And the LORD answered me thus, "Say not so, 'I am too young': For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee unto, and whatsoever I command thee, that shalt thou speak.

Be not afraid of their faces, for I will be with thee, to deliver thee, sayeth the LORD."

And therefore gird up thy loins, arise, and tell them all that I give thee in commandment. Fear them not; I will not have thee to be afraid of them.

They shall fight against thee, but they shall not be able to overcome thee: for I am with thee, to deliver thee, sayeth the LORD."

They thought not in their hearts, 'Where have we left the LORD, that brought us out of the land of Egypt? That led us through the wilderness; through a desert and rough land; through a dry and deadly land; yea a land that no man had gone through, and wherein no man had dwelt?'

The priests themselves said not once, 'Where is the LORD?' They that have the law in their hands, know me not: The shepherds offend against me. The Prophets do service unto Baal, and follow such things as shall bring them no profit.

whether the Gentiles themselves deal so falsely and untruly with their gods - which yet are no gods indeed! But my people hath given over their high honour, for a thing that may not help them.

Cometh not this unto thee, because thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, ever since he led thee by the way?

Thine own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy turning away shall condemn thee: that thou mayest know and understand, how evil and hurtful a thing it is, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and not feared him, sayeth the LORD God of Hosts.

Say not now, 'I am not unclean, and I have not followed Baal.' Look upon thy own ways in the woods, valleys and dens: so shalt thou know, what thou hast done. Thou art like a swift Dromedary that goeth easily his way:

and thy wantonness is like a wild Ass, that useth the wilderness, and that snuffeth and bloweth at his will. Who can tame thee? All they that seek thee, shall not fail, but find thee in thy own uncleanness.

For they say to a stock, 'Thou art my father,' and to a stone, 'Thou hast begotten me.' Yea, they have turned their back upon me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble, when they say, 'Stand up and help us!'

I shall answer them: Where are now thy gods, that thou hast made thee? Bid them stand up, and help thee in the time of need! For look how many cities thou hast, O Judah: so many gods hast thou also.

It is but lost labour, that I smite your children, for they receive not my correction. Your own sword destroyeth your prophets, like a devouring lion.

Upon thy wings is found the blood of poor and innocent people; and that not in corners and holes only, but openly in all these places.

Yet darest thou say, 'I am guiltless: Tush, his wrath cannot come upon me.' Behold, I will reason with thee because thou darest say, 'I have not offended.'

Yea, thou shalt go thy way from them, and smite thine hands together upon thy head. Because the LORD shall bring that confidence and hope of thine to naught, and thou shalt not prosper withal."

Commonly, when a man putteth away his wife, and she goeth from him, and marrieth with another, then the question is: should he resort unto her any more after that? Is not this field then defiled and unclean? But as for thee, thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet turn again to me, sayeth the LORD.

Lift up thine eyes on every side, and look, if thou be not defiled. Thou hast waited for them in the streets, and as a murderer in the wilderness. through thy whoredoms and shameful blasphemies, is the land defiled.

This is the cause that the rain and evening dew hath ceased. Thou hast gotten thee a whore's forehead, and canst not be ashamed.

Hast thou seen also, when she had done all this, how I said unto her that she should turn again unto me, and yet she is not returned? Judah, that unfaithful sister of hers also saw this:

Namely, that after I had well seen the adultery of the shrinking harlot Israel, I put her away, and gave her a bill of divorcement. For all this, her unfaithful sister Judah was not ashamed, but went back and played the whore also.

Nevertheless, her unfaithful sister Judah is not turned unto me again with her whole heart, but feignedly, sayeth the LORD."

and therefore go preach these words toward the north, and say, 'Thou shrinking Israel, turn again, sayeth the LORD; and I will not turn my face from you, for I am merciful, sayeth the LORD. And I will not always bear displeasure against thee:

"'I have showed also, how I took thee up being but a child, and gave thee a pleasant land for thine heritage; yea, and a goodly Host of the Heathen: and how I commanded thee, that thou shouldest call me Father only, and not to shrink from me.

So do we also sleep in our confusion, and shame covereth us: for we and our fathers from our youth up unto this day have sinned against the LORD our God, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

O Israel, if thou wilt turn thee, then turn unto me, sayeth the LORD. And if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, thou shalt not be moved:

For thus sayeth the LORD, to all Judah and Jerusalem, "Plow your land, and sow not among the thorns.

Be circumcised in the LORD, and cut away the foreskins of your heart, all ye of Judah, and all the indwellers of Jerusalem: that my indignation break not out like fire, and kindle so that no man may quench it, because of the wickedness of your imaginations."

