when the LORD had first spoken with him, in the time of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his kingdom;

They thought not in their hearts, 'Where have we left the LORD, that brought us out of the land of Egypt? That led us through the wilderness; through a desert and rough land; through a dry and deadly land; yea a land that no man had gone through, and wherein no man had dwelt?'

And when I had brought you into a pleasant well builded land, that ye might enjoy the fruits and all the commodities of the same: ye went forth and defiled my land, and brought mine heritage to abomination.

Go into the Isles of Chittim, and look well; send unto Kedar, and take diligent heed; and see, whether such things be done there,

Yea, thou shalt go thy way from them, and smite thine hands together upon thy head. Because the LORD shall bring that confidence and hope of thine to naught, and thou shalt not prosper withal."

Hast thou seen also, when she had done all this, how I said unto her that she should turn again unto me, and yet she is not returned? Judah, that unfaithful sister of hers also saw this:

Namely, that after I had well seen the adultery of the shrinking harlot Israel, I put her away, and gave her a bill of divorcement. For all this, her unfaithful sister Judah was not ashamed, but went back and played the whore also.

but on this condition, that thou know thy great blasphemy: Namely, that thou hast unfaithfully forsaken the LORD thy God, and hast made thyself partaker of strange gods under all green trees, but hast had no will to hear my voice, sayeth the LORD.

I have looked upon the earth, and see, it is waste and void. I looked toward heaven, and it had no shine.

But unto whom shall I speak, whom shall I warn, that he may take heed? Their ears are so uncircumcised, that they may not hear. Behold, they take the word of God but for a scorn, and have no lust thereto.

And I will set watchmen over you, and therefore take heed unto the voice of the trumpet. But they say, 'We will not take heed.'

But take heed: ye trust in counsels that beguile you and do you no good.

O Who will give my head water enough, and a well of tears for mine eyes, that I may weep night and day for the slaughter of my people?

Would God that I had a cottage somewhere far from folk, that I might leave my people, and go from them: for they be all adulterers and a shrinking sort.

They have turned themselves to the blasphemies of their forefathers, which had no lust to hear my word. Even likewise have these also followed strange gods, and worshiped them. The houses of Israel and Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers.

But I, as a meek lamb, was carried away to be slain: not knowing, that they had devised such a counsel against me saying, "We will destroy his meat with wood, and drive him out of the land of the living: that his name shall never be thought upon."

"Take the breech that thou hast prepared and put it about thee, and get thee up, and go unto Euphrates, and hide it in a hole of the rock."

So went I, and hid it, as the LORD commanded me.

And it happened, long after this, that the LORD spake unto me, "Up, and get thee to Euphrates, and fetch the breech from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there."

Then went I to Euphrates, and digged up, and took the breech from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the breech was corrupt, so that it was profitable for nothing.

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

Therefore shall I turn thy clothes over thy head, and uncover thy thighs, that thy privates may be seen:

"Judah shall mourn, men shall not go much more through his gates: the land shall be no more had in reputation, and the cry of Jerusalem shall break out.

I will scatter thee abroad with the fan on every side of the land: I will waste my people and destroy them, for they have had no lust to turn from their own ways.

When I had found thy words, I ate them up greedily: they have made my heart joyful and glad, for I call upon thy name, O LORD God of Hosts.

But it shall be said, 'The LORD liveth, that brought the children of Israel from the North, and from all lands where I had scattered them.' For I will bring them again into the land that I gave unto their fathers.

For mine eyes behold all their ways, and they cannot be hid from my face; neither can their wicked deeds be kept close out of my sight.

For he shall be as a tree, that is planted by the waterside: which spreadeth out the root unto moistness, whom the heat cannot harm, when it cometh, but his leaves are green. And though there grow but little fruit because of drought yet is he not careful, but he never leaveth off to bring forth fruit.

Thus the LORD commandeth: Take heed for your lives, that ye carry no burden upon you in the Sabbath, to bring it through the gates of Jerusalem:

This is another communication that God had with Jeremiah, saying,

And so Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the house of the LORD, and spake to all the people:

Let it happen unto that man, as to the cities which the LORD turned upside down, when he had long heard the wicked rumor of them;

For thus hath the LORD spoken upon the king's house of Judah: Thou art the head, as Gilead is in Lebanon: What wilt thou lay of it, if I make thee and thy cities also not so waste that no man shall dwell therein?

