For behold, this day do I make thee a strong fenced town, an iron pillar, and a wall of steel against the whole land; against the kings and mighty men of Judah; against the priests and people of the land.

And when I had brought you into a pleasant well builded land, that ye might enjoy the fruits and all the commodities of the same: ye went forth and defiled my land, and brought mine heritage to abomination.

“For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience]
And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you];
You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’
For on every high hill
And under every green tree
You have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute.

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.

Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them,
A wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many,
Their desertions of faith are countless.

“Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
“It is a mighty and enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
Whose words you do not comprehend.

“Their quiver is [filled with the dead] like an open grave;
They are all mighty men [heroes of their nation].

They have waxed fat, they shine Yea they have overpassed the records of wickedness. The right, have they not determined, the right of the fatherless that they might prosper, - Yea justice to the helpless, have they not decreed.

"This is what the Lord says: 'Beware! An army is coming from a land in the north. A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

The Lord said to the people of Judah, "The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: 'You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!

They have also builded an altar at Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom: that they might burn their sons and daughters - which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought.

From Dan hath been heard the snorting of his horses, From the voice of the neighings of his mighty ones, Trembled hath all the land, And they come in and consume the land and its fulness, The city and the inhabitants in it.

Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had in the wilderness
A lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men,
That I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For they are all adulterers [worshiping idols instead of the Lord],
[They are] an assembly of treacherous men [of weak character, men without integrity].

Who have prepared e their tongue as their bow of falsehood, And, not by faithfulness, have they become mighty in the land, - For from wickedness unto wickedness, have they gone forth, But me, have they not known, Declareth Yahweh.

Thus says the Lord, “Let not the one who is wise and skillful boast in his insight; let not the one who is mighty and powerful boast in his strength; let not the one who is rich boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] abundance;

There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your mighty and powerful name.

O thou beloved, why doest thou so shameful great blasphemies in my house? Even as though that holy flesh might absolve thee, specially when thou hast made thy boast of thy wickedness.

I, the Lord, once called you a thriving olive tree, one that produced beautiful fruit. But I will set you on fire, fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. Then all your branches will be good for nothing.

The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding. Then he showed me what the people were doing.

Righteous are You, O Jehovah, that I might contend with You; yet let me speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those happy who deal treacherously?

For as the waistband clings to the body of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they did not listen and obey.’

Is it possible for the skin of the Ethiopian to be changed, or the markings on the leopard? Then it might be possible for you to do good, who have been trained to do evil.

I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.

“O Lord, though our many sins testify against us” [prays Jeremiah],
“Act now [for us and] for Your name’s sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]!
For our backslidings are countless;
We have sinned against You.

“Why should You be [hesitant and inactive] like a man astounded and perplexed,
Like a mighty man unable to save?
Yet You, O Lord, are among us,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!”

“You will say this word to them,
‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely infected wound.

The Lord said, "So I will now let this wicked people know -- I will let them know my mighty power in judgment. Then they will know that my name is the Lord."

Yet they would not listen and obey and control their behavior; but they were stiff-necked in order not to hear and take instruction.

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;

Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;

Is evil to be the reward of good? for they have made a deep hole for my soul. Keep in mind how I took my place before you, to say a good word for them so that your wrath might be turned away from them.

The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send on this town and on all her towns all the evil which I have said; because they made their necks stiff, so that they might not give ear to my words.

Wherefore, I thought from henceforth not to speak of him, nor to preach anymore in his name. But the word of the LORD was a very burning fire in my heart and in my bones, which when I would have stopped, I might not.

For I have heard the gossip of many people,
“Terror is on every side!
Report him; let’s report him!”
Everyone I trusted watches for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we might prevail against him
and take our vengeance on him.”

But the Lord is with me as a dread champion [one to be greatly feared];
Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not overcome [me].
They will be completely shamed, for they have not acted wisely and have failed [in their schemes];
Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

Because he did not kill me before my birth,
So that my mother might have been my grave,
And her womb always pregnant.

Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?

In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength!

For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God);
The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it].
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;
And their power is not right.

But if they had stood in my council, Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked way and from the wickedness of their doings.

After that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had led away captive Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the mighty men also of Judah, with the workmasters, and cunning men of Jerusalem, unto Babylon. The LORD showed me a vision: Behold, there stood two mounds of figs before the Temple of the LORD.

In the one mound were very good figs, even like as those that be first ripe. In the other mound were very naughty figs, which might not be eaten they were so evil.

Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.

The Lord who rules over all says, 'Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. A mighty storm of military destruction is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.'

Perhaps they will listen and return—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

So now, correct your ways and deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God so that He might relent concerning the disaster that He warned about.

Did Hezekiah and all Judah put him to death? did he not in the fear of the Lord make prayer for the grace of the Lord, and the Lord let himself be turned from the decision he had made against them for evil? By this act we might do great evil against ourselves.

And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put Uriah to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.

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

"I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, and I give it to whomever I see fit.

For they preach you lies, to bring you far from your land, and that I might cast you out, and destroy you.

For I have not sent them, says the Lord, but they are saying what is false in my name, so that I might send you out by force, causing destruction to come on you and on your prophets.

