to whom the Word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

And it happened, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Then I said, Alas, Lord Jehovah! Behold, I do not know to speak; for I am a boy.

But Jehovah said to me, Do not say, I am a boy; for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of their faces; for I am with you to deliver you, says Jehovah.

And Jehovah put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have put My Words in your mouth.

And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

And Jehovah said to me, You have seen well; for I will watch over My Word to perform it.

And the Word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot; and its face is from the face of the north.

And Jehovah said to me, Out of the north an evil will be set loose on all the inhabitants of the land.

For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah. And they shall come, and they shall each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its wall all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

And they shall fight against you; but they shall not overcome you. For I am with you, says Jehovah, to deliver you.

And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, So says Jehovah, I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothals, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

Israel was holiness to Jehovah, and the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him shall offend; evil shall come on them, says Jehovah.

Hear the Word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

So says Jehovah, What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?

Nor did they say, Where is Jehovah 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 dry places, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man lived?

The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And they who handle the Law did not know Me; the shepherds also rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things not profitable.

Therefore I will contend with you, says Jehovah, and with your son's sons I will enter into judgment.

Be amazed, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be completely desolated, says Jehovah.

Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, when He led you by the way?

Your own evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you, therefore know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.

For though you wash yourself with potash, and multiply soap for yourself, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord Jehovah.

Why will you plead with Me? You all have sinned against Me, says Jehovah.

O generation, see the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, We roam freely; we will come no more to You?

Yes, you shall go out from this place, and your hands on your head. For Jehovah has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.

They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot with many lovers; yet come back to Me, says Jehovah.

Jehovah also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has fornicated there.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah.

And Jehovah said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Go and cry these words toward the north, and say, Return, O backsliding Israel, says Jehovah; and I will not cause My anger to fall on you; for I am merciful, says Jehovah, and I will not keep anger forever.

Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have sinned against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Jehovah.

Turn, O backsliding sons, says Jehovah; for I am married to you; and I will take you one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

And it will be when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah! Nor shall it come to mind; nor shall they remember it; nor shall they visit it; nor shall it be made any more.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

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

A voice was heard on the high places weeping, cryings of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten Jehovah their God.

Return, O backsliding sons, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to You; for You are Jehovah our God.

Truly, for delusion comes from the high hills, tumult on the mountains. Truly, in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.

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

If you will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, return to Me. And if you will put away your abominations out of your sight, then you shall not be moved.

And you shall swear, Jehovah lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.

For so says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem; lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that none can put it out; because of the evil of your doings.

Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.

And it shall be at that day, says Jehovah, the king's heart will perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests will be amazed, and the prophets will be astounded.

Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; but the sword reaches to the soul.

Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around; because she rebelled against Me, says Jehovah.

I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the face of Jehovah, before His fierce anger.

For so Jehovah has said, The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end.

And though they say, As Jehovah lives; surely they swear falsely.

O Jehovah, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have destroyed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.

So I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they do not know the way of Jehovah, nor the judgment of their God.

I will go up for myself to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of Jehovah and the judgment of their God. But these have broken the yoke together and have torn off the bonds!

Shall I not judge for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go up on her vine-rows and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very deceitfully against Me, says Jehovah.

They have lied against Jehovah and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; nor shall we see sword nor famine.

Therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, Because you spoke this word, behold, I will make My Words in your mouth fire, and these people wood, and it shall devour them.

Lo, I will bring a nation on you from afar, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say.

But even in those days, says Jehovah, I will not make a complete end with you.

And it will be, when you shall say, Why does Jehovah our God do all these things to us? Then You shall answer them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Do you not fear Me? says Jehovah. Will you not tremble at My presence, I who have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a never-ending decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though they toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though its waves roar, yet they cannot pass over it?

And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season; He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; turn back your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of Jehovah is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Therefore I am full of the fury of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in; I will pour it out on the children in the street, and on the circle of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with fullness of days.

And their houses shall be turned to others, together with their fields and wives; for I will stretch out My hand on the people of the land, says Jehovah.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

So says Jehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.

Therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

So says Jehovah, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred from the sides of the earth.

Reprobate silver they call them, because Jehovah has rejected them.

The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and declare there this Word, and say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Make your ways and your doings good, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah are these.

Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I also have seen, says Jehovah.

And now, because you have done all these works, says Jehovah, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer;

Do they vex Me? says Jehovah. Is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

Therefore so says the Jehovah God; Behold, My anger and My fury shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be put out.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.

But you shall say to them, This is a nation which does not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, nor receives instruction; truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a weeping on the high places. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.

For the sons of Judah have done evil in My sight, says Jehovah. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, in order to defile it.

So, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Tophet, until there is no place.

At that time, says Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of Hosts.

And you shall say to them, So says Jehovah; shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return?

Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her seasons; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah.

How do you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsely.

The wise are ashamed, they are terrified, and are captured. Lo, they have turned away from the Word of Jehovah; and what wisdom is in them?

Were they ashamed when they had done an abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them, those who pass over them.

Why do we sit still? Gather yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and has given us poisonous water to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah.

For, behold, I will send serpents and adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Jehovah.

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a far country. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign vanities?