Yea when he helped the oppressed and poor to their right, then prospered he well. From whence came this? But only because he had me before his eyes, sayeth the LORD.

And will gather together the remnant of my flock, from all lands that I had driven them unto, and will bring them again to their pastures, that they may grow and increase.

But, 'The LORD liveth, which brought forth, and led the seed of the house of Israel, out of the North land, and from all countries where I had scattered them.' And they shall dwell in their own land again."

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

But if they had continued in my counsel and heard my words: they had turned my people from their evil ways and wicked imaginations.

May any man hide himself so, that I shall not see him, sayeth the LORD? Do not I fulfill heaven and earth, sayeth the LORD?

After that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had led away captive Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the mighty men also of Judah, with the workmasters, and cunning men of Jerusalem, unto Babylon. The LORD showed me a vision: Behold, there stood two mounds of figs before the Temple of the LORD.

Then took I the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the people drink thereof, unto whom the LORD had sent me.

Now when he had spoken out all the words that the LORD commanded him to preach unto all the people, then the priests, the prophets and all the people took hold upon him, and said, "Thou shalt die.

Therefore amend your ways, and your advisements, and be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God: so shall the LORD repent of the plague, that he had devised against you.

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and the people of Judah put him to death for this? No verily, but rather feared the LORD, and made their prayer unto him. For the which cause also the LORD repented of the plague, that he had devised against them. Should we then do such a shameful deed against our souls?"

Now when Jehoiakim the king with all the estate and princes had heard his words, the king went about to slay him. When Uriah perceived that, he was afraid, and fled, and departed into Egypt.

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."

Now after that Hananiah the prophet had taken the chain from the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broken it, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Jeremiah saying,

This is the Copy of the letter, that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the prisoners: the Senators, priests, prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had led unto Babylon:

All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and care nothing for thee. For I have given thee a cruel stroke, and chastened thee roughly: and that for the multitude of thy misdeeds, for thy sins have had the overhand.

For thus sayeth the LORD, "Rejoice with gladness because of Jacob, cry unto the head of the Gentiles: speak out, sing, and say, 'The LORD shall deliver his people, the remnant of Israel, and make them whole.'

Upon this complaint, I thought thus by myself: Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not the child, with whom I have had all mirth and pastime? For since the time that I first communed with him, I have him ever in remembrance: therefore my very heart driveth me unto him; gladly and lovingly will I have mercy upon him, sayeth the LORD.

When I heard this, I came again to myself, and mused, like as I had been waked out of a sweet sleep.

where Zedekiah the king of Judah caused him to be laid, because he had prophesied of this manner, "Thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, I will deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, which shall take it.

"Now when I had delivered the evidence unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I besought the LORD, saying,

"Considerest thou not what this people speaketh? 'Two kindreds,' say they, 'had the LORD chosen, and those same two hath he cast away.' For so far is my people come, that they have no hope to come together any more, and to be one people again.

Now as they had consented, even so they were obedient, and let them go free.

But afterward they repented, and took again the servants and the hand maidens, whom they had let go free, and so made them bond again.

But yet ye have turned yourselves again, and blasphemed my name, in this: That every man hath required his servant and handmaid again, whom ye had letten go quit and free, and compelled them to serve you again, and to be your bondmen.

Then did Jeremiah call Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote in the book at the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him.

Now when Micaiah the son of Gemariah the son of Shaphan had heard all the words of the LORD out of the book,

Now when they had heard all the words, they were abashed one upon another, and said unto Baruch, "We will certify the king of all these words."

Then said the princes unto Baruch, "Go thy way, and hide thee with Jeremiah, so that no man know where ye be."

And when Jehudi had read three or four leaves thereof, he cut the book in pieces with a pen knife, and cast it into the fire upon the hearth, until the book was all burnt in the fire upon the hearth.

Now, after that the king had burnt the book, and the sermons which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah: The word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

Therefore thus the LORD sayeth, of Jehoiakim the king of Judah: There shall none of his generation sit upon the throne of David. His dead corpse shall be cast out, that the heat of the day and the frost of the night may come upon him.

For though ye had slain the whole host of the Chaldeans that besiege you, and every one of the slain lay in his tent, yet should they stand up, and set fire upon this city.'"

Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah, perceived the words, that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, namely on this manner:

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:

Then Zedekiah the king sent and caused Jeremiah the prophet be called unto him, into the third entry, that was by the house of the LORD. And the king said unto Jeremiah, "I will ask thee somewhat, but hide nothing from me."

