This message from the LORD came to him during the thirteenth year of the reign of Ammon's son Josiah, the king of Judah,

and during the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and continued until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month, at the end of the eleventh year of the reign of Josiah's son Zedekiah, the king of Judah.

"I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me before you were born; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."

The LORD stretched out his hand, touched my mouth, and then told me, "Look, I've put my words in your mouth.

"As for you, get ready! Stand up and tell them everything that I've commanded you. Don't be frightened as you face them, or I'll frighten you right in front of them.

"Go and announce to Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: "I remember the loyal devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. You followed me in the desert, in a land that was not planted.

This is what the LORD says: "What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless?

"They didn't ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don't pass through, and where no one lives?'

"The priests didn't say, "Where is the LORD?' and those handling the Law didn't know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.

"Therefore I'll again accuse you," declares the LORD, "and I'll accuse your grandchildren."

"Is Israel a slave, or was he born a servant? Why then has he become plunder?

Young lions roar at him, they cry out loudly. They have made his land into a wasteland, and his cities are destroyed so they are without inhabitants.

Also, people from Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skull.

You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way?

Now, what are you doing on the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? And what are you doing on the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it's evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you," declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

"For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, But you said, "I won't serve you!' Instead, on every high hill and under every green tree, you bend down to commit fornication.

Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me," declares the Lord GOD.

"How can you say, "I'm not defiled. I haven't gone after the Baals.'? Look at what you've done in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly;

"Don't run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you say, "It's hopeless! Because I love foreign gods, I'll go after them!'"

who say to a tree, "You are my father,' and to a stone, "You gave birth to me.' They have turned their back to me, but not their faces. In the time of their trouble, they'll say, "Rise up! Deliver us!'"

"But where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rise up, if they can deliver you in the time of your trouble. You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

"I've punished your children with no results, they have accepted no discipline. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion."

"You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, "We're free to roam? We won't come to you anymore.'

Will a young woman forget her wedding ornaments, or a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number.

How well you perfect your techniques for seeking love. Therefore you can teach even the most immoral women your techniques.

On your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, even though you didn't catch them breaking in. Yet despite all these things,

Why do you go about changing your mind so much? You will also be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were disappointed by Assyria.

You will also go out from this place with your hands over your heads. For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won't prosper through them."

"Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? You have sat beside the road, waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. And you have polluted the land with your fornication and your wickedness.

This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot's look and you refuse to be ashamed.

Have you not just called out to me, "My father, you are the friend of my youth

"Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree. But you haven't obeyed me,' declares the LORD.

"Return, unfaithful people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I'll take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I'll bring you to Zion.

"And in those days when you increase in numbers and multiply in the land," declares the LORD, "people will no longer say, "The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD,' and it won't come to mind, and they won't remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again.

In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they'll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance."

"Turn back, unfaithful people, and I'll heal your unfaithfulness." "Look, we're coming to you because you are the LORD our God.

Truly the hills are a deception, and the mountains are confusion. Truly, in the LORD our God is Israel's salvation."

Since our youth the false gods have consumed the products of our ancestors' hard work, their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.

"Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us, because both we and our ancestors have sinned against the LORD our God from our youth until this present time. We haven't obeyed the LORD our God."

"Israel, if you return to me," declares the LORD, "Return to me, remove your detestable idols from my presence, and don't waver.

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, "Break up your unplowed ground, and don't sow among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskin of your heart, you men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of your evil deeds."

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, and without inhabitants.

At that time, it will be told this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert is coming toward my people, and it's not for winnowing or cleansing.

Look, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots are like a whirlwind. His horses are as swift as eagles. Woe to us we're destroyed!

Jerusalem, wash your evil from your heart so that you may be delivered. How long will you harbor evil schemes within you?

"Tell the nations, "Here they come!' Proclaim to Jerusalem, "The besieging forces are coming from a distant land. They cry out against the cities of Judah.

"Your lifestyles and your actions have brought these things on you. This is your calamity it is indeed bitter, for it has reached your heart!"

"My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the aching of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent. For I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm for war.

"For my people are foolish, they don't know me. They're stupid children, they have no understanding. They're skilled at doing evil, but how to do good, they don't know."

I looked at the mountains; they were quaking, and all the hills moved back and forth.

I looked, and no people were there. All the birds of the sky had gone.

I looked, and the fruitful land had become a desert. All its towns were broken down because of the LORD, because of his burning anger.

You are ruined! What are you doing dressing in scarlet, putting on golden ornaments, and highlighting your eyes with makeup? You are making yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers reject you they're out to kill you.

I heard a cry like that of a woman in labor, anguish like one giving birth to her firstborn, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for air, stretching out her hand: "Woe is me! I'm about to faint in front of killers!"

Although they say, "As surely as the LORD lives,' still they are swearing falsely."

LORD, don't your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they didn't flinch. You brought them to an end, but they refused to receive discipline. They made their faces harder than stone, and they refused to repent.

Then I said, "These are only the poor, they're foolish, for they don't know the LORD's way, the requirement of their God.

Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will devastate them. A leopard is watching their towns, and everyone who goes out of them will be torn to pieces. For their transgressions are many, and their apostasies numerous.

Why should I forgive you? Your sons have forsaken me, and you have sworn by those who aren't gods. When I gave them enough food to satisfy them, they committed adultery and marched to the prostitute's house.

They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each one neighing after his neighbor's wife.

The prophets are nothing but wind, and the word is not in them. So may the disaster happen to them!'"

Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says: "Because you people have said this, my words in your mouth will become a fire and these people the wood. The fire will destroy them.

Their quiver is like an open grave, and all of them are powerful warriors.

"They'll devour your harvest and your food. They'll devour your sons and your daughters. They'll devour your vines and your fig trees. With their swords they'll batter down your fortified cities in which you trust.

When the people ask, "Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you are to say to them, "Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'"

They don't say to themselves, "Let's fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn and the spring rain. He sets aside for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back from you what is good.

"Evil men are found among my people. They lie in wait like someone who traps birds. They set a trap, but they do so to catch people.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are filled with treachery. This is how they have become prominent and rich,

"Flee to safety, you people of Benjamin, leave Jerusalem. Sound the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem! For calamity and terrible destruction are turning toward you from the north.

Prepare for war against her. Get ready, let's attack at noon! How terrible for us that the day is coming to an end, and that the evening shadows are lengthening.

As a well keeps its waters fresh, so the city keeps her wickedness fresh. Violence and destruction are heard in her, sickness and wounds are always before me.

Be warned, Jerusalem, or I'll be alienated from you. I'll make you desolate, a land not inhabited."

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as they would the vine. Pass your hand over them like grape gatherers over the branches.

To whom will I speak and give a warning so they'll listen? Look, their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. Look, this message from the LORD is contemptible to them; they don't delight in it.

Were they ashamed because they did what was repugnant to God? They were not ashamed at all they don't even know how to blush! Therefore they'll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they'll be brought down," says the LORD.

This is what the LORD says: "Stand beside the roads and watch. Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it and find rest for yourselves. But they said, "We won't walk in it!'

What good is frankincense that comes from Sheba to me, or sweet cane from a distant country? Your burnt offerings aren't acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me."

This is what the LORD says: "Look, people are coming from a northern country. A great nation is stirring from the ends of the earth.

We have heard the news about it, and our hands are limp. Distress has seized us like a woman in labor.

All of them are very rebellious, going around as slanderers. They're bronze and iron, and all of them are corrupt.

"Change your ways and your deeds, and I'll let you live in this place. Don't trust deceptive words like these, and say, "The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,'

but rather, truly change your ways and your deeds. If you truly practice justice between each person and his neighbor,

and if you don't oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don't shed an innocent person's blood in this place, and if you don't follow other gods to your own harm,

then I'll let you dwell in this land, the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.

and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, "We're delivered' so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God?

Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I'm watching," declares the LORD.

"Go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I first caused my name to dwell. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

I'll cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

"As for you, don't pray on behalf of this people, don't cry or offer a petition for them, and don't plead with me, for I won't listen to you.

Are they provoking me?" asks the LORD. "Is it not themselves, and to their own shame?"

"Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. Indeed, when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn't speak or command them about burnt offering and sacrifice,

but I did give them this command: "Obey me and I'll be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you so it will go well for you.'

From the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this present time, I've sent all my servants, the prophets, to you, again and again.

"Cut off your hair and throw it away; let your lamentations rise on the barren heights, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that is subject to his wrath.

"Therefore, the time is near," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They'll bury in Topheth because there is no other place to do it.

"In all the places where the people remain, where I've banished them, death will be chosen over life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.