But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

But Yahweh said to me, "You must not say, 'I [am] a youth,' for to {whomever} I send you, you will go, and {whatever} I command you, you will speak.

But you, you must gird your loins, and stand, and speak to them all that I command you. {Do not be afraid of them}, or I will shatter you {before} them.

And they will fight against you but they will not prevail against you, for I [am] with you," {declares} Yahweh, "to deliver you."

And I brought you to the land of the orchard, to eat its fruit, and its good things. But you entered and defiled my land, and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.

Has a nation exchanged gods? And they [are] not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

“But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt,
To drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
To drink the waters of the Euphrates?

Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it's evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you," declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

"For from long ago you have broken your yoke, you tore to pieces your bonds. And you said, 'I will not serve!' But on every high hill and under every leafy tree you [were] lying down [as] a prostitute.

But when you were planted by me, you were a noble vine, in every way a true seed: how then have you been changed into the branching plant of a strange vine?

But though thou dost wash with nitre, And dost multiply to thyself soap, Marked is thine iniquity before Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

and thy wantonness is like a wild Ass, that useth the wilderness, and that snuffeth and bloweth at his will. Who can tame thee? All they that seek thee, shall not fail, but find thee in thy own uncleanness.

Restrain your foot from [being] barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, '[It is] hopeless. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'

[Those who] say to the tree, 'You [are] my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth [to] me.' For they have turned [their] {backs} to me, and not [their] faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.'

But where [are] your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For [according to] the number of your towns are your gods, Judah.

It is but lost labour, that I smite your children, for they receive not my correction. Your own sword destroyeth your prophets, like a devouring lion.

Doth a virgin forget her ornaments, a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number.

Also on your skirts is found [the] blood of [the] life of [the] innocent, [the] poor. You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house. But in spite of all these [things],

yet you say, 'But I am innocent, surely his anger has turned away from me.' Look, I [am] entering into judgment with you because of your saying, 'I have not sinned.'

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.

And the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; but thou hast a harlot's forehead, thou refusest to be ashamed.

Will he be angry {forever}? Will he maintain [it] {always}'? Look, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

And I thought, 'After her doing all these [things] to me she will return,' but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it].

And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot.

Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, {but only} in pretense," {declares} Yahweh.

but on this condition, that thou know thy great blasphemy: Namely, that thou hast unfaithfully forsaken the LORD thy God, and hast made thyself partaker of strange gods under all green trees, but hast had no will to hear my voice, sayeth the LORD.

‘Return, O faithless children [of the twelve tribes],’ says the Lord,
‘For I am a master and husband to you,
And I will take you [not as a nation, but individually]—one from a city and two from a [tribal] family—
And I will bring you to Zion.’

But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.

But -- a woman hath deceived her friend, So ye have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah.

Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,
commotion from the mountains,
but the salvation of Israel
is only in the Lord our God.

But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our ancestors from our youth, their flocks, and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.

Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; but the sword reaches to the soul.

In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness [comes at My command] against the daughter of My people—not [a wind] to winnow and not to cleanse [from chaff, as when threshing, but]

My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is pounding and throbbing within me;
I cannot be silent,
For you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.

For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

For thus saith Jehovah: The whole land shall be a desolation; but I will not make a full end.

These people make promises in the name of the Lord. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie."

Yahweh, do not your eyes [look] for honesty? You have struck them, but they felt no pain, you have destroyed them, they refused to take discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, they have refused to turn back.

Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God.

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

"{How} can I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me, and they have sworn by [those who are] not gods. But I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and flocked [to] the house of a prostitute.

Go up through her vineyards and destroy, but you must not make complete destruction. Remove her branches, for they [are] not to Yahweh.

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

"But even in those days," {declares} Yahweh, "I will not make you a complete destruction.

But if they say, 'Wherefore doth the LORD our God all this unto us?' Then answer them, 'Because, that like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your own land, even so shall ye serve other gods also in a strange land!'"

Hear this please, foolish and {senseless} people, {who have eyes} but do not see, {who have ears} but do not hear.'

Do you not revere me?" {declares} Yahweh, "Do you not tremble {before me}? For I have placed [the] sand [as] a boundary for the sea, {as an everlasting limit}, and it cannot pass over it, and they rise and fall loudly, but they cannot prevail, and its waves roar, but they cannot pass over it.

But for this people is a stubborn and rebellious heart, they have turned aside and have gone [away].

"Evil men are found among my people. They lie in wait like someone who traps birds. They set a trap, but they do so to catch people.

The prophets prophesy {falsely}, and the priests rule {by their own authority}, and my people love [it] so much. But what will you do {when the end comes}?

