And I say, 'Ah, Lord Jehovah! lo, I have not known -- to speak, for I am a youth.'

But Yahweh said to me, "You must not say, 'I [am] a youth,' for to {whomever} I send you, you will go, and {whatever} I command you, you will speak.

Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

And Jehovah will stretch forth his hand and touch upon my mouth: and Jehovah will say to me, Behold, I gave my words into 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 will say to me, Thou didst well to see; for I watch upon 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 will say to me, From the north shall evil be opened upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

So make yourself ready, and go and say to them everything I give you orders to say: do not be overcome by fear of them, or I will send fear on you before them.

And they shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.

"Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember [concerning] you the loyal love of your childhood, the love of your betrothal-time, your going after me in the desert, in [the] land not sown.

Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, says the LORD.

Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants of Jacob, all you family groups from the nation of Israel.

Thus says Yahweh: "What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?

And they did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land {that no one passes through}, and no human lives there?'

The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.

Therefore I will yet plead with you, says the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says the LORD.

Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

For from of old I broke thy yoke, I burst thy bonds; and thou wilt say, I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou turnest one side, committing fornication:

For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord GOD.

"How can you say, 'I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?' Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. [You are] a young she-camel, interweaving her ways.

Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;
I love strangers,
and I will continue to follow them.”

[Those who] say to the tree, 'You [are] my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth [to] me.' For they have turned [their] {backs} to me, and not [their] faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.'

Why will you plead with me? you all have transgressed against me, says the LORD.

O generation, you see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a desert to Israel? Or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, 'We roam about freely, we will not come again to you'?

yet you say, 'But I am innocent, surely his anger has turned away from me.' Look, I [am] entering into judgment with you because of your saying, 'I have not sinned.'

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.

Even now you say to me, 'You are my father! You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever, will you?' That is what you say, but you continually do all the evil that you can."

And Jehovah will say to me in the days of Josiah the king, Sawest thou what Israel turning back, did? She went up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and she will commit 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 yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned unto me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the LORD.

And Jehovah will say to me, Israel turning away justified her soul above faithless Judah.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, apostate Israel,' {declares} Yahweh. 'I will not cause my {anger} to fall on you. For I [am] loyal,' {declares} Yahweh. 'I will not be angry {forever}.

Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.

Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days," {declares} Yahweh, "they will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.' And {it will not come to mind}, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss [it], nor will it be made again.

But I said, How am I to put you among the children, and give you a desired land, a heritage of glory among the armies of the nations? and I said, You are to say to me, My father; and not be turned away from me.

Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.

Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness. Say, 'Here we are. We come to you because you are the Lord our God.

If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return unto me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not be moved.

For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up for yourselves prepared virgin soil, and you must not sow among thornbushes.

Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say, "Blow a horn through the land, {call with a loud voice} and say, 'Be gathered and let us go into the fortified cities.'

And it shall come to pass at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

And I say, 'Ah, Lord Jehovah, Surely thou hast entirely forgotten this people and Jerusalem, saying, Peace is for you, And struck hath a sword unto the soul!'

Like keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.

“For My people are stupid and foolish,” [says the Lord to Jeremiah];
“They do not know Me;
They are foolish children
And have no understanding.
They are shrewd [enough] to do evil,
But they do not know [how] to do good.”

For thus says Yahweh, "All of the land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete desolation.

And though they say, '{As Yahweh lives},' {therefore} they swear falsely."

Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.

They have denied Jehovah, and say, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine;

The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The Lord has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.'"

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word, look, I [am] making my words in your mouth like a fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

{And then}, when you [people] say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all of these [things] to us?' Then you will say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in {a land that does not belong to you}.'

Say this openly in Jacob and give it out in Judah, saying,

Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

And they do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear please Yahweh our God, the [one who] gives [the] autumn rain and [the] spring rain in its season, {the set times of the harvest} he keeps for us.'

Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

They will say, 'Prepare to do battle against it! Come on! Let's attack it at noon!' But later they will say, 'Oh, oh! Too bad! The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This [is] the city that must be punished, its oppression [is] in its midst.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back your hand over [the] branches like a grape-gatherer.

I answered, "Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? Their ears are so closed that they cannot hear! Indeed, what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all.

And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, 'Everything will be all right!' But everything is not all right!

Have they acted ashamed, for they have committed a detestable thing? Not at all, nor were they ashamed; they did not know to feel humiliated. {Therefore} they will fall among [those who] fall at the time I punish them, they will stumble," says Yahweh.

Thus says Yahweh: "Stand at [the] roads and look, and ask for [the] ancient paths, where the way of the good [is], and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves. But they said, 'We will not walk [in it].'

And I have raised up for you watchmen, Attend ye to the voice of the trumpet. And they say, 'We do not attend.'

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] about to put before this people stumbling blocks, and they will stumble against them, fathers and children together, neighbor and his friend will perish."

Thus says Yahweh: "Look, a people [is] coming from [the] land of [the] north, a great nation is woken up from [the] farthest part of [the] earth.

O daughter of my people [says Jeremiah],
Clothe yourself in sackcloth and wallow in ashes;
Mourn [aloud] as for an only son,
A most bitter cry [of sorrow and regret],
For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us [on both prophet and people].

“I [the Lord] have set you as an assayer [O Jeremiah] and as a tester [of the ore] of My people,
That you may know and analyze their acts.”

"Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah, [those who] enter through these gates to bow in worship to Yahweh.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Make your ways and your deeds good and let me dwell with you in this place.

Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, "We are safe! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!"

And then you come and you stand {before} me in this house, which is called {by my name}, and you say, 'we are safe {to go on doing} all of these detestable things.'

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the LORD.

And now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you answered not;

Do they provoke me to anger? says the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces?

{Therefore} thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished."

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat [the] flesh.

And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer.

"And you shall say to them, 'This [is] the nation that has not obeyed the voice of Yahweh their God, and they have not accepted discipline. The truth has perished, and it is cut off from their mouths.

For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there is no room.

At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:

And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.

"And you shall say to them, 'Thus asks Yahweh: "Do men fall and not stand up? If one turns away does he not return?

I have listened to them very carefully, but they do not speak honestly. None of them regrets the evil he has done. None of them says, "I have done wrong!" All of them persist in their own wayward course like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

How can you say, 'We [are] wise and the law of Yahweh [is] with us'? Look, surely {the lying stylus of the scribes} has made it a lie.

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people have suffered. They say, "Everything will be all right!" But everything is not all right!

Were they ashamed, for they had committed a detestable thing? What's worse, they were not ashamed at all, and they did not know to feel humiliated. {Therefore} they will fall among [those who] fall; at the time of their punishment they will stumble," says Yahweh.

I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

The people say, "Why are we just sitting here? Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. Let us at least die there fighting, since the Lord our God has condemned us to die. He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment because we have sinned against him.

For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.

Behold, [hear the sound of] the cry of the daughter of my people from the distant land [of Babylon]:
“Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King within her?”
[But the Lord answers] “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with foreign idols?”