"Before I fashioned thee in thy mother's womb, I did know thee: And before thou wast born, I sanctified thee and ordained thee, to be a Prophet unto the people."

And with that, the LORD stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth, and said moreover unto me, "Behold, I put my words in thy mouth,

And therefore gird up thy loins, arise, and tell them all that I give thee in commandment. Fear them not; I will not have thee to be afraid of them.

"Go thy way, cry in the ears of Jerusalem, and say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: I remember thee for the kindness of thy youth, and because of thy steadfast love: in that thou followedst me through the wilderness, in an untilled land.

Yea, the children of Noph and Tahpenes have defiled thy neck.

Cometh not this unto thee, because thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, ever since he led thee by the way?

Thine own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy turning away shall condemn thee: that thou mayest know and understand, how evil and hurtful a thing it is, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and not feared him, sayeth the LORD God of Hosts.

"I have ever broken thy yoke of old, and bursten thy bonds: yet sayest thou, 'I will no more serve.' But like a harlot thou runnest about upon all high hills,

Yea, and that so sore, that though thou washest thee with Nitre and makest thyself to savour with that sweet smelling herb of Borith: yet in my sight thou art stained with thy wickedness, sayeth the LORD thy God.

Say not now, 'I am not unclean, and I have not followed Baal.' Look upon thy own ways in the woods, valleys and dens: so shalt thou know, what thou hast done. Thou art like a swift Dromedary that goeth easily his way:

and thy wantonness is like a wild Ass, that useth the wilderness, and that snuffeth and bloweth at his will. Who can tame thee? All they that seek thee, shall not fail, but find thee in thy own uncleanness.

Thou keepest thy foot from nakedness, and thy throat from thirst, and thinkest thus in thyself, 'Tush: I will take no sorrow; I will love the strange gods, and hang upon them.'

I shall answer them: Where are now thy gods, that thou hast made thee? Bid them stand up, and help thee in the time of need! For look how many cities thou hast, O Judah: so many gods hast thou also.

Why boastest thou thy ways so highly, to obtain favour therethrough, when thou hast yet stained them with blasphemies?

Upon thy wings is found the blood of poor and innocent people; and that not in corners and holes only, but openly in all these places.

Yea, thou shalt go thy way from them, and smite thine hands together upon thy head. Because the LORD shall bring that confidence and hope of thine to naught, and thou shalt not prosper withal."

Lift up thine eyes on every side, and look, if thou be not defiled. Thou hast waited for them in the streets, and as a murderer in the wilderness. through thy whoredoms and shameful blasphemies, is the land defiled.

but on this condition, that thou know thy great blasphemy: Namely, that thou hast unfaithfully forsaken the LORD thy God, and hast made thyself partaker of strange gods under all green trees, but hast had no will to hear my voice, sayeth the LORD.

O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be helped. How long shall thy noisesome thoughts remain with thee?

Thy ways and thy thoughts have brought thee unto this. This is thy own wickedness and disobedience, that hath possessed thine heart.

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.

Where as thou, O LORD, lookest only upon faith and truth. Thou hast scourged them, but they took no repentance: thou hast corrected them for amendment, but they refused thy correction. They made their faces harder than stone, and would not amend.

"Should I then, for all this, have mercy upon thee? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. And albeit they were bound to me in marriage, yet they fell to adultery, and hunted harlots' houses.

Wherefore thus sayeth the LORD God of Hosts, "Because ye speak such words, behold: The words that are in thy mouth will I turn to fire, and make the people to be wood, that it may consume them.

This people shall eat up thy fruit and thy meat; yea, they shall devour thy sons and thy daughters, thy sheep and thy bullocks. They shall eat up thy grapes and figs. As for thy strong and well-fenced cities, wherein thou didst trust, they shall destroy them with the sword.

Amend thee, O Jerusalem, lest I withdraw my heart from thee, and make thee desolate: and thy land also, that no man dwell in it."

And therefore I am so full of thine indignation, O LORD, that I may suffer no longer. "Shed out thy wrath upon the children that are without, and upon all young men. Yea the man must be taken prisoner with the wife, and the aged with the cripple.

But there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and great is the name of thy power.

Therefore chasten thou us, O LORD; but with favour, and not in thy wrath. Bring us not utterly to naught.

Pour out thine indignation rather upon the Gentiles, that know thee not, and upon the people that call not on thy name: And that because they have consumed, devoured and destroyed Jacob, and have rooted out his glory.

O thou beloved, why doest thou so shameful great blasphemies in my house? Even as though that holy flesh might absolve thee, specially when thou hast made thy boast of thy wickedness.

The LORD called thee a green olive tree, a fair one, a fruitful one, a goodly one: but now that there is a contrary report of thee abroad, he will burn thee up, and destroy thy branches.

For thy brethren and thy kindred have altogether despised thee, and cried out upon thee in thine absence. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.

Moreover, thus said the LORD unto me, "Go thy way, and get thee a linen breech, and gird it about thy loins, and let it not be wet."

