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.

For long ago you broke your yoke and tore up your bonds; and you said, I will not transgress, when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a harlot.

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.

I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I looked on the mountains, and, lo, they quaked; and all the hills were shaken.

I looked, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.

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.

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.

For among My people are found wicked ones; they lie in wait, as one who sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My Words, nor to My Law, but have rejected 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.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, set in order like a man for war against you, O daughter of Zion.

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?

And Jehovah says, Because they have forsaken My Law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, and have not walked in it,

Every man is stupid for lack of knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and no breath is in them.

Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My Law.

Then they said, Come and let us plot schemes against Jeremiah. For the Law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the Word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.

For many nations and great kings shall lay service on them also. And I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name; and should you be found entirely without guilt? You shall not be without guilt. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of Hosts.

And you shall say to them, So says Jehovah: If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you,

For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and you should perish.

Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon. For they prophesy a lie to you.

For I have not sent them, says Jehovah; yet they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.

Also I spoke to the priests and to all the people, saying, So says Jehovah, Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of Jehovah's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon. For they prophesy a lie to you.

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah. Jehovah has not sent you, but you make this people to trust in a lie.

so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, about Ahab the son of Kolaiah and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes.

Send to all the exiles, saying, So says Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to trust in a lie,

For, lo, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall possess it.

And you, O My servant Jacob, do not fear, says Jehovah. Do not be terrified, O Israel. For lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

So I took the document of the purchase, that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and the open copy.

And they came in and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice, nor did they walk in Your Law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this evil to come on them.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: Again in this place which is a desert without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall be a home of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's room. And, lo, all the rulers sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the rulers.

Then Jeremiah said, A lie! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not listen to him; so Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the rulers.

They are not humbled to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in My Law, nor in My statutes which I have set before you and before your fathers.

Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in His Law, nor in His statutes, nor did you walk in His testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as at this day.

For lo, I will make you small among the nations, despised among men.

For, lo, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon a company of great nations from a northern land. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there. Their arrows shall be as those of a skillful, mighty man; none shall return in vain.

They lay hold on a bow and spear; they are cruel and will not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses arrayed like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon.

Every man is brutish in knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by idols. For his molded image is a lie, and no breath is in them.

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. (And the Chaldeans lay around the city all around.) And they went by the way of the plain.