To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Before I formed thee in embryo I knew thee; and before thou wast born I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations.

But the LORD said to me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatever I command thee thou shalt speak.

Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, What seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree.

Then said the LORD to me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and its face is towards the north.

Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

For behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against her princes, against her priests, and against the people of the land.

And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Israel was holiness to the LORD, and the first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit of it, and the goodness of it; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there is such a thing.

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Hast thou not procured this to thyself in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?

And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to me?

A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

But where are thy gods that thou hast made for thyself? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my people, We are lords; we will come no more to thee?

Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

Why dost thou go about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

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

Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy acts of lewdness, and with thy wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath been no latter rain? and thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Wilt thou not from this time cry to me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

Will he retain his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst.

The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she hath gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou to me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

And it came to pass through the lightness of her lewdness, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.

Only acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

And I will give you pastors according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return to me: and if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth to the soul.

At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness towards the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,

Even a full wind from those places shall come to me: now also will I give sentence against them.

Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are laid waste.

Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

Thy way and thy doings have procured these things to thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth to thy heart.

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

And when thou art laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rendest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair: thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if ye can find a man, if there is any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

O LORD, are not thy eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these things to us? then shalt thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: he reserveth to us the appointed weeks of harvest.

They have become fat, they shine: yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her on every side; they shall feed every one in his place.

Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day departeth, for the shadows of the evening are lengthened.

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

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 to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

And their houses shall be turned to others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

For from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest every one dealeth falsely.

Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

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

To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a distant country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

But go ye now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name 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 the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

Therefore will I do to this house, which is called by my name, in which ye trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

Seest thou not what they do 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 cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.

For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices:

But this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well to you.