Why hath this people of Jerusalem slidden back with a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear.

Although they fast, I [am] not listening to their cry of entreaty. And although they present burnt offering and grain offering, I [am] not favorable to them. But by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague, I [am] about to destroy them."

Thou didst persuade me, O Jehovah, and I shall be persuaded: thou didst hold me fast, and thou wilt prevail: I was for a derision all the day, all mocking to me.

I will repair thee again, O thou daughter of Israel, that thou mayest be fast and sure. Thou shalt take thy tabrets again, and go forth, with them that lead the dance.

The words which Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded his sons, that they should drink no wine, are fast and surely kept: for unto this day they drink no wine but obey their father's commandment. But as for me, I have stood up early, I have spoken unto you, and given you earnest warning: and yet have ye not been obedient unto me.

So you must go and you shall read aloud from the scroll that you have written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people [in] the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast, and also you shall read aloud in the hearing of all those of Judah who came from their towns.

{And then} in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast {before} Yahweh.

So Jeremiah stuck fast in the mire. Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, being a chamberlain in the king's court, understood that they had cast Jeremiah in to the dungeon:

Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall go out to the king of Babylon's princes. For they think, that thou art deceived: and that the men in whom thou didst put thy trust, have gotten thee under, and set thy feet fast in the mire, and gone their way from thee.

But the Chaldeans' Host followed fast after them, and took Zedekiah in the field of Jericho, and brought him prisoner to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon unto Riblah, that lieth in the land of Hamath where he gave judgment upon him.

then shall it come to pass that the sword which ye are fearing shall, there, overtake you, in the land of Egypt, - and the famine which ye are dreading, shall, there, lay fast hold of you, in Egypt, and, there, shall ye die.

Ye harness your horses, and set yourselves upon them. Ye set your helmets fast on, ye bring forth your spears. Ye scour your swords, and put on your breastplates.

But alas, how happeneth it, that I see you so afraid? Why shrink ye back? Wherefore are your worthies slain? Yea, they run so fast away, that none of them looketh behind him. Fearfulness is fallen upon every one of them, sayeth the LORD.

Declare you in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say you, Stand fast, and prepare you; for the sword shall devour all around you.

How happeneth it that thy mighty worthies are fallen? Why stood they not fast? Even because the LORD thrust them down.

The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

Thy monstrous thing, hath deceived thee, The insolence of thy heart, O thou that inhabitest the hidden recesses of the cliff, That boldest fast the height of the hill, - Though thou set high as an eagle, thy nest, From thence, will I bring thee down, Declareth Yahweh;

Israel a scattered sheep; the lions thrust away: first the king of Assur consumed him; and the last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel bound him fast

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts - Oppressed were the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, together, - And, all who took them captive, Held them fast Refused to let them go: -

Their Redeemer, can hold fast, Yahweh of hosts, is his name, He will, thoroughly plead, their plea, - That he may quiet the earth, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.