The word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north."

Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?'

The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?

"Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, GOD of Hosts.

For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord GOD.

a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

"Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.'

As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets;

who tell wood, 'You are my father;' and a stone, 'You have brought me out:' for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and save us.'

Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.

Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

"Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see. Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

"Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel," says the LORD.

A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.

Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

and you shall swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."

Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land.' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves. Let us go into the fortified cities.'

A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn't turned back from us.

Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us. For we are ruined.

As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'" says the LORD.

"Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."

My anguish, my anguish. I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Destruction on destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.

Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, "Woe is me now. For my soul faints before the murderers."

Though they say, 'As the LORD lives;' surely they swear falsely."

Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says the LORD; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

They have denied the LORD, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine.

The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them."

Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand what they say.

Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

Neither do they say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'

For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.

"Shall I not punish for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

"Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us. For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces."

For the LORD of hosts said, "Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. She is the city to be punished; she is full of oppression in the midst of her.

As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, "They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Pass your hand again as a grape gatherer into the baskets."

To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.

Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD. I am weary with holding in. "Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.

"For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace.' when there is no peace.

Thus says the LORD, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, 'Where is the good way?' and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not walk in it."

"Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.

Hear, earth. 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.'"

"We have heard its report; our hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.

"Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes. Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us."

The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.

and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered"; that you may do all these abominations?

Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says the LORD.

therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

You shall tell them, 'This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the LORD their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

"For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight," says the LORD: "they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

Therefore behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

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

I listened and heard, but they did not speak what is right: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

How can you say, "We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us?" But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what kind of wisdom is in them?

therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.

They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, "Peace, peace;" when there is no peace.

"Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.

"Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow. My heart is faint within me.

Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: 'Isn't the LORD in Zion? Isn't her King in her?'" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?"

"'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

"They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me," says the LORD.

Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me," says the LORD.

Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait for him.

Shall I not visit them for these things?" says the LORD; "shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?"

"and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, 'How are we ruined. We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"

'For death has come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.'

Speak, 'Thus says the LORD, "The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them."'"

Thus says the LORD, "Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, do not let the rich man glory in his riches;

They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Do not be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good."

"There is none like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

Who should not fear you, King of the nations? For it appertains to you; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like you.

But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols. it is but a stock.

There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.

But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation.

when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

Every man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name."

Woe is me because of my hurt. My wound is grievous: but I said, 'Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.'

My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Cursed is the man who doesn't hear the words of this covenant,