These are the Sermons of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah the Priest, one of them that dwelt at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

Then the LORD told me, "Don't say, "I'm only a young man,' for you will go everywhere I send you, and you will speak everything I command you.

Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:

I have now filled your mouth with My words.

The LORD told me, "You have observed well, because I'm watching over my message, to make sure it comes about."

Then the LORD told me, "From the north disaster will pour out on all who live in the land,

Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

In the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there.

Then the LORD told me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

At that time, it will be told this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert is coming toward my people, and it's not for winnowing or cleansing.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

I take no delight when they offer up to me frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land. I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me. I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.'

How can ye say, Wise, are, we, And the law of Yahweh, is with us? But indeed lo! falsely, hath dealt the false pen of the scribes!

Yea the LORD himself told the same unto them, that forsook his law, and kept not the thing that he gave them in commandment, neither lived thereafter:

The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

For the shepherds [of the people] have become [like brutes,] irrational and stupid,
And have not searched for the Lord or asked about Him or realized their need for Him;
Therefore they have not been wise and have not prospered,
And all their flocks are scattered.

The LORD told me, "Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You are to say, "Listen to the words of this covenant and do them.

The LORD told me, "Conspiracy has been found among the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

They have gone back to the evil ways of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised schemes against me. They told themselves, "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit. Let's eliminate him from the land of the living, so his name won't be remembered again."

Then the Lord told me about some men from Anathoth who were threatening to kill me. They had threatened, "Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!"

For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

This is what the LORD told me: "Go and buy a linen belt for yourself, and put it around your waist. But don't let it get wet."

So I bought the shorts as the Lord had told me to do and put them on.

After a long time, the LORD told me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and get the belt that I commanded you to hide there."

Give glory to Jehovah your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight; and ye shall look for light, but he will turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

The Lord told me, "Tell the king and the queen mother, 'Surrender your thrones, for your glorious crowns will be removed from your heads.

Thus saith Jehovah to this people: Even so have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet; and Jehovah hath no delight in them: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

Then the LORD told me, "Don't pray for the welfare of these people.

Then the LORD told me, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I didn't send them, I didn't command them, and I didn't speak to them. They're proclaiming to you false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own minds.

Then the LORD told me, "Even if Moses and Samuel were standing before me, I wouldn't be favorably disposed toward this people. Send them out of my presence! Let them go!

Your words were found, and I ate them.
Your words became a delight to me
and the joy of my heart,
for I am called by Your name,
Yahweh God of Hosts.

I dwell not among the council of scorners, neither is my delight therein: but I dwell only in the fear of thy hand, for thou hast filled me with bitterness.

Therefore shall he become as a shrub in the waste plain, Neither shall he perceive when good cometh, But shall inhabit Parched places in a wilderness, A land of salt that cannot he dwelt in.

The LORD told me, "Go, stand in the gate of the people, where the kings of Judah come in and go out, and in the other gates of Jerusalem as well.

The Lord told Jeremiah, "Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take with you some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders of the priests.

They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!

The next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, and Jeremiah told him, "The LORD has not named you Pashhur, but rather Magor-missabib.

But Jehovah is with me as a mighty one and a terrible: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

Jeremiah told them, "This is what you are to say to Zedekiah,

The Lord told me to say to the royal court of Judah, "Listen to what the Lord says,

The Lord told me, "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there.

Thinkest thou to reign, now that thou provokest me to wrath with thy Cedar trees? Did not thy father eat and drink, and prosper well, as long as he dealt with equity and righteousness?

Is this man Coniah a despised broken vase? a vessel wherein is no delight? Wherefore are they thrown out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

But -- Jehovah liveth, who brought up, And who brought in, the seed of the house of Israel, From the land of the north, And from all the lands whither I drove them, And they have dwelt on their own ground!

But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ and I specifically told you not to say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’

The LORD told me, "What do you see?" I replied, "Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad figs are very bad. They're too bad to be eaten."

This is what Jeremiah the prophet told all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem:

"For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again what he said. But you would not listen.

The priests and prophets told the officials and all the people, "A death sentence for this man, because he prophesied against this city, as you heard with your own ears!"

Now, change your habits and your deeds and obey the LORD your God, and the LORD will change his mind about the disaster that he told you about.

Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man doesn’t deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God!”

