous wound of the daughter of my people, slightly, - Saying, Peace! peace! when there was no peace!

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:

I will, surely remove, them, declareth Yahweh: There shall be no grapes on the vine Nor figs on the fig-tree, Even the leaf, hath faded, Though I have given them these things, they shall pass away from them.

A waiting For prosperity, but no welfare, - For a time of healing, but lo! terror.

For behold me! sending among you serpents - vipers which there is no charming, - And they shall fatally bite you declareth Yahweh.

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

Every one, of his neighbour, beware ye, And in no brother, may ye trust, - For, every brother, supplanteth! And every neighbour, as a tale-bearer, goeth about;

Over the mountains, will I take up a weeping and wailing, And over the oases of the desert, a dirge, For they have been burned, so that no man passeth through, Neither have men heard the lowing of cattle, - Both the bird of the heavens and the beast have fled, have gone their way:

Who, is the man that is wise That he may discern this? And, unto whom, hath the mouth of Yahweh spoken, That he may declare it? For what cause Hath the land perished, Hath it been burned as a wilderness that no man passeth through?

Every son of earth hath become too brutish to discern, Every goldsmith, hath been put to shame by a graven image, - For a falsehood, is his molten image, Seeing there is no breath in them.

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.

Pour out thy wrath - Upon the nations that know thee not, and Upon the families that, upon thy Name, have not called, - For they have devoured Jacob Yea they have devoured him and consumed him, And, his habitation, have they made desolate.

Now when Yahweh, let me know and I did know, then, didst thou shew me their doings.

But, I, was as a gentle lamb that is to be led to the slaughter, - and I knew not that against me, they had devised devices saying - Let us destroy the tree with its fruit Yea let us cut him off out of the land of the living, And, his name, shall be remembered no more!

It hath been made a desolation, It hath mourned unto me as desolate, - All the land hath become a desolation, For, no man, layeth it to heart.

On all the bare heights in the wilderness, have come despoilers, For the sword of Yahweh hath devoured from one end of the land unto the other, - There is peace for no flesh!

Therefore shalt thou say unto them this word - Thus, saith Yahweh God of Israel, Every jar, is to be filled with wine; and they will say unto thee, Do we not, know well, that every jar, is to be filled with wine?

And, their nobles have sent their menials to the waters, - They have been to the pits, They have found no water They have returned, their vessels empty, They are pale and ashamed and have covered their heads.

Because the ground, is cracked, For there hath been no rain in the land, The plowmen are pale They have covered their heads.

For, even the hind of the field hath calved and forsaken, Because there is no young herbage;

Yea, wild asses stand still on the bare heights, They pant for air like jackals, - Dimmed are their eyes Because there is no grass.

Thus, saith Yahweh To this people In this way, have they loved to wander, Their feet, have they not restrained, - Yahweh, therefore hath not accepted them, Now, will he call to mind their iniquity, - That he may punish their sins.

Hast thou, utterly rejected, Judah? Zion itself, hath thy soul loathed? Why, hast thou smitten us so that there is for us no healing? A waiting For prosperity, but no welfare, and For a time of healing, but lo! terror!

Thou knowest - O Yahweh Remember me and visit me and avenge me upon my persecutors, Do not of thy longsuffering, take me away, - Know - I have borne for thy sake, reproach.

Therefore will I hurl you forth, from off this land, unto a land which ye have not known, ye, nor your fathers, - and ye can serve there other gods day and night, in that I will grant you no favour.

Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall be said no more By the life of Yahweh, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but -

Shall a son of earth, make for himself gods, Seeing that, they, are no-gods?

Therefore behold me! causing them to know, by this stroke, I will cause them to know my hand and my might, - That they may know that my name, is Yahweh!

Deceitful is the heart above all things And, dangerously wayward, - Who can know it?

And it shall come to pass, - If ye will, indeed hearken, unto me Declareth Yahweh, To bring in no burden through the gates of this city, on the sabbath day, - But to hallow the sabbath day, by not doing thereon any manner of work,

But, if ye will not hearken unto me - To hallow the sabbath day, And to bear no burden and bring in through the gates of Jerusalem, on the sabbath day, Then will I kindle a fire within her gates, And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, And shall not be quenched.

Now, therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the men of Judah and concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, Thus, saith Yahweh, - Lo! I am fashioning against you calamity, and devising against you, a device, - Return I pray you every man from his wicked way, And amend your ways and your doings.

But, thou, O Yahweh, knowest all their counsels against me to pat me to death, Put thou no propitiatory-covering over their iniquity, And their sin from before thee, do not thou blot out, - But let them be overthrown before thee, In the time of thine anger, deal thou effectively with them.

Therefore, lo! days coming, Declareth Yahweh, When this place shall be called no longer The Topheth, or The Valley of Ben-hinnom, - but - The Valley of Slaughter;

Now, as to the house of the king of Judah, - hear ye the word of Yahweh: -

For in the place whither they have taken him captive, There, shall he die, - And this land, shall he see no more.

Did he not plead the cause of the oppressed and the needy, And, then, it was well? Was not, that, to know, me? Demandeth Yahweh.

O inhabitress of Lebanon that makest thy nest in the cedars, - How hast thou bemoaned thyself Now that pangs have overtaken thee, Anguish, as of her that giveth birth.

