Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its officials, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

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

"Haven't you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way?

Will you not from this time cry to me, 'My Father, you are the guide of my youth?'

I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says the LORD.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn't turned back from us.

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD. Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;' whereas the sword reaches to the heart."

At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;

"Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."

For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I turn back from it."

Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says the LORD; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Hosts, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

"Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

'Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:

"But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.

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

Hear, earth. 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.'

"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:

then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.

and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered"; that you may do all these abominations?

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

Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched."

but this thing I commanded them, saying, 'Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

You shall tell them, 'This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the LORD their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.

Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the LORD of hosts.

Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

Shall I not visit them for these things?" says the LORD; "shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?"

therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight," says the LORD.

You shall say this to them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.'

For thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.'

Woe is me because of my hurt. My wound is grievous: but I said, 'Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.'

"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Cursed is the man who doesn't hear the words of this covenant,

that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey," as at this day.'" Then I answered, and said, "Amen, LORD."

The LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.

For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

Yet they did not obey, nor turn their ear, but walked everyone in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not do them.'"

Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble."

"Thus says the LORD, 'In this way I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.

Therefore you shall speak to them this word: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Every bottle shall be filled with wine:"' and they shall tell you, 'Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?'

Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,' says the LORD; 'because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.

Thus says the LORD to this people, "Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."

The LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people for their good.

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD. Behold, the prophets tell them, 'You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"

Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land:' 'By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.'

"You shall say this word to them, 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you," says the LORD.

"You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.

For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land:

For thus says the LORD, 'Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the LORD, even loving kindness and tender mercies.

Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;

For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall tell you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

therefore I will cast you forth out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.'

"Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is the LORD.

It shall happen, if you diligently listen to me," says the LORD, "to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;

then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.

"'House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the LORD. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.'

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.

Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they did not know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

therefore, behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.

I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.

I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

and shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

Thus will I do to this place," says the LORD, "and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth:

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.'"

Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, without the walls; and I will gather them into the midst of this city.

I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal: they shall die of a great pestilence.

Afterward," says the LORD, "I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy."'

To this people you shall say, "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey.

For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good,' says the LORD: 'it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.'

Thus said the LORD: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

Thus says the LORD: "Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.

For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation."

Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this great city?'

For thus says the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: "He shall not return there any more.

But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more."

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this to know me?' says the LORD.

I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, 'I will not hear.' This has been your way from your youth, that you did not obey my voice.

Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they do not know?

Thus says the LORD, "Write this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: 'The LORD our righteousness.'

How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart,