And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Do not say, I am a youth, for to all to whom I send thee thou goest, and all that I command thee thou speakest.

And Jehovah putteth forth His hand, and striketh against my mouth, and Jehovah saith unto me, 'Lo, I have put my words in thy mouth.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'What art thou seeing, Jeremiah?' And I say, 'A rod of an almond tree I am seeing.'

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Thou hast well seen: for I am watching over My word to do it.'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me a second time, saying, 'What art thou seeing?' And I say, 'A blown pot I am seeing, and its face is from the north.'

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'From the north is the evil loosed against all inhabitants of the land.

And I have spoken My judgments with them concerning all their evil, in that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, and bow themselves to the works of their own hands.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

'Go, and thou hast called in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus said Jehovah: I have remembered for thee The kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, Thy going after Me in a wilderness, in a land not sown.

Thus said Jehovah: What -- have your fathers found in Me perversity, That they have gone far off from Me, And go after the vanity, and become vain,

Yea, I bring you in to a land of fruitful fields, To eat its fruit and its goodness, And ye come in and defile My land, And Mine inheritance have made an abomination.

The priests have not said, 'Where is Jehovah?' And those handling the law have not known Me. And the shepherds transgressed against Me, And the prophets have prophesied by Baal, And after those who profit not have gone.

Hath a nation changed gods? (And they are no gods!) And My people hath changed its honour For that which doth not profit.

For two evils hath My people done, Me they have forsaken, a fountain of living waters, To hew out for themselves wells -- broken wells, That contain not the waters.

Instruct thee doth thy wickedness, And thy backslidings reprove thee, Know and see that an evil and a bitter thing Is thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, And My fear not being on thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.

And I planted thee a choice vine, wholly a true seed, And how hast thou been turned to Me, To the degenerate shoots of a strange vine?

But though thou dost wash with nitre, And dost multiply to thyself soap, Marked is thine iniquity before Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

Saying to wood, 'My father art thou!' And to a stone, 'Thou hast brought me forth,' For they turned unto me the back and not the face, And in the time of their vexation, They say, 'Arise Thou, and save us.'

And where are thy gods, that thou hast made to thyself? Let them arise, if they may save thee, In the time of thy vexation, For -- the number of thy cities have been thy gods, O Judah,

Why do ye strive with Me? All of you have transgressed against Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah: A wilderness have I been to Israel? A land of thick darkness? Wherefore have My people said, 'We mourned, We come not in again unto Thee.'

Doth a virgin forget her ornaments? A bride her bands? And My people have forgotten Me days without number.

And thou sayest, 'Because I have been innocent, Surely turned back hath His anger from me?' Lo, I have been judged with thee, Because of thy saying, 'I have not sinned.'

Saying, 'Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah.

Hast thou not henceforth called to Me, 'My father, Thou art the leader of my youth?

And Jehovah saith unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, 'Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is going on every high mountain, and unto the place of every green tree, and committeth fornication there.

And I say, after her doing all these, Unto Me thou dost turn back, and she hath not turned back, and see it doth her treacherous sister Judah.

And even in all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned back unto Me with all her heart, but with falsehood, an affirmation of Jehovah.'

And Jehovah saith unto me: 'Justified herself hath backsliding Israel, More than treacherous Judah.

Only, know thine iniquity, For against Jehovah thy God thou hast transgressed, And thou dost scatter thy ways to strangers, Under every green tree, And to My voice thou hast not hearkened, An affirmation of Jehovah.

And I have said, How do I put thee among the sons, And give to thee a desirable land, A beauteous inheritance of the hosts of nations, And I say, My father -- ye do call to Me, And from after Me ye do not turn back.

But -- a woman hath deceived her friend, So ye have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah.

If thou dost turn back, O Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, unto Me turn back, And if thou dost turn aside Thine abominations from My face, Then thou dost not bemoan.

Be circumcised to Jehovah, And turn aside the foreskins of your heart, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury go out as fire, and hath burned, And there is none quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.

At that time it is said of this people, And of Jerusalem: 'A dry wind of high places in the wilderness,' The way of the daughter of My people, (Not for winnowing, nor for cleansing,)

A full wind from these doth come for Me, Now, also, I speak judgments with them.

As the keepers of a field They have been against her round about, For with Me she hath been rebellious, An affirmation of Jehovah.'

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul -- a shout of battle!

Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, For spoiled hath been all the land, Suddenly spoiled have been my tents, In a moment -- my curtains.

For my people are foolish, me they have not known, Foolish sons are they, yea, they are not intelligent, Wise are they to do evil, And to do good they have not known.

For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, 'Woe to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'

I get me to the great, and I speak with them, For they have known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.' Surely they together have broken the yoke, They have drawn away the bands.

For this I am not propitious to thee, Thy sons have forsaken Me, And are satisfied by that which is not god, I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, And at the house of a harlot They gather themselves together.

For these do I not lay a charge? An affirmation of Jehovah, And on a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

For dealt treacherously against Me have the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, Because of your speaking this word, Lo, I am making My words in thy mouth become fire, And this people wood, and it hath devoured them.

And it hath come to pass, when ye say, 'For what hath Jehovah our God done to us all these?' That thou hast said unto them, 'As ye have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So do ye serve strangers in a land not yours.

