And it will be in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, even to the fulness of the eleventh year to Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, even to the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

I answered, "Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that, for I am too young."

But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

Do not be afraid of anyone,
for I will be with you to deliver you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.

Know for certain that I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted."

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, What seem thou, Jeremiah? and saying, I see the shoot of an almond tree.

Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

And the word of Jehovah will be to me the second time, saying, What seest thou? and saying, I see a pot blown under, and its face from the face of the north.

Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

And they will fight against you but they will not prevail against you, for I [am] with you," {declares} Yahweh, "to deliver you."

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

And when I had brought you into a pleasant well builded land, that ye might enjoy the fruits and all the commodities of the same: ye went forth and defiled my land, and brought mine heritage to abomination.

Your priests did not ask, 'Where is the Lord?' Those responsible for teaching my law did not really know me. Your rulers rebelled against me. Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. They all worshiped idols that could not help them.

Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

For, pass to the isles of Chittim, and see, And to Kedar send, and consider well, And see if there hath been like this:

Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them at all!

For my people hath done two evils: They have forsaken me, the well of the water of life; and digged them pits, yea, vile and broken pits, that hold no water.

Upon him the young lions roared, they gave their voice, they will set his land for a desolation: his cities were burned from not being inhabited.

Moreover, people of Memphis and Tahpanhes will {shave} your skull.

Have you not brought this on yourself
by abandoning the Lord your God
while He was leading you along the way?

Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt
to drink the waters of the Nile?
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

Your wickedness will chastise you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Therefore know and see that [it is] evil and bitter, your forsaking of Yahweh, your God, and fear of me [is] not in you," {declares} the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

Yet I planted you [as] a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me [into something that is] degenerate, the foreign vine?

A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

As [the] shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed. They, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets.

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

And where thy gods which thou didst make to thee? they will arise, if they shall save thee in the time of thine evil: for from the numbering of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah.

Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

Will a young woman forget her wedding ornaments, or a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number.

How well you do [on] your way to seek love! {Therefore} even [to] the wicked [woman] you can teach your ways.

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

“From Egypt also you will come away [as captives]
With your hands on your head;
For the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust (confide),
And you will not be successful with them.”

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.

So the showers have been kept back, and there has been no spring rain; still your brow is the brow of a loose woman, you will not let yourself be shamed.

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

Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

The LORD said also unto me, in the time of Josiah the king, "Hast thou seen what that shrinking Israel hath done? How she hath run up upon all high hills, and among all thick trees, and there played the harlot?

And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

So that through all her loose behaviour the land became unclean, and she was untrue, giving herself to stones and trees.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

And Jehovah will say to me, Israel turning away justified her soul above faithless Judah.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.

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.

Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

It will be in those days when you have [repented and] multiplied and increased in the land,” says the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will not come to mind, nor will they [seriously] remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again [for instead of the ark, which symbolized My presence, I will be present].

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

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.

But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.

Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

The hills fall, and all the high pride of the mountains; but the health of Israel standeth only upon God our LORD.

“But the shameful act [of idolatry] has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

We shall lie down in our shame, and our reproach will cover us: for we sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we heard not to the voice of Jehovah our God.

“If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord,
“If you will return to Me,
And if you will put away your detestable things and remove your man-made gods from My sight,
And not stray or waver,

And if you swear [your oaths], ‘As the Lord lives,’
In truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
Then the nations will bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they will glory.”

Yes, the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground, you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning; just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted, you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.

“Circumcise (dedicate, sanctify) yourselves to the Lord
And remove the foreskin [sins] of your heart,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My wrath will go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way]
And burn and there will be no one to quench it,
Because of the evil of your acts.”

Preach in Judah and Jerusalem, cry out and speak, "Blow the trumpets in the land, cry that every man may hear, and say, 'Gather you together, and we will go into strong cities.

Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin {without} inhabitant.

For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.

And then on that day," {declares} Yahweh, "the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed, and the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astonished."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It will be peace for you,' while the sword reaches up to the throat."

In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness [comes at My command] against the daughter of My people—not [a wind] to winnow and not to cleanse [from chaff, as when threshing, but]

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

See, he will come up like the clouds, and his war-carriages like the storm-wind: his horses are quicker than eagles. Sorrow is ours, for destruction has come on us.

Cleanse your heart from wickedness, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. {How long} will your thoughts of mischief dwell in your inner part?

Make this come to the minds of the nations, make a statement openly against Jerusalem, that attackers are coming from a far country and their voices will be loud against the towns of Judah.

Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me," {declares} Yahweh.

"The way you have lived and the things you have done will bring this on you. This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart."

Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

How long will I go on seeing the flag and hearing the sound of the war-horn?

“For My people are stupid and foolish,” [says the Lord to Jeremiah];
“They do not know Me;
They are foolish children
And have no understanding.
They are shrewd [enough] to do evil,
But they do not know [how] to do good.”

I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

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

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like [a woman who] bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers."

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

And if Jehovah lives, they will say, for this they will swear to a falsehood.

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Therefore a lion from [the] forest will kill them, A wolf [from the] desert plains will devastate them. A leopard [is] watching their cities, everyone [who] goes out from there will be torn, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are numerous.

The Lord asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.