An earthen vessel to be despised thrown about, is this man Coniah? Or an instrument, in which is no pleasure? Wherefore are they to be cast out, he and his seed, and to be thrown forth upon a land which they have not known?

Thus, saith Yahweh, - Register ye this man, childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days, - For there shall prosper of his seed No man sitting upon the throne of David, Or ruling any more over Judah.

They keep on saying to them who despise me, Yahweh, hath spoken, saying, Prosperity, shall ye have! And to every one who is going on in the stubbornness of his own heart, have they said, There shall come on you, no calamity

Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness, - whereas, I, had not sent them nor commanded them, so that they could be of no, profit, to this people, Declareth Yahweh.

and will give them a heart to know, me, that, I, am Yahweh, So shall they become my people, And, I, will become their God; for they will return unto me with all their heart.

When the princes of Judah heard these things, then came they up out of the house of the king, unto the house of Yahweh, - and took their seats in the opening of the new gate of Yahweh.

Now, therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken unto the voice of Yahweh your God, - that Yahweh may repent him, as to the calamity which he hath spoken concerning you.

Only, ye must, know, that If, ye, do put me, to death, verily innocent blood, are ye laying upon yourselves, and against this city, and against her inhabitants, - for of a truth, did Yahweh send me unto you, to speak in your ears lull these words.

Now, therefore, I, have given all these lands, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon my servant, - Moreover also, the wild beast of the field, have I given him, to serve him.

Also unto the priests, and unto all this people, spake I, saying, Thus! saith Yahweh, Do not hearken unto the words of your prophets, who are prophesying unto you saying, Lo! the vessels of the house of Yahweh, are to be brought back out of Babylon now, quickly; for falsehood, are they prophesying unto you.

Now these, are the, words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem, - unto the residue of the elders of the captivity, and unto the priests and unto the prophets and unto all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

For, I, know the plans which I am planning for you Declareth Yahweh, - Plans of welfare and not of calamity, To give you a future and a hope.

Now, therefore, why, hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is prophesying unto you?

Therefore Thus, saith Yahweh, - Behold me! bringing punishment upon Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and upon his seed, he shall have no man to dwell in the midst of rids people, Nor shall he see the good that I am about to do for my people, Declareth Yahweh; Because revolt, hath he spoken against Yahweh.

Now, these, are the words which Yahweh hath spoken against Israel and against Judah:

And it shall come to pass in that day, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, That I will break his yoke from off thy neck, And thy bonds, will I tear off, - And foreigners shall use him as a slave no more;

Then shall they come in and shall shout in triumph on the height of Zion, And shall stream unto the goodness of Yahweh To the wheat, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flocks and of the herds, - So shall their soul become like a garden well watered, And they shall not again languish any more.

Surely after my return, I was filled with regret, And after I came to know myself, I smote upon the thigh, - I turned pale and was even confounded For I had borne the reproach of my youthful days.

How long wilt thou turn hither and thither, O apostate daughter? For Yahweh hath created a new thing in the earth, A female defendeth, a strong man!

In those days, shall they say no more, Fathers, did eat sour grapes, - And, children's teeth, are blunted!

Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, - When I will solemnize - With the house of Israel and With the house of Judah, A new covenant:

Then shall they no longer teach Every man his neighbour, and Every man his brother, saying, Know ye Yahweh, - For, they all, shall know me, From the least of them Even unto the greatest of them, Declareth Yahweh, For I will forgive their iniquity, And their sin, will I remember, no more.

So Hanameel son of mine uncle, came unto me, according to the word of Yahweh into the guard-court, and said unto me, Buy, I pray thee my field that is in Anathoth which is in the land of Benjamin, for, thine, is the right of inheritance, and, thine, the redemption, - buy it for thyself. So I knew, that the word of Yahweh, it was.

Now therefore, because of this, - Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, - Concerning this city, whereof ye are saying, It hath been delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, by sword, and by famine and by pestilence:

that every man should let his servant and every man his handmaid, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, - so that no man should use them as slaves, to wit a Jew his brother;

And, though, ye, just now turned and did that which was right in mine eyes, by proclaiming liberty, every man to his neighbour, - and solemnised a covenant before me, in the house on which my Name hath been called,

Baruch, therefore, read in the book the words of Jeremiah, in the house of Yahweh, - in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan - the scribe, in the upper court, at the opening of the new gate of the house of Yahweh, in the ears of all the people.

Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man, know where ye, are!

Now, the king, was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, - with the fire-stove before him burning.

Now, Jeremiah, was coming in and going out in the midst of the people, for they had not put him into prison.

Now it came to pass, when the army of the Chaldeans, had gone up from Jerusalem, - because of the force of Pharaoh,

Now therefore, hear I beseech thee, O my lord the king, - Let my, supplication, I pray thee, fall prostrate before thee, and do not cause me to return unto the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there!

Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah son of the king, which was in the guard-court, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes, - now, in the dungeon, was no water only mire, so Jeremiah sank in the mire.

My lord, O King! wickedly, have these men done all that they haw done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom indeed they have cast into the dungeon, - since he would have died where he was because of the famine, for there is no bread any longer, in the city.

So King Zedekiah aware unto Jeremiah secretly saying, - By the life of Yahweh who made for us, this soul, I will in no wise put thee to death, Neither will I deliver thee into the hand of these men who are seeking thy life.