To whom will thou make thy moan, when they come upon thee? For thou hast taught them thyself, and made them masters over thee. Shall not sorrow come upon thee, as on a woman travailing with child?

And if thou wouldest say then in thine heart, 'Wherefore come these things upon me?' Even for the multitude of thy blasphemies, shall thy hinder parts and thy feet be uncovered.

Therefore shall I turn thy clothes over thy head, and uncover thy thighs, that thy privates may be seen:

thy adultery, thy deadly malice, thy beastliness, and thy shameful whoredom. For upon the fields and hills I have seen thy abominations. Woe be unto thee, O Jerusalem. When wilt thou ever be cleansed any more?"

"Doubtless our own wickedness reward us: But LORD do thou according to thy name, though our transgressions and sins be many.

Why wilt thou make thyself a coward, and as it were a giant that yet may not help? For thou art ours, O LORD, and we bear thy name; therefore forsake us not."

Be not displeased, O LORD, for thy name's sake, forget not thy loving-kindness: Remember the throne of thine honour, break not the covenant that thou hast made with us.

"O LORD," said I then, "thou knowest all things. Therefore remember me, and visit me, deliver me from my persecutors: Receive not my cause in thy long wrath; yet thou knowest, that for thy sake I suffer rebuke.

When I had found thy words, I ate them up greedily: they have made my heart joyful and glad, for I call upon thy name, O LORD God of Hosts.

I dwell not among the council of scorners, neither is my delight therein: but I dwell only in the fear of thy hand, for thou hast filled me with bitterness.

And I enforced not to be a shepherd that should not follow thee: and the day of destruction have I not desired, thou knowest. And that proceeded out of my mouth was right in thy sight.

Do they not recompense evil for good, when they dig a pit for my soul? Remember, how that I stood before thee, to speak for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.

Yet LORD, thou knowest all their counsel that they have devised, to slay me. And therefore forgive them not their wickedness, and let not their sin be put out of thy sight: but let them be judged before thee as the guilty: This shalt thou do unto them in the time of thy indignation.

Moreover, thus said the LORD unto Jeremiah, "Go thy way, and buy thee an earthen pitcher, and bring forth the Senators, and the chief priests

For thus sayeth the LORD: behold, I will make thee afraid, thee thyself and all that favour thee: which shall perish with the sword of their enemies, even before thy face. And I will give whole Judah under the power of the king of Babylon, which shall carry some unto Babylon, prisoners, and slay some with the sword.

But as for thee, O Pashhur, thou shalt be carried unto Babylon with all thine household, and to Babylon shalt thou come, where thou shalt die, and be buried: thou and all thy favorers, to whom thou hast preached lies."

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, thou king of Judah that sittest in the kingly seat of David: thou, and thy servants, and thy people, that go in and out at this gate.

For thus hath the LORD spoken upon the king's house of Judah: Thou art the head, as Gilead is in Lebanon: What wilt thou lay of it, if I make thee and thy cities also not so waste that no man shall dwell therein?

I will prepare a destroyer with his weapons for thee, to hew down thy special Cedar trees, and to cast them in the fire.

Thinkest thou to reign, now that thou provokest me to wrath with thy Cedar trees? Did not thy father eat and drink, and prosper well, as long as he dealt with equity and righteousness?

Climb up the hill of Lebanon, O thou daughter Zion! Lift up thy voice upon Bashan, cry from all parts: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

I gave thee warning, while thou wast yet in prosperity. But thou saidst, 'I will not hear.' And this manner hast thou used from thy youth, that thou wouldest never hear my voice.

All thy herdsmen shall be driven with the wind, and thy darlings shall be carried away into captivity. Then shalt thou be brought to shame and confusion, because of all thy wickedness:

thou that dwellest upon Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the Cedar's trees. O how great shall thy mourning be, when thy sorrows come upon thee, as a woman travailing with child?

Moreover, I will send thee, and thy mother that bare thee, into a strange land where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

But if they will no receive the cup of thy hand, and drink it, then tell them: Thus doth the LORD of Hosts threaten you: drink it ye shall, and that shortly.

"Make thee bonds and chains, and put them about thy neck,

Why wilt thou and thy people perish with the sword, with hunger, with pestilence: like as the LORD hath devised for all people that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast sealed letters under thy name unto all the people that is at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, yea and sent them to all the priests: wherein thou writest thus unto him:

For in that day, sayeth the LORD, I will take his yoke from off thy neck, and break thy bonds. They shall no more serve strange gods under him,

"And as for thee, O my servant Jacob, fear not, sayeth the LORD; and be not afraid, O Israel. For lo, I will help thee also from far, and thy seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall turn again, he shall be in rest, and have a prosperous life, and no man shall make him afraid.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD: Thy bruisings are perilous, and thy wounds ready to cast thee into sickness.

There is no man to meddle with thy cause, or to bind up thy wounds: there may no man help thee.

