See, I appoint you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, and to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant."

"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.

"How can you say, 'I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?' Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. [You are] a young she-camel, interweaving her ways.

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

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. For against Yahweh our God we have sinned, we and our ancestors, from our youth and until this day. and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.'

For a voice [is] declaring from Dan, and [is] proclaiming disaster from the mountain of Ephraim.

From the sound of a horseman and {an archer} every town flees, they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb. Every town [is] forsaken, and there is no person [who] lives in them.

And the prophets are like wind, and the word [is] not in them.' Thus it will be done to them."

{And then}, when you [people] say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all of these [things] to us?' Then you will say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in {a land that does not belong to you}.'

Flee for safety, children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem. And in Tekoa blow a horn, and on Beth-haccherem lift up a signal, for evil looks down from [the] north, and a great destruction.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This [is] the city that must be punished, its oppression [is] in its midst.

For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," {declares} Yahweh, "They have set their abominations in the house that is called {by my name}, to defile it.

I have listened attentively, and I have listened. They do not speak honestly, there is no man [who] regrets his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' All of them [are] turning to their ways of running, like a horse plunging into battle.

"From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses, from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes, for they come and devour the land, and that which fills [the] city, and [those who] live in it.

"Because of the wound of the daughter of my people I am broken down, I mourn, horror has seized me.

For the statutes of the peoples [are] vanity, for it [is] a tree cut down from [the] forest, [the] work of [the] hands of a craftsman with the tool.

{What rights has my beloved in my house} [when] she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For {you engage in your wickedness}, then you exult.

And Yahweh of hosts, the [one who] planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that they have done to themselves, to provoke me to anger by making smoke offerings to Baal."

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made {my pleasant field} like the desert of desolation.

"Say to the king and to the queen mother, '{Take a lower seat}, for {your beautiful crown} has come down from your head.'

Then you shall say to them, '{Because} your ancestors have forsaken me,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws.

"Stand up and go down [to] the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear my words."

So I went down [to] the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter's wheels.

One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy [it].

"Therefore thus says Yahweh, 'Please ask among the nations, "Who has heard {the like of this}?" The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.

Thus says Yahweh: "Go down [to] the house of the king of Judah and you must speak this word there.

And I will consecrate against you destroyers, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down {your choicest cedars}, and cast [them] on the fire.

And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each one to his neighbor, '{Why} has Yahweh done in this manner to this great city?'

Then they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, and bowed down in worship to other gods, and served them.'"

He has left his den like a lion, for their land has become a horror, because of the anger of the oppressors, and because of {his burning anger}."

And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people.

because they have done a disgraceful thing in Israel, and they have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and they have spoken words in my name, lies that I have not commanded them, and I [am] he who knows, and [I am] a witness,' {declares} Yahweh."

Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain [is] incurable. Because of the greatness of your guilt--your sins are vast-- I have done these [things] to you.

{And then} as I have watched over them to pull up, and to tear down, and to annihilate, and to destroy, and to do evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," {declares} Yahweh.

Thus says Yahweh, "If [the] heavens above can be measured, and [the] foundations of [the] earth below can be explored, also I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all that they have done," {declares} Yahweh.

For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that were torn down [to make a defense] against the siege ramps and against the sword:

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Again there will be in this waste place, {without} people and animals, and in all its towns, pasture for shepherds allowing [their] flock to lie down.

But we have lived in tents, and we have obeyed, and we have done all that Jehonadab, our ancestor, commanded us.

But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, "Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Because you have listened to the command of Jonadab your ancestor, and you have kept all his commands, and you have done all that he commanded you,'

he went down [to] the house of the king, to the chamber of the secretary, and look, all the officials [were] sitting there: Elishama the secretary, and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the [other] officials.

So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit [of] Malchiah, the son of the king, which [was] in the courtyard of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down by ropes. Now in the pit there was no water, {but only} mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

"My lord the king, these men have done evil [in] all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, [in] that they have thrown [him] into the pit, and he will die {there} {because of} starvation, for there is no longer any bread in the city."

So Ebed-melech took the men {with him} and went [to] the palace of the king, to [a place] beneath the storehouse, and he took from there {rags} and {worn-out clothes}. And he let them down into the pit by ropes to Jeremiah.

And the Chaldeans burned the palace of the king and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

and [now] he has brought [it about], and Yahweh has done {just as} he threatened. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to his voice, so this thing [has] happened to you.

{And then} in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and [one of] the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [at] Mizpah, {along with} ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah.

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, {along with} the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed [in an official position] over the land.

But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, "You must not kill us, for {we have} hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen.

When Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him, heard all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

{And then} at [the] end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

'If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear [you] down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck [you] up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you.

Thus you will say to him: 'Thus says Yahweh, "Look, what I have built I [am] about to tear down, and what I have planted I [am] about to pluck up, it [is] all the land.

Why do I see them terrified? [They are] turning back and their warriors are beaten down. And they have fled [to] a place of refuge and they do not turn [back]. Terror [is] from all around," {declares} Yahweh.

Why are your bulls defeated? He did not stand because Yahweh thrust him down.

They will cut down her forest," {declares} Yahweh, "for {it is impenetrable}. Yes, they are more numerous than locusts, and {they are without number}.

And [the] destroyer will come to every town, and a town will not escape. And the valley will be destroyed, and the plain will be destroyed, as Yahweh has spoken.

Moab is destroyed, and his towns have gone up, and the choice of his young men have gone down to the slaughtering," {declares} the King, Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.

Come down from glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your fortifications.

For thus says Yahweh, "Look, like an eagle he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Moab.

Flee! Turn back! {Get down low}! O inhabitants of Dedan. For I will bring upon him the disaster of Esau [at the] time [when] I will punish him.

Your terror has deceived you, the pride of your heart, [O you who] dwell in the clefts of the rock, [you who] seize [the] height of [the] hill. Though you make your nest high like the eagle, from there I will bring you down," {declares} Yahweh.

Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

Flee! Wander far away! {Get down low}! O inhabitants of Hazor," {declares} Yahweh. "For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has planned a plan against you. And he has schemed a scheme against you.

Raise a war cry against her on all sides. {She has surrendered}. Her towers have fallen, her walls are ruined. For this [is] the vengeance of Yahweh. Take revenge on her. As she has done [to others], [so] do to her.

How the blacksmith's hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!

Massacre all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughtering. Woe to them, for [their] day has come, the time of their punishment.

Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend [the] bow. Encamp all around her, there must not be for her an escape. Take revenge on her according to her deeds. According to all that she has done, [so] do to her. For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently, against the Holy One of Israel.

And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their wickedness that they have done in Zion before your eyes," {declares} Yahweh.

"Look, I [am] against you, O mountain of the destruction," {declares} Yahweh, "the [one] that destroys the whole earth. And I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will roll you down from the cliffs, and I will make you as a mountain burned away.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshing floor [at the] time it [is] trodden down, {just a little while} and the time of the harvest will come for her."

"[May] the violence done to me and to my flesh [be] on Babylon," the inhabitants of Zion will say; and "My blood [be] upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.

"I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter, like rams and goats.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh like all that Jehoiakim had done.

And all the army of [the] Chaldeans who [were] with [the] captain of [the] guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah left from its land.