These are the Sermons of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah the Priest, one of them that dwelt at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

"For from the smallest of them to the greatest of them, {everyone} makes profit for unlawful gain. And from the prophet to the priest, {everyone} practices deceit.

Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from [the] smallest to [the] greatest, all of them make profit [for] unlawful gain, from prophet to priest, all of them practice deceit.

If I go out [into] the field, then look, those slain by [the] sword. And if I enter the city, then look, the sickness of [the] famine. For both prophet and priest wander around through the land, {they do not know what is going on}.'"

Then they said, "Come and let us plan plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not be lost from [the] priest, nor advice from [the] wise man, nor [the] word from [the] prophet. Come and {let us bring charges against him}, and let us not listen attentively to any of his words."

Now Pashhur, the son of Immer, the priest [who was] officer in charge in the temple of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, {saying},

"For both prophet as well as priest are godless, even in my temple I have found their wickedness," {declares} Yahweh.

"Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, {saying}, 'What [is] the burden of Yahweh?' then you shall say to them, '{You are the burden}, and I will forsake you,'" {declares} Yahweh.

"And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, 'The burden of Yahweh,' I will punish that man and his house.

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, {saying}, 'Because you yourself sent letter in your name to all the people who [are] in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, {saying},

"Yahweh made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there are overseers [in] the house of Yahweh over any mad man [who] exhibits the behavior of a prophet, and you must put him into the stocks and into the neck iron,

And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the {hearing} of Jeremiah the prophet.

And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, {saying}, "Please pray for us to Yahweh our God."

We are perplexed and ashamed, for we have heard reproach;
Disgrace has covered our faces,
For foreigners [from Babylon] have come
Into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those places forbidden to all but the appointed priest].

And the chief of the royal executioners, took away, Seraiah the first priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, - and the three keepers of the entrance-hall;