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

Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, "Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

"For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, [the] source of living water, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

[Is] Israel a slave? Or {a slave born in a house}? Why has he become plunder?

"For from long ago you have broken your yoke, you tore to pieces your bonds. And you said, 'I will not serve!' But on every high hill and under every leafy tree you [were] lying down [as] a prostitute.

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.

As [the] shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed. They, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets.

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.

A {saying}: 'Look, [if] a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him {and she becomes another man's wife}, will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted [yourself] [with] many lovers, [would] you now return to me?" {declares} Yahweh.

Will he be angry {forever}? Will he maintain [it] {always}'? Look, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there.

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.'

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin {without} inhabitant.

Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots [are] like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles, woe to us, for we are devastated.

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

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."

"{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.

"They have denied Yahweh, and have said, 'Not he, {for} evil will not come on us, we will see neither sword nor famine.

And they do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear please Yahweh our God, the [one who] gives [the] autumn rain and [the] spring rain in its season, {the set times of the harvest} he keeps for us.'

[The] bellows are burned up, lead is consumed by fire. {In vain} {he keeps on refining}, but [the] wicked are not torn apart.

And they built the high place of Topheth, which [is] in [the] Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I have not commanded, and it did not come into my mind.

"And you shall say to them, 'Thus asks Yahweh: "Do men fall and not stand up? If one turns away does he not return?

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.

Their tongue [is] a murderous arrow, it speaks deceit. With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor, but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.

Who [is] the wise man that can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed? It is laid waste like the desert so that no one passes through."

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.'

{But only} in this must the one who boasts boast, [that] he has insight, and [that] he knows me, that I [am] Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these [things] I delight," {declares} Yahweh.

He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger.

But Yahweh [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and {an everlasting king}. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and [the] nations cannot endure his anger.

[He is] the maker of [the] earth by his power, [who] created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.

{When he utters his voice} [there is] a noise of water in the heavens, and he causes [the] mist to rise from [the] ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he causes [the] wind to go out from his storehouses.

The portion of Jacob [is] not like these, for he [is] the creator of everything, and Israel [is] the tribe of his inheritance, Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.

Yahweh called your name, 'A leafy olive tree, {beautiful with fine fruit}.' With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing.

{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?

Give glory to Yahweh your God {before} he brings darkness, and {before} your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight. And you will hope for light, but he makes it as gloom, he makes [it] as thick darkness.

What will you say when he sets over you-- and you have taught them--allies as head over you? Will not labor pains take hold of you, like a woman giving birth?

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}?"

Thus says Yahweh concerning this people: "They have loved so much to wander, they have not spared their feet. Therefore Yahweh is not favorable to them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."

And I will make them a terror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem.

{but only} "{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from [the] land of [the] north, and from all the lands where he had driven them," for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors.

As the remembering of their children, [so is the remembering of] their altars and their poles of Asherah worship beside [the] leafy trees on [the] high hills.

my mountain in the open country, I will give your wealth, all your treasures, for spoil, your high places, because of [your] sin, throughout all your territories.

And he will be like a juniper in the wilderness, and he will not see when good comes, and he will dwell [in the] parched places in the desert, [in] a land of salt flats, where no one lives.

For he will be like a tree planted by water, and to [the] stream it sends its roots, and it will not fear when heat comes, and its leaves will be luxuriant, and in [the] year of drought it will not be anxious, and it will not cease from the bearing of fruit.

[Like] a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay [is] one who amasses wealth without justice. In the middle of his days it will leave him, and at his end he will [prove to] be a fool."

So I went down [to] the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter's wheels.

And the vessel that he [was] making with the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so {he made again} another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

To make their land a horror, [an object of] whistling for eternity. All [who] pass by it will be appalled, and he will shake his head.

and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their children in the fire, burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, and I ordered not, and it did not come to my {mind}.

Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people,

For thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I [am] making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes [will be] seeing [it]. And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will deport them [to] Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword.

For I hear the rumor of many, "Terror [is] from all around, denounce [him], yes, let us denounce him!" {All my close friends} [are] watchers of my stumbling, [saying], "perhaps he can be persuaded, and we can prevail over him, and we can take our revenge on him."

Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered [the] life of [the] poor from [the] hand of evildoers.

Cursed be the man who brought the news [to] my father, {saying}, "A child is born to you, a son!" and he made him very glad.

Because he did not kill me in [the] womb, so that my mother would have been for me my grave, and [her] womb [would be] pregnant forever.

"Please inquire [of] Yahweh on behalf of us, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon [is] fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his miraculous acts, so that he may go up from against us."

And {afterward}," {declares} Yahweh, "I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with [the] {edge} of [the] sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion." '

He who stays in this city will die by the sword, or by the famine, or by the plague. And he who goes out and goes over to the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you will live, and his life will be to him as booty.

For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good," {declares} Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire." '

And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

You must not weep for [the] dead person, and you must not show sympathy for him. Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will not return, or see the land of his birth again.

For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned as king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: "He will not return here again.

But in [the] place where they have deported him, there he will die, and he will not see this land again.

Woe [to the one who] builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice. His fellow countryman, he works for nothing, and he does not give to him his wages.

Who says 'I will build for myself a spacious house with large upper rooms,' and he cuts windows for it, and [it is] paneled with cedar, and he paints [it] with vermilion.

Do you reign as king because you [are] competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and he did justice and righteousness, then it was well with him?

He judged [the] legal cause of [the] needy and [the] poor, [and] then it was well. {Is that not what it means to know me}?" {declares} Yahweh.

He will be buried [with] the burial of a donkey. [He will be] dragged away and thrown {outside} the gates of Jerusalem.

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.

[Is] this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel? Or a vessel [in which] there is no delight? Why are he and his offspring thrown far, and cast away to the land that they do not know?"

"Look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign [as] king, and he will achieve success, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell {in safety}, and this [is] his name [by] which he will be called: 'Yahweh [is] our righteousness.'

but '{As Yahweh lives}, who led up, and who brought the offspring of the house of Israel from [the] land [of the] north and from all the lands where he had driven them.' Then they will live in their land."

For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively [to] his word and heard [it]?

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

and all the kings of the north, near and far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the world that [are] on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach, he will drink after them.

And you yourself shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them: 'Yahweh will roar from [on] high, and from {his holy dwelling place} he will give his voice. He will roar mightily against his settlement, a jubilant shout like those who tread [grapes], he will answer against all the inhabitants of the earth.

[The] rage of battle will resound to the end of the earth, for [there is] a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations. He [is] entering into judgment with all wicked flesh, he will give them to the sword,' {declares} Yahweh."

He has left his den like a lion, for their land has become a horror, because of the anger of the oppressors, and because of {his burning anger}."

Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, {saying}, "{This man deserves the death sentence}, because he has prophesied against this city as that [which] you have heard with your ears."

Now {therefore} amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent of the disaster that he has spoken over you.

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "{This man does not deserve} a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us."

"Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, {saying}: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the {temple} as high places of wood." '

[Did] Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? [Was he] not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we [are] about to do great disaster to ourselves."

Indeed, there also was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah.

And when King Jehoiakim, and all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard, and he was afraid, and he fled and went [to] Egypt.

And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people.

However, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to put him to death.

which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, did not take when he deported Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, from Jerusalem [to] Babylon, {along with} all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

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.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you in my name a lie, 'Look, I [am] going to give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and he will strike them before your eyes.

because they have done a disgraceful thing in Israel, and they have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and they have spoken words in my name, lies that I have not commanded them, and I [am] he who knows, and [I am] a witness,' {declares} Yahweh."

{Because} he has sent to us [in] Babylon, {saying}, 'It [will be] a long time, build houses and live [in them], and plant gardens and eat their fruit.'" '"

"Send to all the exiles, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: "Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I have not sent him, and he has made you trust in a lie,"

{therefore} thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. There will not be for him a man who lives in the midst of this people, and he will not see the good that I [am] going to do to my people," {declares} Yahweh, "For he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh." '"

Alas! For that day [is] great, {there is none like it}. And it [is] a time of distress for Jacob, yet from it he will be delivered.