If they're prophets, and if they have a message from the LORD, let them plead with the LORD of the Heavenly Armies so that the utensils that remain in the LORD's Temple, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem might not be taken to Babylon.

and with that said Hananiah, that all the people might hear, "Thus hath the LORD spoken: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, from the neck of all nations; yea, and that within this two years." And so the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also put the wild animals under him.’”

For I know what I have devised for you sayeth the LORD. My thoughts are to give you peace, and not trouble, which I give you already; and that ye might have hope again.

And beside all this, he hath sent us word unto Babylon, and told us plainly, that our captivity shall long endure: that we should build us houses to dwell therein, and to plant us gardens, that we might enjoy the fruit thereof.'

For lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, Saith Yahweh, - and will bring them back into the land which I gave to their fathers that they might possess it.

all loving thee have forgotten thee, Thee they do not seek, For with the stroke of an enemy I smote thee, The chastisement of a fierce one, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins!

What! -- thou criest concerning thy breach! Incurable is thy pain, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins! I have done these to thee.

And his mighty one was from himself, and his ruler shall go forth from his midst.; and I caused him to draw near, and he came near to me: for who this pledging his heart to approach to me? says Jehovah.

Behold, on the other side shall the wrath of the LORD break out as a stormy water, as a mighty whirlwind: and shall fall upon the heads of the ungodly.

Oh, Lord God, you did indeed make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength. Nothing is too hard for you!

You who show lovingkindness to thousands, but repay the wickedness (sin, guilt) of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], O great and mighty God; the Lord of hosts is His name;

You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. You see everything people do. You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do.

You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt.

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, Shall enter, and Shall set this city on fire, and Shall consume it, - With the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger; For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been nothing but doers of wickedness in my sight from the days of their youth, -

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’

then my covenant with my servant David might also be broken so that he wouldn't have a son sitting on his throne, and so also with my servants the Levitical priests.

The seed of Jacob also and of David my servant, might I east off so as not to take of his seed as rulers unto the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, - For I will bring back them of their captivity, and will have compassion upon them.

That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:

Yet you backed out [of the covenant] and profaned My Name, and each man took back his servants, male and female, whom had been set free in accordance with their desire, and you brought them into servitude [again] to be your male servants and your female servants.”’

Then read Baruch the words of Jeremiah out of the book within the house of the LORD, out of the treasury of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the Scribe, which is beside the higher loft of the new door of the LORD's house: that all the people might hear.

And they said unto him, "Sit down, and read the book that we may hear also." So Baruch read, that they might hear.

And they went in to the king to the court. but they kept the book in the chamber of Elishama the Scribe, and told the king all the words that he might hear.

So the king sent Jehudi to fetch him the book, which he brought out of Elishama the Scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it, that the king and all the princes, which were about him might hear.

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me."

Then said Johanan the son of Kareah unto Gedaliah in Mizphah these words, secretly, "Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, so that nobody shall know it. Wherefore will he kill thee? That all the Jews which resort unto thee, might be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?"

Then did Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him take all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah out of Mizpah, after he had smitten Gedaliah son of Ahikam, - mighty men, men of war, and women and children and eunuchs, whom he had recovered out of Gibeon;

and they departed, and dwelt in the khan of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, - that they might go to enter Egypt;

They were afraid of what the Babylonians might do because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

But they gave no attention, and their ears were not open so that they might be turned from their evil-doing and from burning perfume to other gods.

Why do you [deliberately] provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) of your hands, burning sacrifices and incense to [make-believe] gods in the land of Egypt, where you [of your own accord] have come to live [as temporary residents], that you might be cut off and become a curse and a disgrace [an object of taunts] among all the nations of the earth?

Insomuch that the LORD might no longer suffer the wickedness of your inventions, and the abominable things which ye did? Is not your land desolate and void; yea, and abhorred, so that no man dwelleth therein any more, as it is come to pass this day?

“Why have I seen it?
They are terrified
And have turned back,
And their warriors are beaten down.
They take flight in haste
Without looking back;
Terror is on every side!”
Says the Lord.

Do not let the swift man run,
Nor the mighty man escape;
In the north by the river Euphrates
They have stumbled and fallen.

Go up, you horses, and drive madly, you chariots,
That the mighty men may march forward:
Ethiopia and Put, that handle the shield,
And the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.

“Why have your mighty ones become prostrate?
They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them down.

“The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like [the rustling of] an escaping serpent,
For her foes advance with a mighty army
And come against her like woodcutters with axes.

From the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his mighty ones, From the rushing of his chariot, the noise of his wheels, Fathers have not turned unto sons, From feebleness of hands,

How can you men of Moab say, 'We are heroes, men who are mighty in battle?'

“Show sympathy for him, all you [nations] who are around him,
And all you [distant nations] who know his name;
Say, ‘How has the mighty scepter [of national power] been broken,
And the splendid staff [of glory]!’

Moab's might will be crushed. Its power will be broken. I, the Lord, affirm it!

“Kerioth [and the cities] has been taken
And the strongholds seized;
And the hearts of the warriors of Moab in that day
Shall be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

Behold, He will mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread His wings against [the city of] Bozrah; and in that day the heart of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

The Lord who rules over all said, "I will kill all the archers of Elam, who are the chief source of her military might.

For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed.