Then Yahweh said to me, "You did well to see, for I [am] watching over my word to perform it."

Now look, I have made you {today} as a fortified city and as an iron pillar and a bronze wall against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

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.

Did you not do this to yourself, [by] forsaking Yahweh, your God, at the time of your leading in the way?

Also on your skirts is found [the] blood of [the] life of [the] innocent, [the] poor. You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house. But in spite of all these [things],

And I thought, 'After her doing all these [things] to me she will return,' but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it].

Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, {but only} in pretense," {declares} Yahweh.

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.

"For go now to my place that [was] in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it {because of} the wickedness of my people Israel.

therefore I will do to the house that is called {by my name}, in which you [are] trusting, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors {what} I did to Shiloh.

For I did not speak with your ancestors, nor did I command them in the day of bringing them out from the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offering and sacrifice.

Yet they did not obey, and they did not incline their ear, but they walked in [their own] plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and {they became worse instead of better}.

Yet they have not listened to me and they have not inclined their ear, but they have hardened their neck, they did more evil than their ancestors.

And they built the high place of Topheth, which [is] in [the] Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I have not commanded, and it did not come into my mind.

And the dead bodies of this people [will be] as food for the birds of the heavens, and for the animals of the earth, without anyone to scare [them] away.

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.

Speak, 'thus {declares} Yahweh: "The dead body of the human will fall like dung upon the surface of the field, and like cut grain behind the reaper, and there is no [one who] gathers." '"

"{Thus} you shall say to them, 'Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

But they did not obey and they did not incline their ear. Instead each one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore, I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded [them] to do, and they did not [do it].'"

And I [was] like a gentle ram-lamb that is brought to slaughter, and I did not know that they planned plans against me, [saying], "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from [the] land of [the] living, so that his name will no longer be remembered."

And I will make them a terror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem.

And I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land. I am bereaved. I have destroyed my people. They did not turn back from their ways.

I sat not in the assembly of jokers, [nor did] I exult. Because of the {presence} of your hand I sat alone, for you filled me [with] indignation.

"They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air, and for the wild animals of the earth."

And they will not break bread for [the] mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of [the] dead. And they will not give drink to them, [the] cup of desolation, for their fathers, or for their mothers.

And {I will first doubly repay} their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies of their abhorrences, and [with] their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.'"

[Like] a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay [is] one who amasses wealth without justice. In the middle of his days it will leave him, and at his end he will [prove to] be a fool."

Yet they did not listen, and they did not incline their ear, and they hardened their neck [so as] to not hear, nor to receive discipline.

{Therefore} give their children to the famine, and hand them over to [the] {power} of [the] sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead [by the] sword in the battle.

and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their children in the fire, burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, and I ordered not, and it did not come to my {mind}.

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.

Because he did not kill me in [the] womb, so that my mother would have been for me my grave, and [her] womb [would be] pregnant forever.

{Why} did I come out from [the] womb, to see toil, and sorrow, and [to] {end my days in shame}?

You must not weep for [the] dead person, and you must not show sympathy for him. Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will not return, or see the land of his birth again.

Do you reign as king because you [are] competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and he did justice and righteousness, then it was well with him?

[Did] Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? [Was he] not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we [are] about to do great disaster to ourselves."

And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people.

which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, did not take when he deported Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, from Jerusalem [to] Babylon, {along with} all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your fellow kinsmen who did not go with you into the exile--

because they did not listen to my words,' {declares} Yahweh, 'when I sent to them my servants the prophets, {sending over and over again}, and they would not listen,' {declares} Yahweh.

Then I took the deed of the purchase, the sealed [copy containing] the commandments and the rules, together with the [one] that was open.

And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase, the sealed one, and this opened deed, and you must put them in an {earthenware jar} so that they may be kept preserved many days."

And I prayed to Yahweh--after giving my deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah--{saying},

great in counsel and great [in] deed, whose eyes [are] opened to all the ways of the children of humankind, to give to each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds,

And they entered and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice, and they did not follow your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded to them to do, and you caused to happen [to] them all this disaster.

because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger--they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

"At [the] end of seven years you must let go each one his fellow countryman, the Hebrew who has been sold to you and who has served you six years, and you must let him go free from you." But your ancestors did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ears.

And you turned back {recently} and you did right in my eyes, to proclaim release each one to his neighbor, and you {made} a covenant {before me} in the house that is called {by} my name.

and I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and their dead bodies will become as food for the birds of the heavens and for the animals of the earth.

And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, {I have sent them over and over again}, {saying}, 'Turn back please each one from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and you must not go after other gods to serve them, {so that you may live} on the land that I gave to you and to your ancestors.' But you did not incline your ear and you did not listen to me.

For the descendants of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have carried out the command of their ancestor that he commanded them, but this people did not listen to me."

And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet instructed him, to read aloud from the scroll the words of Yahweh [in] the temple of Yahweh.

Then they asked Baruch, {saying}, "Tell us please, how did you write all these words, from his mouth?"

And the king and any of his servants who heard all these words were not startled, and they did not tear their garments.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, "There will not be for him [one who] sits on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat in the day and to the frost in the night.

But he and his servants and the people of the land did not listen to the words of Yahweh that he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.

Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "What did I do wrong to you, or to your servants, or to this people, that you have put me in {prison}?

Then Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, "Please put {the rags} and {worn-out clothes} under the joints of your arms under the ropes," and Jeremiah did so.

And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say to you, 'Please tell us what you said to the king. You must not conceal [it] from us so that we will not kill you. And what did the king say to you?'

and [now] he has brought [it about], and Yahweh has done {just as} he threatened. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to his voice, so this thing [has] happened to you.

And so then look, I have released you {today} from the chains that [were] on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me [to] Babylon, [then] come, and {I will take care of you}. But if it is bad in your eyes to come with me [to] Babylon, [then] refrain. Look, the whole land [is] {before you}. To [wherever it is] good and right in your eyes to go, [then] go there."

But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, "You must not kill us, for {we have} hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen.

Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, 'You must not go [to] Egypt.' You must certainly know that I have warned you {today}

So I have told you {today}, and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of {anything} that he sent me for you.

Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the insolent men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, "You [are] telling a lie! Yahweh our God did not send you, {saying}, 'You must not go [to] Egypt to dwell as aliens there.'

So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies, and all the people did not listen to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah.

and they came [into] the land of Egypt, for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. And they came up to Tahpanhes.

But they did not listen and they did not incline their ears to turn back from their wickedness, to not make smoke offerings to other gods.

But certainly we will do {everything} that went out from our mouths, to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors, our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, [for] then {we had enough to eat}, and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster.

"The offering that you made, smoke offerings in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your ancestors, your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, [did] not Yahweh remember them, and [did] it [not] come to his {mind}?

{Because of} [the fact] that you made smoke offerings, and that you sinned against Yahweh, and you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you have not walked in his law, and in his statute, and in his legal provisions, {therefore} this disaster has happened to you, as [it is] this day."

Why are your bulls defeated? He did not stand because Yahweh thrust him down.

I laid a bird snare for you, and you were caught, Babylon. But you yourself [did] not know. You were discovered and seized, because with Yahweh you measured yourself.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh like all that Jehoiakim had done.