Some of the elders of the land got up and told all the assembled people,

"Micah from Moresheth prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, 'The Lord who rules over all says, "Zion will become a plowed field. Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge."'

The Lord told me, "Make a yoke out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and put it on your neck.

And the nation that causeth its neck to enter into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and hath served him -- I have left it on its ground -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and it hath tilled it, and dwelt in it.'

I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, "Submit to the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live.

I also told the priests and all the people, "The Lord says, 'Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that the valuable articles taken from the Lord's temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. But they are prophesying a lie to you.

I also told them, "If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord's temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away to Babylon.

In that same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year and the fifth month, Azzur's son Hananiah, the prophet from Gibeon, told me at the LORD's Temple in front of the priests and all the people,

either of peace, upon many nations and great kingdoms - were proved by this, if God had sent them in very deed: when the thing came to pass, which that prophet told before."

The prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah! The LORD didn't send you, and you are causing these people to trust in a lie.

The Lord told Jeremiah, "Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite

For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us, "You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce."'"

“Thus says the Lord,
‘Behold (hear this), I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
And have mercy on his dwelling places;
The city will be rebuilt on its [old, mound-like] ruin,
And the palace will stand on its rightful place.

[Is] Ephraim my dear son, or [the] child of [my] delight? For {as often as} I have earnestly spoken against him, I still remember him. {Therefore} my bowels are turbulent for him, surely I will have compassion on him," {declares} Yahweh.

And dwelt in Judah have husbandmen, and in all its cities together, And they have journeyed in order.

Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. I, the Lord, affirm it! Even if you continue to fight against the Babylonians, you cannot win.'"

So now, Jeremiah said, "The Lord told me,

"Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the LORD had said, and he told me, "Please buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin because you have the right to possess it, and the right to redeem it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.' So I knew that this was a message from the LORD.

Lord, you have told me, "Buy the field for yourself with money and call in witnesses," even though the city is being given over to the Chaldeans.'"

I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them firmly in the land.'

The Lord God of Israel told Jeremiah to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah to tell him, "The Lord says, 'I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. I told them:

I put containers full of wine and cups in front of the members of the Rechabite clan and told them, "Drink the wine!"

But they answered, "We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us, 'You and your children must never drink wine.

But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

And so it came to pass when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, - Let us even enter, Jerusalem, because of the force of the Chaldeans and because of the force of the Syrians: So have we dwelt in Jerusalem.

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all told him, "Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them, 'I, the Lord, say: "You must learn a lesson from this about obeying what I say!

Then Jeremiah told the house of the Rechabites, "This is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel says: "Because you obeyed the commandment of your ancestor Jonadab, have observed all his commandments, and have done everything that he commanded you,'

"Get a scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now.

So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then Jeremiah dictated to Baruch everything the Lord had told him to say and Baruch wrote it all down in a scroll.

Then Jeremiah told Baruch, "I am no longer allowed to go into the Lord's temple.

So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast in the Lord's temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll.

So Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what the prophet Jeremiah had told him to do. He read what the Lord had said from the scroll in the temple of the Lord.

And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard at the reading aloud of Baruch from the scroll in the hearing of the people.

They told him, "Please sit down and read it to us." So Baruch read it to them.

Then the officials told Baruch, "Go, hide yourself, both you and Jeremiah, and don't let anyone know where you are."

And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.

King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say, "Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf."

The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah a message for them. He told him to tell them,

And king Zedekiah will command, and they will commit Jeremiah to the enclosure of the prison, and giving to him a round of bread for the day from the street of the baker's, till all the bread was consumed out of the city. And Jeremiah dwelt in the enclosure of the prison.

Then the officials told the king, "Let this man be put to death because he's undermining the efforts of the soldiers who remain in this city and that of all the people by speaking words like these to them. Indeed, this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm."

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that dwelt in the fore entry of the prison. And they let down Jeremiah with cords into a dungeon, where there was no water, but mire.

Ebed-melech the Ethiopian told Jeremiah, "Put the worn out rags and clothes under your armpits under the ropes," and Jeremiah did as he said.

And they will draw up Jeremiah with the cords, and bring him up out of the pit: and Jeremiah dwelt in the enclosure of the prison.

King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to him at the third entrance to the LORD's Temple. The king told Jeremiah, "I'm going to ask you something, and don't hide anything from me."