Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to protect you," says the Lord.

And I will pronounce My judgments against them regarding all their evil, those who have forsaken Me, and burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Israel [was] holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All [those who] ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them," {declares} Yahweh.'"

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.

A wild ass accustomed to [the] desert, in the desire of her soul. She gasps [for] wind [in] her rutting time. Who can quell her [lust]? All [those who] seek her will not grow weary, in her month they will find her.

Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say, 'It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue 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.'

And in the skirts of your robe may be seen the life-blood of those who have done no wrong: ...

Also from there you will come out with your hands on your head, for Yahweh has rejected {those in whom you trust}, and you will not prosper through them.

"Look up at the hilltops and consider this. You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.

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.

In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from [the] land of [the] north to the land that I gave as an inheritance [to] your ancestors.

"If you, Israel, want to come back," says the Lord, "if you want to come back to me you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight and must no longer go astray.

“Raise a banner toward Zion [to mark the way for those seeking safety inside Jerusalem’s walls]!
Seek refuge, do not stand [immobile],
For I am bringing evil from the north (the army of Babylon),
And great destruction.

In response to all this I said, "Ah, Lord God, you have surely allowed the people of Judah and Jerusalem to be deceived by those who say, 'You will be safe!' But in fact a sword is already at our throats."

Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.

Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.

They have her surrounded
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

What wilt thou now do, thou being destroyed? For though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, and deckest thee with gold. Though thou paintest thy face with colors, yet shalt thou trim thyself in vain. For those that hitherto have been thy great favorers, shall abhor thee, and go about to slay thee.

For I heard. the voice as of her bringing forth, the anguish as of her bearing her first child; the voice of the daughter of Zion, she will sigh, she will spread forth her hands, Wo now to me for my soul fainted for those slaying.

"{How} can I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me, and they have sworn by [those who are] not gods. But I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and flocked [to] the house of a prostitute.

And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig-trees. One shall beat down your fortified cities with the sword, those in which you trust.

"But even in those days," {declares} Yahweh, "I will not make you a complete destruction.

This is what the Lord who rules over all said to me: "Those who remain in Israel will be like the grapes thoroughly gleaned from a vine. So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester passing your hand over the branches one last time."

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, I am tired of trying to hold it in." The Lord answered, "Vent it, then, on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

Their houses will be turned over to others as will their fields and their wives. For I will unleash my power against those who live in this land," says the Lord.

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.

"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.

Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, "We are safe!" You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!

Was this house which my name was called upon it a cave of those breaking down in your eyes? also I, behold, I saw, says Jehovah.

So, watch out!" says the Lord. "The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.

And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, in all the places whither I have driven those that remain, saith Jehovah of hosts.

Further, you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Will those who are falling not be lifted up again? will he who has gone away not come back?

How can you say, "We are wise! We have the law of the Lord"? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean.

Therefore will I give their wives unto others, their fields to those that shall possess them; for every one, from the least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.

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 utterly take them away, saith Jehovah: there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree; and the leaf is faded: and I will give them up to those that shall pass over them.

"From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses, from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes, for they come and devour the land, and that which fills [the] city, and [those who] live in it.

Behold the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from the land of those being far off: is not Jehovah in Zion? or her king not in her? wherefore did they irritate me with their carved images, with strange vanities?

I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed.

Who will give me in the desert a lodging-place of travelers? and I will leave my people and go from them, for they all commit adultery; an assembly of those acting faithlessly.

The Lord answered, "This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws.

The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"

"Look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will call into account all those who are circumcised in [the] foreskin:

Egypt, Judah, and Edom, and the {Ammonites}, and Moab, and all those who are trimmed to [the] side, those who live in the desert, for all the nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised of heart."

The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!

Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish and gold is brought from Uphaz to cover those idols. They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. They are all made by skillful workers.

You people of Israel should tell those nations this: 'These gods did not make heaven and earth. They will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens.'

All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols.

The Lord, who is the inheritance of Jacob's descendants, is not like them. He is the one who created everything. And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. He is known as the Lord who rules over all."

For the Lord says, "I will now throw out those who live in this land. I will bring so much trouble on them that they will actually feel it."