Wherefore gird yourselves about with sackcloth, mourn, and weep, for the fearful wrath of the LORD shall not be withdrawn from you."

For thus hath the LORD said, "The whole land shall be desolate, yet will I not then have done.

And therefore let the earth mourn, and let the heaven be sorry above: for the things that I have purposed and taken upon me to do, shall not repent me, and I will not go from it."

Where as thou, O LORD, lookest only upon faith and truth. Thou hast scourged them, but they took no repentance: thou hast corrected them for amendment, but they refused thy correction. They made their faces harder than stone, and would not amend.

Should I not correct this, sayeth the LORD? Should I not be avenged of every people, that is like unto this?

"Climb up upon their walls, beat them down, but destroy them not utterly: cut off their branches because they are not the LORD's.

They have denied the LORD, and said, 'It is not he. Tush, there shall no misfortune come upon us; we shall see neither sword nor hunger.'

As for the warning of the Prophets, it is but wind; yea, there is not the word of God in them: such things shall happen unto themselves."

Lo, I will bring a people upon you from far, O house of Israel, sayeth the LORD; a mighty people, an old people, a people whose speech thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

Nevertheless, I will not then have done with you, sayeth the LORD.

"Hear this, thou foolish and indiscreet people: ye have eyes, but ye see not; ears have ye, but ye hear not.

Fear ye not me, sayeth the LORD? Are ye not ashamed, to look me in the face? Which bind the sea with the sand, so that it cannot pass his bounds: for though it rage, yet can it do nothing; and though the waves thereof do swell, yet may they not go over.

They think not in their hearts, 'O let us fear the LORD our God, that giveth us rain, early and late, when need is: which keepeth ever still the harvest for us yearly.'

And like as a net is full of birds, so are their houses full of that which they have gotten with falsity and deceit. Hereof cometh their great substance and riches,

hereof are they fat and wealthy, and are run away from me with shameful blasphemies. They minister not the law, they make no end of the fatherless cause, they judge not the poor according to equity.

Should I not punish these things, sayeth the LORD? Should I not be avenged of all such people as these be?"

"Make battle against her!" shall they say. "Arise, let us go up, while it is yet day!" "Alas, the day goeth away, and the night shadows fall down!"

"Arise, let us go up by night, and destroy her strongholds!"

But unto whom shall I speak, whom shall I warn, that he may take heed? Their ears are so uncircumcised, that they may not hear. Behold, they take the word of God but for a scorn, and have no lust thereto.

Thus sayeth the LORD, "Go into the streets, consider and make inquisition for the old way: and if it be the good and right way, then go therein, that ye may find rest for your souls. But they say, 'We will not walk therein.'

And I will set watchmen over you, and therefore take heed unto the voice of the trumpet. But they say, 'We will not take heed.'

Hear thou earth also: behold, I will cause a plague come upon this people, even the fruit of their own imaginations. For they have not been obedient unto my words and to my law, but abhorred them.

Wherefore bring ye me incense from Sheba, and sweet smelling Calamus from far countries? Your burnt offerings displease me, and I rejoice not in your sacrifices.

The bellows are burnt in the fire, the lead is consumed, the melter melteth in vain, for the evil is not taken away from them.

Trust not in false lying words, saying, 'Here is the temple of the LORD, here is the temple of the LORD, here is the temple of the LORD.'

If ye will not oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow; if ye will not shed innocent blood in this place; if ye will not cleave to strange gods to your own destruction;

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.

And now, though ye have done all these deeds, sayeth the LORD, and I myself rose up ever betimes to warn you and to commune with you, yet would ye not hear me: I called, ye would not answer.

"Therefore thou shalt not pray for this people; thou shalt neither give thanks, nor bid prayer for them: thou shalt make no intercession to me for them for in no wise will I hear thee.

Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and without Jerusalem?

The children gather sticks, the fathers kindle the fire, the mothers knead the dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. They pour out drink offerings unto strange gods, to provoke me unto wrath.

Howbeit, they hurt not me," sayeth the LORD, "but rather confound, and shame themselves."

But they were not obedient. They inclined not their ears thereunto, but went after their own imaginations and after the motions of their own wicked heart: and so turned themselves away, and converted not unto me.

yet would they not hearken, nor offer me their ears; but were obstinate and worse than their fathers.

"And thou shalt now speak all these words unto them, but they shall not hear thee: thou shalt cry upon them, but they shall not answer thee.

"This shalt thou say unto them also: Thus sayeth the LORD, Do men fall also, that they arise not up again? And turn they so far away, that they never convert?

