Thou Israel wast hallowed unto the LORD, and so was his firstfruits. All they that devoured Israel, offended: misfortune fell upon them, sayeth the LORD."

The priests themselves said not once, 'Where is the LORD?' They that have the law in their hands, know me not: The shepherds offend against me. The Prophets do service unto Baal, and follow such things as shall bring them no profit.

For my people hath done two evils: They have forsaken me, the well of the water of life; and digged them pits, yea, vile and broken pits, that hold no water.

And what hast thou now to do in the street of Egypt? To drink foul water? Either, what makest thou in the way to Assyria? To drink water of the flood?

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.

Then shall Jerusalem be called the LORD's seat, and all Heathen shall be gathered unto it, for the name of the LORD's sake, which shall be set up at Jerusalem. And from that time forth, they shall follow no more the imagination of their own froward heart.

The hills fall, and all the high pride of the mountains; but the health of Israel standeth only upon God our LORD.

The whole land shall flee, for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen: they shall run into dens, into woods, and climb up the stony rocks. All the cities shall be void, and no man dwelling therein.

"Should I then, for all this, have mercy upon thee? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. And albeit they were bound to me in marriage, yet they fell to adultery, and hunted harlots' houses.

And like as a net is full of birds, so are their houses full of that which they have gotten with falsity and deceit. Hereof cometh their great substance and riches,

The Prophets teach falsely, and the priests follow them, and my people hath pleasure therein. What will come thereof at the last?

"Make battle against her!" shall they say. "Arise, let us go up, while it is yet day!" "Alas, the day goeth away, and the night shadows fall down!"

And therefore I am so full of thine indignation, O LORD, that I may suffer no longer. "Shed out thy wrath upon the children that are without, and upon all young men. Yea the man must be taken prisoner with the wife, and the aged with the cripple.

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.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD, 'Behold, I will make this people fall, and there shall fall from among them the father with the children; one neighbour shall perish with another.'"

Wherefore, gird a sackcloth about thee, O daughter of my people; sprinkle thyself with ashes, mourn and weep bitterly, as upon the only beloved son: for the destroyer shall suddenly fall upon us.

They have also builded an altar at Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom: that they might burn their sons and daughters - which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought.

And therefore behold, the days shall come, sayeth the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, or the valley of the children of Hinnom, but the valley of the slain - for in Tophet they shall be buried, because they shall else have no room.

"This shalt thou say unto them also: Thus sayeth the LORD, Do men fall also, that they arise not up again? And turn they so far away, that they never convert?

Wherefore, I will give their wives unto aliens, and their fields to destroyers. For from the lowest to the highest, they follow all filthy lucre: and from the Prophet unto the priest, they deal all with lies.

Fie! For shame! How abominable things do they? And yet they be not ashamed; yea, they know of no shame. Wherefore in the time of their visitation, they shall fall among the dead bodies, sayeth the LORD.

and sing a mourning song of you: that the tears may fall out of our eyes, and that our eyelids may gush out of water.

This people is a wicked people; they will not hear my word, they follow the wicked imaginations of their own heart, and hang upon strange gods, them have they served and worshiped: and therefore they shall be as this breech, that serveth for nothing.

Then shalt thou say unto them, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, I shall fill all the inhabiters of this land with drunkenness, the kings that sit upon David's stool, the Priests and Prophets, with all that dwell at Jerusalem.

Tell the king and the rulers, "Humble yourselves, set you down low, for the crown of your glory shall fall from your head."

"Lift up your eyes, and behold them, that come from the North: Like a fat flock shall they fall upon thee.

The wild Asses shall stand in the Moss, and draw in their wind like the Dragons, their eyes shall fail for want of grass."

For if I go into the field, lo, it lieth all full of slain men: If I come into the city, lo, they be all famished of hunger. Yea, their prophets also and priests shall be led into an unknown land.'"

She that hath born seven children, shall have none; her heart shall be full of sorrow. The Sun shall fail her in the clear day, when she shall be confounded and faint for very heaviness. As for those that remain, I will deliver them unto the sword of their enemies, sayeth the LORD."

Upon these words, thus said the LORD unto me, "If thou wilt turn again, I shall set thee in my service: and if thou wilt take out the thing that is precious from the vile, thou shalt be even as mine own mouth. They shall convert unto thee, but turn not thou unto them:

The deceitful maketh a nest, but bringeth forth no young: He cometh by riches, but not righteously. In the midst of his life must he leave them behind him, and at the last be found a very fool.