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors to keep when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace. I said at that time, "Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement exactly as I commanded you. If you do, you will be my people and I will be your God.

Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means be able to save them when disaster strikes them.

Not one of them will survive. I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. A day of reckoning is coming for them."

You [will be] in the right, Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak [my] claims with you. Why does [the] way of [the] wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease.

{How long} will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? [The] animals and [the] birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future."

Those who make waste have come on all the open hilltops in the waste land; for the sword of the Lord sends destruction from one end of the land to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace.

Thus said Jehovah concerning all my evil neighbors, those touching upon the inheritance which I caused my people Israel to inherit: behold me tearing them up from their land, and I will tear up the house of Judah from the midst of them.

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands and to their own country.

But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,'" says the Lord.

Lift up your eyes and see those coming from [the] north. Where [is] the flock that was given to you, {your magnificent flock}?

What wilt thou say, when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself taught to be friends to thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail?

Those who do work on the land are in fear, for there has been no rain on the land, and the farmers are shamed, covering their heads.

Then the Lord said to me, "Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! I did not send them. I did not commission them. I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own mind.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they [are] saying, "Sword and famine will not be in this land." "By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.

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}.'"

Is there among the vanities of the nations those causing ruin? and if the heavens will give showers? Art not thou he, Jehovah our God? And we will wait for thee: for thou didst make all these.

{And then} if they say to you, 'Where shall we go?' Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh, "[Those] who [are destined] for the plague, to the plague, and [those] who [are destined] for the sword, to the sword, and [those] who [are destined] for the famine, to the famine, and [those] who [are destined] for the captivity, to the captivity." '

She that hath born seven children, shall have none; her heart shall be full of sorrow. The Sun shall fail her in the clear day, when she shall be confounded and faint for very heaviness. As for those that remain, I will deliver them unto the sword of their enemies, sayeth the LORD."

O Lord, you have knowledge: keep me in mind and come to my help, and give their right reward to those who are attacking me; take me not away, for you are slow to be angry: see how I have undergone shame because of you from all those who make little of your word;

I did not take my seat among the band of those who are glad, and I had no joy; I kept by myself because of your hand; for you have made me full of wrath.

For thus said Jehovah, Of the sons and of the daughters who are born in this place, And of their mothers -- those bearing them, And of their fathers -- those begetting them in this land:

Neither shall men break bread for those in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

How can a man make those, his gods, which are not able to be gods?"

My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me.

Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all [those who] forsake you will be put to shame, and [those who] turn aside from you in the earth will be recorded, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, Yahweh.

Lord, grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief. Rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued.

Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame;
Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed.
Bring on them a day of disaster,
And crush them with twofold destruction!

As you stand in those places announce, 'Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says.

Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow?

Jehovah, give heed to me, and listen to the voice of those that contend with me.

Because they have given me up, and made this place a strange place, burning perfumes in it to other gods, of whom they and their fathers and the kings of Judah had no knowledge; and they have made this place full of the blood of those who have done no wrong;

And I will lay waste the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will bring them to ruin by the sword {before} their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life, and I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth.

And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in [the] siege and in [the] distress which their enemies and those who seek their life inflict on them." '

The Lord continued, "Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you.

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.'"

for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword.

And you, Pashhur, and all [those who] live [in] your house will go into captivity, and you will go [to] Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied {falsely}.'"

For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, [say] all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me. They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

Sing ye to Jehovah, praise ye Jehovah: for he delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of those doing evil.

‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will repel the weapons of war in your hands, those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.

And {afterward}," {declares} Yahweh, "I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with [the] {edge} of [the] sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion." '

Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives.

O royal family descended from David. The Lord says: 'See to it that people each day are judged fairly. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you. It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out because of the evil that you have done.

Behold, I am against you, O dweller of the valley, rock of the plain, says Jehovah; those who say, Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our homes?

This is what the Lord has said: Do what is right, judging uprightly, and make free from the hands of the cruel one him whose goods have been violently taken away: do no wrong and be not violent to the man from a strange country and the child without a father and the widow, and let not those who have done no wrong be put to death in this place.

And I will make ready those who will send destruction on you, everyone armed for war: by them your best cedar-trees will be cut down and put in the fire.

He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord.

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.