Me do ye not fear, an affirmation of Jehovah? From My presence are ye not pained? Who hath made sand the border of the sea, A limit age-during, and it passeth not over it, They shake themselves, and they are not able, Yea, sounded have its billows, and they pass not over.

For the wicked have been found among My people. It looketh about the covering of snares, They have set up a trap -- men they capture.

For these do not I inspect, an affirmation of Jehovah, On a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved it so, And what do they at its latter end?

As the digging of a well, is for its waters, So she hath digged for her wickedness, Violence and spoil is heard in her, Before My face continually are sickness and smiting.

Be instructed, O Jerusalem, Lest My soul be alienated from thee, Lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

And their houses have been turned to others, Fields and wives together, For I stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah.

And they heal the breach of the daughter of my people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' and there is no peace.

Hear, O earth, lo, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their devices, For to My words they gave no attention, And My law -- they kick against it.

Why is this to Me? frankincense from Sheba cometh, And the sweet cane from a land afar off, Your burnt-offerings are not for acceptance, And your sacrifices have not been sweet to Me.

O daughter of My people, Gird on sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes, The mourning of an only one make for thee, A lamentation most bitter, For suddenly come doth the spoiler against us.

A watch-tower I have given thee, Among My people a fortress, And thou knowest, and hast tried their way.

And ye have come in and stood before Me, In this house on which My name is called, And have said, 'We have been delivered,' In order to do all these abominations.

A den of burglars hath this house, On which My name is called, been in your eyes? Even I, lo, I have seen, an affirmation of Jehovah.

But go ye, I pray you, Unto My place that is in Shiloh, Where I caused My name to dwell at first, And see that which I have done to it, For the wickedness of My people Israel.

I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh.

And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.

And thou dost not pray for this people, Nor lift up for them crying and prayer, Nor intercede with Me, for I hear thee not.

The sons are gathering wood, And the fathers are causing the fire to burn, And the women are kneading dough, To make cakes to the queen of the heavens, And to pour out libations to other gods, So as to provoke Me to anger.

Me are they provoking to anger? an affirmation of Jehovah, Is it not themselves, For the shame of their own faces?

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah, Lo, Mine anger and My fury is poured out on this place, On man, and beast, and on tree of the field, And on fruit of the ground, And it hath burned, and it is not quenched.

For I did not speak with your fathers, Nor did I command them in the day of My bringing them out of the land of Egypt, Concerning the matters of burnt-offering and sacrifice,

But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to My voice, And I have been to you for God, And ye -- ye are to Me for a people, And have walked in all the way that I command you, So that it is well for you.

Even from the day when your fathers Went out of the land of Egypt till this day, I send to you all my servants the prophets, Daily rising early and sending,

And they have not hearkened unto Me, Nor inclined their ear, and harden their neck, They have done evil above their fathers.

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,

And have built the high places of Tophet, That are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters with fire, Which I did not command, Nor did it come up on My heart.

Even a stork in the heavens hath known her seasons, And turtle, and swallow, and crane, Have watched the time of their coming, And -- My people have not known the judgment of Jehovah.

And they heal the breach of the daughter of my people slightly, Saying, Peace, peace! and there is no peace.

My refreshing for me is sorrow, For me my heart is sick.

Lo, the voice of a cry of the daughter of my people from a land afar off, Is Jehovah not in Zion? is her king not in her? Wherefore have they provoked Me with their graven images, With the vanities of a foreigner?

For a breach of the daughter of my people have I been broken, I have been black, astonishment hath seized me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? For wherefore hath not the health of the daughter of my people gone up?

Who doth make my head waters, And mine eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people.

Who doth give me in a wilderness A lodging-place of travellers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones.

And they bend their tongue, their bow is a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah!

thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am refining them, and have tried them, For how do I do because of the daughter of My people?

For these things do not I see after them? An affirmation of Jehovah, Against a nation such as this doth not My soul avenge itself?

And Jehovah saith: Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, And they have not hearkened to My voice nor walked in it,

But -- in this let the boaster boast himself, In understanding and knowing Me, For I am Jehovah, doing kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, For in these I have delighted, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Woe to me for my breaking, Grievious hath been my smiting, And I said, Only, this is my sickness, and I bear it.

My tent hath been spoiled, And all my cords have been broken, My sons have gone out from me, and they are not, There is none stretching out any more my tent, And raising up my curtains.

Chastise me, O Jehovah, only in judgment, Not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me small.

That I commanded your fathers, In the day of My bringing them out from the land of Egypt, Out of the iron furnace, saying, Hearken to My voice, and ye have done them, According to all that I command you, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God,

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant, And ye have done them.

For I certainly testified against your fathers, In the day of My bringing them up out of the land of Egypt -- till this day, Rising early and testifying, saying, Hearken to My voice,

And Jehovah saith unto me: 'A conspiracy is found in the men of Judah, And in the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their first fathers, Who refused to hear My words, And they have gone after other gods to serve them, The house of Israel, and the house of Judah, Have made void My covenant, that I made with their fathers.

Therefore thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto them evil, That they are not able to go out from, And they have cried unto Me, And I do not hearken unto them.

And thou, thou dost not pray for this people, Nor dost thou lift up for them cry and prayer, For I do not hearken in the time of their calling unto Me for their vexation.

What -- to My beloved in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And the holy flesh do pass over from thee? When thou dost evil, then thou exultest.