And I enforced not to be a shepherd that should not follow thee: and the day of destruction have I not desired, thou knowest. And that proceeded out of my mouth was right in thy sight.

Let them that persecute me be confounded, and let not me be confounded. Let their hearts fail them, and not mine heart fail. Bring upon them an evil day, and bruise them again and again.

But they say, 'No more of this, we will follow our own imaginations, and do every man according to the wilfulness of his own mind.'

into the valley of the children of Hinnom, which lieth before the port that is made of brick, and show them there the words, that I shall tell thee,

Behold therefore, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the children of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

But the LORD stood by me, like a mighty giant: therefore my persecutors fell, and could do nothing. They shall be sore confounded, for they have done unwisely, they shall have an everlasting shame.

And after this, sayeth the LORD, I shall deliver Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his servants, his people - and such as are escaped in the city, from the pestilence, sword, and hunger - into the power of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: yea into the hands of their enemies; into the hands of those that follow upon their lives, which shall smite them with the sword. They shall not pity them, they shall not spare them, they shall have no mercy upon them.'

Because the land is full of adulterers, wherethrough it is destroyed and mourneth, and the pleasant pastures of the desert are dried up. Yea the way that men take is wicked, and their governance is nothing like the holy word of the LORD.

Wherefore, their way shall be slippery in the darkness, wherein they may stagger and fall. For I will bring a plague upon them, even the year of their visitation, sayeth the LORD.

I have seen also among the Prophets of Jerusalem foul adultery, and presumptuous lies. They take the most shameful men by the hand, flattering them, so that they cannot return from their wickedness. All these with their citizens are, unto me, as Sodom and as the inhabiters of Gomorrah."

Behold, the stormy weather of the LORD - that is, his indignation - shall go forth, and shall fall down upon the head of the ungodly.

'And say thou unto them: This is the commandment of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Drink and be drunken, spew and fall, that ye never rise: and that through the sword which I will send among you.

Mourn, O ye shepherds, and cry: sprinkle yourselves with ashes, O ye rams of the flock! For the time of your slaughter is fulfilled, and ye shall fall like vessels cunningly made for pleasure.

The shepherds shall have no way to flee, and the rams of the flock shall not escape.

and to hear the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, rising up timely, and still sending: If ye will not follow them, I say,

And therefore follow not your Prophets, soothsayers, expounders of dreams, charmers and witches, which say unto you: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.

Behold, on the other side shall the wrath of the LORD break out as a stormy water, as a mighty whirlwind: and shall fall upon the heads of the ungodly.

and the whole valley of the dead carcasses, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron: and from thence unto the corner of the horse gate toward the East, whereas the Sanctuary of the LORD also shall be set. And when it is now builded, and set up of this fashion it shall never be broken, nor cast down anymore."

They have builded high places for Baal in the valley of the children of Hinnom, to cause their sons and daughters to pass through fire in honor of Moloch: which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought, to make Judah sin with such abomination.

Then may my covenant also be broken, which I made with David my servant, and so he not to have a son to reign in his Throne. So shall also the priests and Levites never fail, but serve me.

Those men will I give into the power of their enemies, and into the hands of them that follow upon their lives. And their dead bodies shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and beasts of the field.

And before the sons of the kindred of the Rechabites, I set pots full of wine, and cups, and said unto them, "Drink wine."

Yea, I have sent my servants, all the prophets, unto you. I rose up early, and sent you word, saying: O turn you, every man from his wicked way: amend your lives, and go not after strange gods, to worship them: that ye may continue in the land, which I have given unto you and your fathers. But ye would neither hear me, nor follow me.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon everyone that dwelleth in Jerusalem, all the trouble that I have devised against them. For I have spoken unto them, but they would not follow: I have called unto them, nevertheless they would give me no answer."

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not fail, but have one out of his stock, to stand always before me."

And when he came under Benjamin's port, there was a porter, called Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, which fell upon him, and took him, saying, "Thy mind is to run to the Chaldeans."

Then Jeremiah answered Zedekiah, "If I be plain unto thee, thou wilt cause me suffer death: If I give thee counsel, thou wilt not follow me."

Therefore all thy wives with their children shall flee unto the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but shalt be the king of Babylon's prisoner, and this city shall be burnt."

Now the pit wherein Ishmael did cast the dead bodies of the men whom he slew because of Gedaliah, had king Asa caused to be made, for fear of Baasha the king of Israel, and the same pit did Ishmael fill with slain men.