But if the princes perceive that I have talked with thee, and come unto thee, saying, 'O speak, what said the king to thee? hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death. Tell us, we pray thee: what said the king to thee?'

But Nebuzaradan the chief captain let the rascal people, and those that had nothing, dwell still in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and corn fields at the same time.

This is the manner how the LORD intreated Jeremiah, when Nebuzaradan the chief Captain had let him go free from Ramah, whither he had led him bound among all the prisoners, that were carried from Jerusalem and Judah unto Babylon.

Now the LORD hath sent it, and performed it as he had promised. For ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not been obedient to his voice, therefore cometh this plague upon you.

Now when the captains of the Host of Judah, which with their fellows were scattered abroad on every side in the land, understood that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and that man, wife and child, yea and the poor men in the land that were not led captive to Babylon should be under his Jurisdiction:

Yea all the Jews also that dwelt in Moab, under the Ammonites, in Idumaea and in all the countries, when they heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan governor upon them that were left in Judah:

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, with those ten men that were sworn to him, start up, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword; and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor of the land.

The next day after that he had slain Gedaliah - the matter was yet unknown -

there came certain men from Shechem, from Shiloh and Samaria, to the number of eighty, which had shaven their beards, rent their clothes, and were all heavy, bringing meat offerings, and incense in their hands, to offer it in the house of the LORD.

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.

As for the remnant of the people, the king's daughters and all the people that were yet left at Mizphah, upon whom Nebuzaradan the chief Captain had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away prisoners toward the Ammonites.

But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all they which had been captains over the king's Host with him, heard of all the wickedness that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done;

So all the people that Ishmael had carried away from Mizphah, were brought again. And when they returned, they came to Johanan the son of Kareah.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the Host that were with him, took the remnant of the people, whom Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had led away when he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom they also had rescued from him: fighting men, women and children, and gelded men: Whom they brought again from Gibeon.

of whom they were afraid, because that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah Ahikam's son, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.

Now when Jeremiah had ended all the words of the LORD God unto the people, for their sakes to whom God had sent him,

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the host, carried away all the remnant in Judah, that were come together again from the Heathen among whom they had been scattered, to dwell in the land of Judah:

Men, women, children, the king's daughters; all those that Nebuzaradan the chief captain had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; They carried away also the prophet Jeremiah, Baruch the son of Neriah,

"Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the brick wall, under the door of Pharaoh's house in Tahpenes, that all the men of Judah may see,

and say unto them, 'Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and call for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant, and will set his seat upon these stones that I have hid, and he shall spread his tent over them.

Howbeit, I sent unto them my servants all the prophets: I rose up early, I sent unto them, and gave them warning. 'O do no such abominable things, and things that I hate.'

Then all the men which knew that their wives had offered unto strange gods, and a great sort of wives that stood there, yea and all the people that dwelt there in Egypt in the city of Pathros, answered Jeremiah, and said,

But whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth, that will we do: We will do sacrifice, and offer oblations unto the Queen of heaven: like as we and our forefathers, our kings and our heads have done in the cities of Judah, and in the streets and fields of Jerusalem. For then had we plenteousness of victuals, then were we in prosperity, and no misfortune came upon us.

But since we left off to offer and to do sacrifice unto the Queen of heaven, we have had scarceness of all things, and perish with the sword and hunger.

Then said Jeremiah unto all the people, to the men, to the women, and to all the folk, which had given him that answer,

These are the words that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, after that he had written these Sermons into a book at the mouth of Jeremiah; In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

O how fearful is she? O how mourneth she? O how doth Moab hang down her head, and is ashamed? Thus shall Moab be a laughingstock, and had in derision of all them, that be round about her.

Behold therefore, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that I will bring a noise of war into Rabbah of the Ammonites. And it shall be laid on a desolate heap, and her cities burnt up: and the Israelites shall be lords over those that had them in possession afore, sayeth the LORD.

But I will make Esau bare, and discover his secrets, so that he shall not be able to hide them. His seed shall be wasted away; yea his brethren and his neighbours, and he himself shall not be left behind.

Because ye were so cheerful and glad, to tread down mine heritage, and fulfill your pleasures, as the calves in the grass: And triumphed over them like the bulls, when ye had gotten the victory.

In their heat I shall set drink before them, and they shall be drunken for joy: Then shall they sleep an everlasting sleep, and never wake, sayeth the LORD.