Then I said, Ah, lord LORD! Behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a child.

But LORD said to me, Say not, I am a child. For to whomever I shall send thee thou shall go, and whatever I shall command thee thou shall speak.

Be not afraid because of them, for I am with thee to deliver thee, says LORD.

Then LORD said to me, Thou have well seen. For I watch over my word to perform it.

For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says LORD. And they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls of it round about, and

For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the rulers of it, against the priests of it, and against the people of the l

And they shall fight against thee. But they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, says LORD, to deliver thee.

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says LORD, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, how thou went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Thus says LORD: What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?

For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see, and send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing.

Has a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou have forsaken LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, says the Lord, L

For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot.

For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, says lord LORD.

Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst. But thou said, It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.

who say to a block of wood, Thou are my father, and to a stone, Thou have brought me forth. For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

But where are thy gods that thou have made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

Thou shall also go forth from there with thy hands upon thy head. For LORD has rejected those in whom thou trust. And thou shall not prosper with them.

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places if it, if ye can find a man, if there is any who does justly, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.

Then I said, Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of LORD, nor the law of their God.

I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of LORD, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Shall I not visit for these things? says LORD. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not LORD's.

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

Therefore thus says LORD, the God of hosts: Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says LORD. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou know not, nor understand what they say.

Do ye not fear me? says LORD. Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevai

Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

For among my people are found wicked men. They watch as fowlers lay in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

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

Flee for safety, ye sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem. For evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.

Prepare ye war against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines; for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

For thus has LORD of hosts said: Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She has oppression completely in the midst of her.

Therefore I am full of the wrath of LORD. I am weary with holding in. Pour it out upon the sons in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is

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

For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

Thus says LORD, Stand ye in the ways and see. And ask for the old paths where is the good way. And walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk.

Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it.

To what purpose does there come to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy, [and] terror, are on every side.

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning, as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation. For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed of the fire. In vain do they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.

For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor,

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

But go ye now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

Therefore pray thou not for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them. Neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee.

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices.

Cut off thy hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights. For LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says LORD. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

Therefore, behold, the days come, says 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 be no place [to bury].

And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall frighten them away.

Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.

Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against LORD.

We looked for peace, but no good came, for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles. For they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell therein.

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

Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Is not LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities?

For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold on me.

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

And they bend their tongue--their bow--for falsehood, and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says LORD.

Take ye heed each one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

Therefore thus says LORD of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them, for how [else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people?

Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. He speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him.

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

For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through, nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the

Thus says LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come.

And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces, to cut off the sons from outside, the young men from the streets.

but let him who boasts boast in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. For in these things I delight, says LORD.

Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners [of their hair] cut off, who dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in

Thus says LORD: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity. For [a man] cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak. They must be carried, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.

Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? For to thee it appertains, inasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like thee.

There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith, blue and purple for their clothing. They are all the work of skilful men.

When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

Every man has become brutish, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image. For his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

The portion of Jacob is not like these. For he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. LORD of hosts is his name.

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

For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. For they have devoured Jacob. Yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

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.

For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem ye have set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.

Therefore do not pray thou for this people, nor 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.

LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit. With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

For LORD of hosts, who planted thee, has pronounced evil against thee because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal

But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them, for to thee I have revealed my case.

and there shall be no remnant to them. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

Thou have planted them. Yea, they have taken root, they grow. Yea, they bring forth fruit. Thou are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

But thou, O LORD, know me. Thou see me, and try my heart toward thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

For even thy brothers, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.

Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness. For the sword of LORD devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace.

Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the sash from the place where I had hid it. And, behold, the sash was rotten. It was good for nothing.