Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look, I do not know [how] to speak, for I [am] a youth."

Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

Yet I planted you [as] a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me [into something that is] degenerate, the foreign vine?

"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.

I shall answer them: Where are now thy gods, that thou hast made thee? Bid them stand up, and help thee in the time of need! For look how many cities thou hast, O Judah: so many gods hast thou also.

How well you do [on] your way to seek love! {Therefore} even [to] the wicked [woman] you can teach your ways.

How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.

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:

Then I thought, 'How I would set you among the children, and I would give you a land of desire, an inheritance of [the] glory of [the] hosts of nations.' And I thought, 'You would call me, "My father," and you would not turn back from {behind} me.'

For this, gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl! for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned away from us.

Cleanse your heart from wickedness, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. {How long} will your thoughts of mischief dwell in your inner part?

“Your ways and your deeds
Have brought these things to you.
This is your evil. How bitter!
How it has touched your heart!”

"Ah, my belly! Ah, my belly!" shalt thou cry, "how is my heart so sore?" My heart panteth within me, I cannot be still, for I have heard the crying of the trumpets, and peals of war.

How long must I see [the] banner, [and] hear [the] sound of a horn?

"For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me. They [are] foolish children, and they do not have insight. They [are] skillful at doing evil, and they do not know [how] to do good."

For, methink I hear a noise, like as it were of a woman travailing, or one laboring of her first child: Even the voice of the daughter Zion, that casteth out her arms, and swooneth, saying, "Ah woe is me! How sore vexed and faint is my heart, for them that are slain?"

"{How} can I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me, and they have sworn by [those who are] not gods. But I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and flocked [to] the house of a prostitute.

Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful.

That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor.

Prepare for war against her. Get ready, let's attack at noon! How terrible for us that the day is coming to an end, and that the evening shadows are lengthening.

“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?
They were not even ashamed at all;
They did not even know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

The Lord said to me, "I have made you like a metal assayer to test my people like ore. You are to observe them and evaluate how they behave."

Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

How can you say, 'We [are] wise and the law of Yahweh [is] with us'? Look, surely {the lying stylus of the scribes} has made it a lie.

Are they ashamed that they have committed abomination? Nay, they are not at all ashamed, and they know not how to blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall stumble, saith Jehovah.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else could I do for the daughter of my people?

"Upon the mountains will I take up a lamentation and sorrowful cry, and a mourning upon the fair plains of the wilderness: Namely, how they are so burnt up, that no man goeth there any more. Yea, a man shall not hear one beast cry there. Birds and cattle are all gone from thence.

For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion, 'How we are devastated! We are very ashamed because we have left the land, because they have overthrown our dwelling places.'

"Now, you women, hear the message from the LORD; listen to what he has to say! Teach your daughters how to mourn, let every woman teach her friend how to lament.

Alas, how am I hurt? Alas, how painful are my scourges unto me? For I consider this sorrow by myself, and I must suffer it.

For as many cities as thou hast, O Judah, so many gods hast thou also: And look how many streets there be in thee, O Jerusalem: so many shameful altars have ye set up, to offer upon them unto Baal.

What is to My beloved in My house, since she has committed her many evils? And has the holy flesh caused your evil to pass from you? How then do you exult?

O LORD, thou art more righteous than that I should dispute with thee: Nevertheless, let me talk with thee in things reasonable. How happeneth it, that the way of the ungodly is so prosperous? And that it goeth so well with them, which without any shame offend and live in wickedness?

But you, O Lord, have knowledge of me; you see me, searching and testing how my heart is with you: let them be pulled out like sheep to be put to death, make them ready for the day of death.

{How long} will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? [The] animals and [the] birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future."

"If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in {a peaceful land}, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

"I, the Lord, say: 'This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride.

Your adulteries, and your neighings, the shameful behavior of your fornications on [the] hills in the countryside, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem! {How long will you continue to be unclean}?"

For who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan you? or who shall go aside to ask how you do?

I said, "Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt."

O Lord, you have knowledge: keep me in mind and come to my help, and give their right reward to those who are attacking me; take me not away, for you are slow to be angry: see how I have undergone shame because of you from all those who make little of your word;

How can a man make those, his gods, which are not able to be gods?"

I, the Lord, probe into people's minds. I examine people's hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

Hear how they keep challenging me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!”

Then some people said, "Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God's word. Come on! Let's bring charges against him and get rid of him! Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says."

Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.

This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth.

"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage.

How terrible for him who says, "I'll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.'

Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the [second] son of Josiah, king of Judah,

“The relatives will not lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) for him:
‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister,’ [how great our loss]!
The subjects will not lament for him:
‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, majesty [how great was his glory]!’