They will say, 'Prepare to do battle against it! Come on! Let's attack it at noon!' But later they will say, 'Oh, oh! Too bad! The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.

For this is what the Lord of armies has said: Let trees be cut down and an earthwork be placed against Jerusalem: sorrow on the false town! inside her there is nothing but cruel ways.

But unto whom shall I speak, whom shall I warn, that he may take heed? Their ears are so uncircumcised, that they may not hear. Behold, they take the word of God but for a scorn, and have no lust thereto.

But I am full with the wrath of Yahweh, I struggle to hold [it] in. Pour [it] out on [the] children in the street, and on the assemblies of young men at the same time. For even husband with wife will get trapped, [the] old with [him who is] full of days.

And they have treated the wound of my people lightly, {saying}, 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace.

Therefore they must be ashamed, for they have committed abomination. But how should they be ashamed, when they know nothing, neither of shame nor good nurture? And therefore they shall fall among the slain; and in the hour when I shall visit them, they shall be brought down," sayeth the LORD.

Thus says Yahweh: "Stand at [the] roads and look, and ask for [the] ancient paths, where the way of the good [is], and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves. But they said, 'We will not walk [in it].'

And I raised up watchmen over you: 'Listen attentively to [the] sound of a horn.' But they said, 'We will not listen attentively.'

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

They are all the worst [kind] of [stiff-necked, godless] rebels,
Going around spreading slander.
They are [not gold and silver ore, but] bronze and iron;
They are all corrupt.

[The] bellows are burned up, lead is consumed by fire. {In vain} {he keeps on refining}, but [the] wicked are not torn apart.

But if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye really do justice between a man and his neighbour,

But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

What? Think you this house that beareth my name, is a den of thieves? And these things are not done privily, but before mine eyes, sayeth the LORD.

But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith Jehovah, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not:

But are they really provoking Me?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”

But when I brought your fathers out of Egypt, I spake no word unto them of burnt offerings and sacrifices:

But I only commanded them this word, {saying}, 'Obey my voice, and I will be to you God, and you will be to me people, and you must walk in all of the way that I command you, so that it goes well with you.'

Yet they did not obey, and they did not incline their ear, but they walked in [their own] plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and {they became worse instead of better}.

Yet they have not listened to me and they have not inclined their ear, but they have hardened their neck, they did more evil than their ancestors.

So you shall speak to them all these words, but they will not listen to you, and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

But you shall say unto them, This is a nation that obeys not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receives correction: truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

Therefore look, days [are] about to come," {declares} Yahweh, "and it will no longer be called Topheth or [the] Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, and they will bury in Topheth {until there is no more place}.

They will be exposed to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly host, which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the surface of the soil.

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived," says the Lord who rules over all.

I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turneth to his course, as a horse that rusheth headlong in the battle.

Even [the] stork in heaven knows its appointed time, and [the] turtledove, and [the] swallow, and [the] song bird, they observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the ordinance of Yahweh.

How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely.

And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, {saying}, 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace.

"I would have gathered them," declares the LORD, "but there were no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and their leaves were withered. What I've given them has been taken away."'"

[We] hope for peace, but there is no good, for a time of healing, but there is terror.

Behold, [hear the sound of] the cry of the daughter of my people from the distant land [of Babylon]:
“Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King within her?”
[But the Lord answers] “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with foreign idols?”

Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.

And they bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.

Their tongue [is] a murderous arrow, it speaks deceit. With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor, but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.

but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors taught them."

But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.

Speak, “Thus says the Lord,
‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them.’”

{But only} in this must the one who boasts boast, [that] he has insight, and [that] he knows me, that I [am] Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these [things] I delight," {declares} Yahweh.

The Egyptians, the Jews, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the shaven Midianites that dwell in the wilderness. For all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart."

For the customs and decrees of the peoples are [mere] delusion [exercises in futility];
It is only wood which one cuts from the forest [to make a god],
The work of the hands of the craftsman with the axe or cutting tool.

They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

But there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and great is the name of thy power.

But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

But Yahweh [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and {an everlasting king}. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and [the] nations cannot endure his anger.

But as for our God, he made the earth with his power, and with his wisdom hath he finished the whole compass of the world; with his discretion hath he spread out the heavens.

His wisdom maketh all men fools. And confounded be all casters of images, for that they cast is but a vain thing, and hath no life.

Nevertheless, Jacob's portion is not such: but it is he that hath made all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of Hosts is his name.

Woe to me, because of my wound. My wound [is] incurable. But I said, "Surely this [is my] sickness, and I must bear it."