Nevertheless, if ye purpose not to dwell in this land, nor to follow the voice of the LORD your God,

If ye will not follow it, be sure that ye shall perish with the sword, with hunger and pestilence: even in the same place where your lust was to go, and dwell."

But they would not follow nor hearken, to turn from their wickedness, and to do no more sacrifice unto strange gods.

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Ye and your wives have spoken with your own mouth, the thing that ye have fulfilled in deed. Yea, thus have ye said, 'We will not fail, but do the thing that pleaseth us: we will do sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of heaven.' Purposely have ye set up your own good meanings, and hastily have ye fulfilled your own intent.

Here follow the words of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah which he spake unto the Gentiles.

The lightest of foot shall not flee away, and the worthies shall not escape. Toward the north by the water of Euphrates, they shall stumble and fall.

The Heathen shall hear of thy shame, and the land shall be full of thy confusion: for one strong man shall stumble upon another. How then should they not fall both together?"

The slaughter was great, for one fell ever still upon another. One cried upon another, 'Up, let us go again to our own people, and to our own natural country, from the sword of our enemy.'

Her waged soldiers that be with her, are like fat calves. They also shall flee away together, and not abide: for the day of their slaughter and the time of their visitation shall come upon them.

The destruction of Moab cometh on a pace, and her fall is at hand.

Whoso escapeth the fear, shall fall in the pit: and whoso getteth out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare. For I will bring a year of visitation upon Moab, sayeth the LORD.

They that are able to flee, shall stand under the shadow of Heshbon. For there shall go a fire out of Heshbon, and a flame from Zion, and shall burn up that proud people of Moab, both before and behind.

Wherefore trustest thou in the water streams, that flow to and fro, O thou fierce daughter? And thinkest thou art so safe, by reason of thy treasure, that no man shall come to thee?

At the noise of their fall, the earth shall quake, the cry of their voice shall be heard to the reed sea.

Behold, the enemy shall come and flee up hither, like as it were an Eagle and spread his wings upon Bozrah. Then shall the hearts of the worthies in Edom be as the heart of a woman travailing of child."

Damascus shall be sore afraid, and shall flee; trembling shall come upon her. Sorrow and pain shall overtake her as a woman travailing of child.

Hear, therefore: her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be taken away in that time, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

Flee, get you soon away, creep into caves, that ye may dwell there, O ye inhabiters of Hazor, sayeth the LORD. For Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath holden a counsel concerning you, and concluded his device against you.

and upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them against the same four winds. And there shall be no people, but some of Elam shall flee unto them.

For out of the north there shall come a people against her, which shall make her land so waste that nobody shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast; for they shall flee and depart from thence.

Yet shall ye flee from Babylon, and depart out of the land of the Chaldeans, and ye shall be as the rams that go before the flock.

Cry out: upon her, upon her, against her round about: she shall yield herself, her foundations shall fall, and her walls shall come down, for it shall be the vengeance of the LORD. Yea vengeance shall be taken of her, and as she hath done, so shall she be dealt withal.

They shall root out the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in Harvest. For fear of the sword of the enemy, every man shall get him to his own people, and every man shall flee to his own land.

Therefore shall her young men fall down in the streets, and all her men of war shall be rooted out in that day, sayeth the LORD.

And the proud shall stumble and fall, and no man shall help him up. I will burn up his cities with fire, and it shall consume all that is round about him.

Thus the slain shall fall down in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in the streets.

As for Israel and Judah, they shall not be forsaken of their God, of the LORD of Hosts, of the holy one of Israel: no, though they have filled all their land full of sin.

Make sharp the arrows, and fill the quivers: for the LORD shall raise up the spirit of the king of the Medes, which hath already a desire to destroy Babylon. This shall be the vengeance of the LORD's, and the vengeance of his temple.

Moreover, I will visit Bel at Babylon: and the thing that he hath swallowed up, that same shall I pluck out of his mouth. The Gentiles also shall run no more unto him; yea, and the walls of Babylon shall fall.

Like as Babylon hath beaten down and slain many out of Israel, so shall there fall many, and be slain, in all her kingdom.

"Wherefore, behold, sayeth the LORD, the time cometh that I will visit the images of Babylon, and through the whole land they shall mourn and fall.

Wherefore the LORD was angry at Jerusalem and Judah, so long till he had cast them out of his presence. And Zedekiah fell from the king of Babylon.