Inhabitants of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come to you, fear and pain as the [woman who] gives birth.

"How terrible for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.

{How long} [will] this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceitfulness of their hearts,

How long will they go on plotting to make my people forget who I am through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal.

So I, Jeremiah, tell you, "Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, 'How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?'

And I will give them a heart, to know how that I am the LORD. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.

For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears My name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the dust, noble ones of the flock: for the days of your slaughter are accomplished, and I will disperse you; and ye shall fall like a precious vessel.

How dare you prophesy in the name of Yahweh, ‘This temple will become like Shiloh and this city will become an uninhabited ruin’!” Then all the people assembled against Jeremiah at the Lord’s temple.

Then Hananiah said before the eyes of all the people, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh, 'This is how I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, {within two years}, from the neck of all the nations.'" And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

How happeneth it then, that thou hast not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which never leaveth of his prophesying?

How awful that day will be!
There will be none like it!
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be delivered out of it.

{How long} will you waver, O unfaithful daughter? For Yahweh has created a new [thing] on the earth, a woman, she shelters a man."

"Have you not seen how these people speak, {saying}, 'The two clans whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them'? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation {before them} [any] longer.

You will die peacefully, and as they burned fires for your ancestors, the former kings who were before you, so they'll burn fires for you, wailing, "Oh how terrible, your majesty!"' For I've spoken the message," declares the LORD.

Then they asked Baruch, {saying}, "Tell us please, how did you write all these words, from his mouth?"

Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, 'The Lord says, "You burned the scroll. You asked Jeremiah, 'How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?'"

Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, How have I offended against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

This is how Jerusalem was captured: In the tenth month of the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

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.

Pray that the LORD your God may inform us as to how we should live and what we should do."

Now therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: How happeneth it, that ye do so great evil unto your own souls, thus to destroy the men and women, children and babes of Judah? So that none of you is left,

Take this for a token, that I will visit you in this place, sayeth the LORD, and that ye may know, how that I, without doubt, will perform my purpose upon you to punish you.

"You have said, "How terrible for me, for the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I'm weary with my groaning, and I haven't found rest."'

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.

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, you dear poor people of Egypt. But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; there will be no healing for you.

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 word that Jehovah spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

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

Thus, saith Yahweh - Lo! waters rising from the North And they shall become a torrent overflowing, Which shall overflow The land and the fulness thereof, The city, and the dwellers therein, - Then shall men make outcry, And all the inhabitants of the land, howl.

Baldness hath come, upon Gaza, Silenced is Ashkelon the remnant of their vale, - How long, wilt thou cut thyself?

Ah! thou sword of Yahweh, How long, wilt thou not be quiet? Withdraw into thy scabbard, Rest thyself and be still.

How, can it be quiet, when, Yahweh, hath given it a charge, - against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea? There, hath he appointed it!

To Moab: This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "How terrible for Nebo, for it's laid waste. Kiriathaim is put to shame, it's captured. The fortress is put to shame, it's shattered.

People will not praise Moab any more. The enemy will capture Heshbon and plot how to destroy Moab, saying, 'Come, let's put an end to that nation!' City of Madmen, you will also be destroyed. A destructive army will march against you.

How can ye say, Heroes, are we? and Men of might for the war?

Lament ye for him - All that are round about him, and All that know his name, - Say, How is broken - The staff of strength! The rod of beauty!

Confounded is Moab! For it is broken down! Howl and make outcry, - Tell ye in Arnon, That Moab is spoiled;

We have had word of the pride of Moab, how great it is; how he is lifted up in pride; and his great opinion of himself, and that his heart is lifted up.

I, the Lord, affirm that I know how arrogant they are. But their pride is ill-founded. Their boastings will prove to be false.

For this cause over Moab, will I howl, And for all Moab, will I make outcry, - For the men of Kir-heres, must one moan!

How it is broken down! They have howled, How hath Moab turned the back, for shame, - So shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all round about him.

How terrible for you, Moab! The people of Chemosh will perish. Indeed, your sons will be taken into captivity, and your daughters as well.

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled Make outcry, ye daughters of Rabbah, Gird you with sackcloth, Lament ye and run to and fro among the fences, - For, Malkam, into captivity, shall go, His priests and his princes, together.

“How boastful you are about the valleys!
Your valley is flowing away,
O backsliding daughter
Who trusts in her treasures, saying,
‘Who will come against me?’

How [the] city of praise has not been abandoned! The city of my joy!

The Lord says, "Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor. Take up refuge in remote places. For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you. He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you."