I replied, "Ah, LORD God! Look, I don't know how to speak, because I'm only a young man."

Then the LORD told me, "Don't say, "I'm only a young man,' for you will go everywhere I send you, and you will speak everything I command you.

For behold me calling to all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah; and they came, and gave a man his throne at the opening of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all her walls round about and upon all the cities of Judah.

And through them shall I declare my judgment, upon all the wickedness of those men that have forsaken me: that have offered unto strange gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

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.

Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that 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 no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.

Why do they roar and cry then upon him, as a lion? They have made his land waste, his cities are so burnt up, that there is no man dwelling in them.

The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have also broken your skull.

A wild ass accustomed to the desert in gratifying her soul, panting after the wind in her heat; who shall turn her back? all seeking her will not be wearied; in her new moon they shall find her.

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.

Only be conscious of your sin, the evil you have done against the Lord your God; you have gone with strange men under every branching tree, giving no attention to my voice, says the Lord.

And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Moreover, when ye be increased and multiplied in the land, then, sayeth the LORD, there shall no more boast be made of the ark of the LORD's Covenant: No man shall think upon it, neither shall any man make mention of it: for from thenceforth it shall neither be visited, nor honored with gifts.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Preach in Judah and Jerusalem, cry out and speak, "Blow the trumpets in the land, cry that every man may hear, and say, 'Gather you together, and we will go into strong cities.

A lion has gone up from his secret place in the woods, and one who makes waste the nations is on his way; he has gone out from his place, to make your land unpeopled, so that your towns will be made waste, with no man living in them.

They will surround Jerusalem like men guarding a field because they have rebelled against me," says the Lord.

I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

A voice has come to my ears like the voice of a woman in birth-pains, the pain of one giving birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, fighting for breath, stretching out her hands, saying, Now sorrow is mine! for my strength is gone from me before the takers of life.

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Lusty, well-fed horses, had they become, Every man unto his neighbours wife, would neigh!

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

And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours.

For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.

Amend thee, O Jerusalem, lest I withdraw my heart from thee, and make thee desolate: and thy land also, that no man dwell in it."

Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

Their houses with their lands and wives shall be turned unto strangers, when I stretch out mine hand upon the inhabiters of this land," sayeth the LORD.

For from the least of them even to the greatest, everyone is given up to getting money; from the prophet even to the priest, everyone is working deceit.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

No man go forth into the field, no man come upon the high street: for the sword and fear of the enemy shall be on every side!"

For they are all unfaithful and fallen away, they hang upon filthy lucre; they are clean brass and iron, for they hurt and destroyed every man.

Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves:

Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you;

What? Think you this house that beareth my name, is a den of thieves? And these things are not done privily, but before mine eyes, sayeth the LORD.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

For the sons of Judah Have done the evil thing in Mine eyes, An affirmation of Jehovah, They have set their abominations in the house On which My name is called -- to defile it,

Yea, the dead bodies of this people shall be eaten up of the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

And in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will put an end to the laughing voices, the voice of joy and the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride: for the land will become a waste.

And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.

How can you say, "We are wise! We have the law of the Lord"? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean.

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

Therefore, I will give their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

When I would have cheered myself against sorrow, Against me, mine own heart sickened: -

Oh that my head were waters, and mine 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 of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

Yea, one must keep himself from another; no man may safely trust his own brother. For one brother undermineth another, and one neighbour begileth another.

And they will mock, a man upon his neighbor, and they will not speak the truth: they taught their tongue to speak falsehood, they wearied themselves to sin.

Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaketh deceit. A man speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth his ambush.

For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.

And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.

Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity. For [a man] cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.

Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

“Woe to me because of my [spiritual] brokenness!” [says Jeremiah, speaking for the nation.]
“My wound is incurable.”
But I said, “Surely this sickness and suffering and grief are mine,
And I must bear it.”

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

Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,

But they gave no attention and did not give ear, but they went on, every man in the pride of his evil heart: so I sent on them all the curses in this agreement, which I gave them orders to keep, but they did not.

And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:

And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

How long must the land mourn
And the grass of the countryside wither?
Because of the wickedness and hypocrisy of those who live in it,
The beasts and the birds are consumed and are swept away [by the drought],
Because men [mocking me] have said, “He will not [live long enough to] see [what happens at] our final end.”

[The Lord rebukes Jeremiah for his impatience, saying] “If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out,
Then how can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace [where you feel secure],
Then how will you do [among the lions] in the [flooded] thicket beside the Jordan?

I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.

Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

and I will dash them every man against his brother even the fathers and the sons together, Declareth Yahweh, - I will not pity, Neither will I snare Neither will I have compassion that I should not destroy them.

But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.

The cities toward the south shall be shut up, and no man shall open them. All Judah shall be carried away captive, so that none shall remain.

To whom will thou make thy moan, when they come upon thee? For thou hast taught them thyself, and made them masters over thee. Shall not sorrow come upon thee, as on a woman travailing with child?

For like as the man of Ethiopia may change his skin, and the cat of the mountains her spots: so may ye that be exercised in evil, do good.

"Judah shall mourn, men shall not go much more through his gates: the land shall be no more had in reputation, and the cry of Jerusalem shall break out.

Their great men have sent their servants for water: they come to the holes and there is no water to be seen; they come back with nothing in their vessels; they are overcome with shame and fear, covering their heads.

For the land was broken, for there was no rain in the land; the husband-men were ashamed, they covered their head.

O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?

Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve."