For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot.

I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of LORD, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

And they bend their tongue--their bow--for falsehood, and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says LORD.

If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.

Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not gi

Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

The word which came to Jeremiah from LORD, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,

For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house I have found their wickedness, says LORD.

Behold, the tempest of LORD, wrath, has gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest. It shall burst upon the head of the wicked.

And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of LORD? Then thou shall say to them, What burden! I will cast you off, says LORD.

And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.

Thus speaks LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou have sent letters in thine own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

LORD has made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of LORD, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that thou should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

(And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.)

And it shall come to pass in that day, says LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds. And strangers shall no more make him their bondman,

And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them. And I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me. For who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says LORD.

Behold, the tempest of LORD--wrath--has gone forth, a sweeping tempest. It shall burst upon the head of the wicked.

And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to LORD our God for us.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.