Wherefore then is this people and Jerusalem gone so far back, that they turn not again? They are ever the longer, the more obstinate, and will not be converted.

The Stork knoweth her appointed time; the Turtledove, the Swallow and the Crane consider the time of their travail: but my people will not know the time of the punishment of the LORD.

Fie! For shame! How abominable things do they? And yet they be not ashamed; yea, they know of no shame. Wherefore in the time of their visitation, they shall fall among the dead bodies, sayeth the LORD.

Moreover, I will gather them in, sayeth the LORD, so that there shall not be one grape upon the vine, neither one fig upon the fig tree, and the leaves shall be plucked off. And the thing that I have given to them shall be taken from them."

We looked for peace, and we fair not the better; we waited for the time of health, and lo, here is nothing but trouble.

Moreover, I will send Cockatrices and serpents among you which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you," sayeth the LORD.

for lo, the voice of the crying of my people is heard from a far country: "Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not the king in her?" "Wherefore then have they grieved me," shall the LORD say, "with their images and foolish strange fashions?"

The harvest is gone, the Summer hath an end, and we are not helped.

O Who will give my head water enough, and a well of tears for mine eyes, that I may weep night and day for the slaughter of my people?

They have set their stole in the midst of deceit, and for very dissembling falsity they will not know me, sayeth the LORD.

Should I not punish them for these things, sayeth the LORD? Or should I not be avenged of any such people as this?

"Upon the mountains will I take up a lamentation and sorrowful cry, and a mourning upon the fair plains of the wilderness: Namely, how they are so burnt up, that no man goeth there any more. Yea, a man shall not hear one beast cry there. Birds and cattle are all gone from thence.

Yea the LORD himself told the same unto them, that forsook his law, and kept not the thing that he gave them in commandment, neither lived thereafter:

Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD, "Let not the wise man rejoice in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength; neither the rich man in his riches.

Thus sayeth the LORD, "Ye shall not learn after the manner of the Heathen, and ye shall not be afraid for the tokens of heaven: for the Heathen are afraid of such.

they cover it over with gold or silver; they fasten it with nails and hammers, that it move not.

It standeth as stiff as the palm tree, it can neither speak nor go, but must be borne. Be not ye afraid of such, for they can do neither good nor evil."

Who would not fear thee? Or what King of the Gentiles would not obey thee? For among all the wise men of the Gentiles, and in all their kingdoms, there is none that may be likened unto thee.

But the LORD is a true God, a living God, and an everlasting king. If he be wroth, the earth shaketh: all the Gentiles may not abide his indignation.

Nevertheless, Jacob's portion is not such: but it is he that hath made all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of Hosts is his name.

For the herdsmen have done foolishly, that they have not sought the LORD. Therefore have they dealt unwisely with their cattle, and all are scattered abroad.

Now I know, O LORD, that it is not in man's power to order his own ways, or to rule his own steps and goings.

Therefore chasten thou us, O LORD; but with favour, and not in thy wrath. Bring us not utterly to naught.

Pour out thine indignation rather upon the Gentiles, that know thee not, and upon the people that call not on thy name: And that because they have consumed, devoured and destroyed Jacob, and have rooted out his glory.

And say thou unto them, Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: Cursed be every one that is not obedient unto the words of this covenant

Nevertheless, they would not obey me, nor inclined their ears unto me, but followed the wicked imaginations of their own hearts. And therefore have I accused them as transgressors of all the words of this covenant, that I gave them to keep, which they, not with understanding, have not kept."

"Therefore thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, I will send a plague among you, which ye shall not be able to escape: and though ye cry unto me, I will not hear you.

Then shall the towns of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem go, and call upon their gods, unto whom they made their oblations: but they are not able to help them in time of their trouble.

But pray not thou for this people; bid neither praise nor prayer for them. For though they cry unto me in their trouble, yet will I not hear them.

But I, as a meek lamb, was carried away to be slain: not knowing, that they had devised such a counsel against me saying, "We will destroy his meat with wood, and drive him out of the land of the living: that his name shall never be thought upon."

The LORD therefore spake thus of the citizens of Anathoth, that sought to slay me, saying, "Preach not unto us in the name of the LORD, or else thou shalt die of our hands."

Thou plantest them, they take root, they grow, and bring forth fruit. They boast much of thee, yet doest thou not punish them.

How long shall the land mourn, and all the herbs of the field perish, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The cattle and the birds are gone, yet say they, "Tush, God will not destroy us utterly."

For thy brethren and thy kindred have altogether despised thee, and cried out upon thee in thine absence. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.

But if they will not obey, then will I root out the same folk, and destroy them, sayeth the LORD."