And the LORD answered me thus, "Say not so, 'I am too young': For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee unto, and whatsoever I command thee, that shalt thou speak.

Be not afraid of their faces, for I will be with thee, to deliver thee, sayeth the LORD."

Then said the LORD, "Thou hast seen right, for I will watch diligently upon my word, to perform it."

Then said the LORD unto me, "Out of the north shall come a plague upon all the dwellers of the land.

For lo, I will call all the officers of the kingdoms of the north, sayeth the LORD. And they shall come, and every one shall set his seat in the gates of Jerusalem, and in all their walls round about and through all the cities of Judah.

And through them shall I declare my judgment, upon all the wickedness of those men that have forsaken me: that have offered unto strange gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

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.

For behold, this day do I make thee a strong fenced town, an iron pillar, and a wall of steel against the whole land; against the kings and mighty men of Judah; against the priests and people of the land.

Thou Israel wast hallowed unto the LORD, and so was his firstfruits. All they that devoured Israel, offended: misfortune fell upon them, sayeth the LORD."

Hear therefore the word of the LORD, O thou house of Jacob, and all the generation 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.

Go into the Isles of Chittim, and look well; send unto Kedar, and take diligent heed; and see, whether such things be done there,

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.

"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,

and among all green trees. Whereas I planted thee out of noble grapes and good roots. How art thou turned then into a bitter, unfruitful, and strange grape?

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.'

Wherefore then will ye go to law with me, seeing ye all are sinners against me, sayeth the LORD?

If ye be the people of the LORD, then hearken unto his word: Am I then become a wilderness unto the people of Israel? Or a land that hath no light? Wherefore sayeth my people then, 'We are lords; and we will come no more unto thee'?

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.

Yet darest thou say, 'I am guiltless: Tush, his wrath cannot come upon me.' Behold, I will reason with thee because thou darest say, 'I have not offended.'

O how evil will it be for thee to abide it, when it shall be known how oft thou hast gone backward? For thou shalt be confounded as well of Egypt, as thou wast of the Assyrians.

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?

Hast thou seen also, when she had done all this, how I said unto her that she should turn again unto me, and yet she is not returned? Judah, that unfaithful sister of hers also saw this:

Namely, that after I had well seen the adultery of the shrinking harlot Israel, I put her away, and gave her a bill of divorcement. For all this, her unfaithful sister Judah was not ashamed, but went back and played the whore also.

Yea, and the noise of her whoredom hath defiled the whole land. For she hath committed her adultery with stones and stocks.

Nevertheless, her unfaithful sister Judah is not turned unto me again with her whole heart, but feignedly, sayeth the LORD."

and therefore go preach these words toward the north, and say, 'Thou shrinking Israel, turn again, sayeth the LORD; and I will not turn my face from you, for I am merciful, sayeth the LORD. And I will not always bear displeasure against thee:

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 ye shrinking children, turn again, sayeth the LORD: and I will be married with you. For I will take one out of the city, and two out of one generation from among you, and bring you out of Zion:

and I will give you herdsmen after mine own mind, which shall feed you with learning and wisdom.

Then shall Jerusalem be called the LORD's seat, and all Heathen shall be gathered unto it, for the name of the LORD's sake, which shall be set up at Jerusalem. And from that time forth, they shall follow no more the imagination of their own froward heart.

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

And shalt swear, 'The LORD liveth' in truth, in equity and righteousness: and all people shall be fortunable and joyful in him."

For thus sayeth the LORD, to all Judah and Jerusalem, "Plow your land, and sow not among the thorns.

Be circumcised in the LORD, and cut away the foreskins of your heart, all ye of Judah, and all the indwellers of Jerusalem: that my indignation break not out like fire, and kindle so that no man may quench it, because of the wickedness of your imaginations."

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 token in Zion, speed you, and make no tarrying: for I will bring a great plague, and a great destruction from the north.

After that shall there come unto me a strong wind, and then will I also give sentence upon them."

They cry murder upon murder; the whole land shall perish. Immediately my tents were destroyed, and my hangings, in the twinkling of an eye.

"Nevertheless this shall come upon them because my people is become foolish, and hath utterly no understanding. They are the children of foolishness, and without any discretion. To do evil, they have wit enough: but to do well, they have no wisdom."

I beheld the mountains, and they tremble, and all the hills were in a fear.

I looked about me, and there was nobody, and all the birds of the air were away.

I marked well, and the plowed field was become waste: yea, all their cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and indignation of his wrath.

For thus hath the LORD said, "The whole land shall be desolate, yet will I not then have done.

And therefore let the earth mourn, and let the heaven be sorry above: for the things that I have purposed and taken upon me to do, shall not repent me, and I will not go from it."

The whole land shall flee, for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen: they shall run into dens, into woods, and climb up the stony rocks. All the cities shall be void, and no man dwelling therein.

Therefore will I go unto their heads and rulers, and talk with them: if they know the way of the LORD, and the judgments of our God." But these, in like manner, have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds in sunder.

Wherefore a lion out of the wood shall hurt them, and a wolf in the evening shall destroy them. The cat of the mountain shall lie lurking by their cities, to tare in pieces all them that come thereout. For their offenses are many, and their departing away is great.

"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.

Lo, I will bring a people upon you from far, O house of Israel, sayeth the LORD; a mighty people, an old people, a people whose speech thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

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.

Nevertheless, I will not then have done with you, sayeth the LORD.