All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and care nothing for thee. For I have given thee a cruel stroke, and chastened thee roughly: and that for the multitude of thy misdeeds, for thy sins have had the overhand.

Why makest thou moan for thy harm? I myself have pity of thy sorrow; but for the multitude of thy misdeeds and sins I have done this unto thee.

For I will give thee thy health again and make thy wounds whole, sayeth the LORD: because they reviled thee, as one cast away and despised, O Zion.

I will repair thee again, O thou daughter of Israel, that thou mayest be fast and sure. Thou shalt take thy tabrets again, and go forth, with them that lead the dance.

But now sayeth the LORD, "Leave off from weeping, and crying, withhold thine eyes from tears, for thy labour shall be rewarded, sayeth the LORD. And they shall come again out of the land of their enemies:

Yea, even thy posterity shall have consolation in this, sayeth the LORD, that thy children shall come again into their own land.

Moreover, I heard Ephraim, that was led away captive, complain on this manner, 'O LORD, thou hast corrected me, and thy chastening have I received, as an untamed calf. Convert thou me, and I shall be converted, for thou art my LORD God.

'Behold, Hananel the son of Shallum thine Uncle's son shall come unto thee, and require thee to redeem the land, that lieth in Anathoth unto thyself: for by reason of kindred it is thy part to redeem it, and to buy it out.'

'O LORD God: It is thou that hast made heaven and earth with thy great power and high arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.

Thou hast done great tokens and wonders in the land of Egypt, as we see this day upon the people of Israel and upon those men: to make thy name great as it is come to pass this day.

Thou hast brought thy people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, with tokens, with wonders, with a mighty hand, with a stretched out arm and with great terribleness;

Now when they came therein, and possessed it, they followed not thy voice, and walked not in thy law: but all that thou commandedst them to do, that have they not done. And therefore come all these plagues upon them.

but shalt die in peace. Like as thy forefathers the kings, thy progenitors, were burnt: so shalt thou be burnt also, and in the mourning they shall say, 'Oh, lord.' For thus have I determined, sayeth the LORD.'"

Then said the princes unto Baruch, "Go thy way, and hide thee with Jeremiah, so that no man know where ye be."

And when he came under Benjamin's port, there was a porter, called Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, which fell upon him, and took him, saying, "Thy mind is to run to the Chaldeans."

Moreover, Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, "What have I offended against thee, against thy servants or against this people, that ye have caused me to be put in prison?

So the king swore an oath secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, "As truly as the LORD liveth, that made us these souls, I will not slay thee, nor give thee in to the hands of them that seek after thy life."

Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, "Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: If cause be, that thou wilt go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, thou shalt save thy life, and this city shall not be burnt, yea both thou and thy household shall escape with your lives.

But Jeremiah answered, "No, they shall not betray thee: O hearken unto the voice of the LORD, I beseech thee, which I speak unto thee; so shalt thou be well, and save thy life.

Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall go out to the king of Babylon's princes. For they think, that thou art deceived: and that the men in whom thou didst put thy trust, have gotten thee under, and set thy feet fast in the mire, and gone their way from thee.

Therefore all thy wives with their children shall flee unto the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but shalt be the king of Babylon's prisoner, and this city shall be burnt."

For doubtless I will save thee, so that thou shalt not perish with the sword: but thy life shall be saved, and that because thou hast put thy trust in me, sayeth the LORD.'"

The chief Captain called for Jeremiah, and said unto him, "The LORD thy God spake mightily before of the misery upon this place:

Behold, I loose the binds from thy hands this day: if thou wilt now go with me unto Babylon, up then. For I will see to thee, and provide for thee: But if thou wilt not go with me to Babylon, then remain here. Behold, all the land is at thy will, look where thou thinkest convenient and good for thee to abide, there dwell.

and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, "O hear our petition, that thou mayest pray for us unto the LORD thy God, and for the remnant, whereof there be very few left of many, as thou seest us:

that the LORD thy God may show us a way to go in, and tell us what we should do."

And they said to Jeremiah, "The LORD of truth and faithfulness be our record, that we will do all that the LORD thy God commandeth us;

And seekest thou yet promotion? Look not for it, and desire it not. For I will bring a miserable plague upon all flesh, sayeth the LORD. But thy life will I give thee for a prey, wheresoever thou goest."

Go up, O Gilead, and bring treacle unto the daughter of Egypt: But in vain shalt thou go to surgery, for thy wound shalt not be stopped.

The Heathen shall hear of thy shame, and the land shall be full of thy confusion: for one strong man shall stumble upon another. How then should they not fall both together?"

How happeneth it that thy mighty worthies are fallen? Why stood they not fast? Even because the LORD thrust them down.

O thou daughter of Egypt make ready thy gear to flit. For Memphis shall be void desolate, so that no man shall dwell therein.

But be not thou afraid, O my servant Jacob; fear not thou, O Israel. For lo, I will help thee from far, and thy seed from the land of thy captivity. Jacob also shall come again, and be in rest: he shall be rich, and no man shall do him harm.