But if they say, 'Wherefore doth the LORD our God all this unto us?' Then answer them, 'Because, that like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your own land, even so shall ye serve other gods also in a strange land!'"

Should I not punish these things, sayeth the LORD? Should I not be avenged of all such people as these be?"

The Prophets teach falsely, and the priests follow them, and my people hath pleasure therein. What will come thereof at the last?

I will liken the daughter of Zion to a fair and tender woman, and to her shall come the shepherds with their flocks.

"Make battle against her!" shall they say. "Arise, let us go up, while it is yet day!" "Alas, the day goeth away, and the night shadows fall down!"

For thus hath the LORD of Hosts commanded: "Hew down her trees, and set up bulwarks against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished, for in her is all maliciousness.

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.

"For from the least unto the most, they hang all upon covetousness: and from the prophet unto the priest, they go all about with falsity and lies.

And beside that, they heal the hurt of my people with sweet words, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace at all.

Thus sayeth the LORD, "Go into the streets, consider and make inquisition for the old way: and if it be the good and right way, then go therein, that ye may find rest for your souls. But they say, 'We will not walk therein.'

And I will set watchmen over you, and therefore take heed unto the voice of the trumpet. But they say, 'We will not take heed.'

Hear thou earth also: behold, I will cause a plague come upon this people, even the fruit of their own imaginations. For they have not been obedient unto my words and to my law, but abhorred them.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD, 'Behold, I will make this people fall, and there shall fall from among them the father with the children; one neighbour shall perish with another.'"

with bows and with darts shall they be weaponed. It is a rough and fierce people, an unmerciful people: their voice roareth like the sea, they ride upon horses well appointed to the battle against thee, O daughter Zion!"

For they are all unfaithful and fallen away, they hang upon filthy lucre; they are clean brass and iron, for they hurt and destroyed every man.

"Stand under the gates of the LORD's house, and cry out these words there, with a loud voice, and say, Hear the word of the LORD all ye of Judah, that go in at this door, to honour the LORD.

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel. Amend your ways and your counsels, and I will let you dwell in this place.

"For if ye will amend your ways and counsels, if ye will judge right betwixt a man and his neighbour;

If ye will not oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow; if ye will not shed innocent blood in this place; if ye will not cleave to strange gods to your own destruction;

then will I let you dwell in this place, yea in the land that I gave afore time unto your fathers forever.

Then come ye, and stand before me in this house, which hath my name given unto it, and say 'Tush, we are absolved quite, though we have done all these abominations.'

Go to my place in Shiloh, whereunto I gave my name afore time, and look well what I did to the same place for the wickedness of my people of Israel.

And now, though ye have done all these deeds, sayeth the LORD, and I myself rose up ever betimes to warn you and to commune with you, yet would ye not hear me: I called, ye would not answer.

And therefore even as I have done to Shiloh, so will I do to this house that my name is given unto, and that ye put your trust in: yea, unto the place that I have given to you and your fathers.

And I shall thrust you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren the whole seed of Ephraim.

"Therefore thou shalt not pray for this people; thou shalt neither give thanks, nor bid prayer for them: thou shalt make no intercession to me for them for in no wise will I hear thee.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD God, "Behold, my wrath and my indignation shall be poured out upon this place, upon men and cattle, upon the trees in the field and all fruit of the land, and it shall burn so, that no man may quench it."

but this I commanded them, saying, 'Hearken and obey my voice, and I shall be your God, and ye shall be my people: so that ye walk in all the ways, which I have commanded you, that ye may prosper.'

And this have they done, from the time that your fathers came out of Egypt, unto this day. Nevertheless, I sent unto them my servants, all the prophets. I rose up early and sent them word,

"And thou shalt now speak all these words unto them, but they shall not hear thee: thou shalt cry upon them, but they shall not answer thee.

Wherefore cut off thine hair, and cast it away; take up a complaint in the whole land, for the LORD shall cast away and scatter the people, that he is displeased withal.'

And as for the voice of mirth and gladness of the cities of Judah and Jerusalem; the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride: I will make them cease, for the land shall be desolate."

and laid against the Sun, the Moon and all the heavenly host: whom they loved, whom they served, whom they ran after, whom they sought and worshipped. They shall neither be gathered together nor buried, but shall lie upon the earth, to their shame and despising.

And all they that remain of this wicked generation, shall desire rather to die than to live: wheresoever they remain, and whereas I scatter them, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

Wherefore then is this people and Jerusalem gone so far back, that they turn not again? They are ever the longer, the more obstinate, and will not be converted.

For I have looked, and considered: but there is no man that speaketh a good word. There is no man that taketh repentance for his sin, that will so much as say, 'Wherefore have I done this?' But every man, as soon as he is turned back, runneth forth still, like a wild horse in a battle.

The Stork knoweth her appointed time; the Turtledove, the Swallow and the Crane consider the time of their travail: but my people will not know the time of the punishment of the LORD.

Wherefore, I will give their wives unto aliens, and their fields to destroyers. For from the lowest to the highest, they follow all filthy lucre: and from the Prophet unto the priest, they deal all with lies.

Nevertheless, they heal the hurt of my people with sweet words, saying, 'Peace, peace,' where there is no peace at all.

Moreover, I will gather them in, sayeth the LORD, so that there shall not be one grape upon the vine, neither one fig upon the fig tree, and the leaves shall be plucked off. And the thing that I have given to them shall be taken from them."

"Then shall the noise of his horses be heard from Dan; the whole land shall be afraid at the neigh of his strong horses. For they shall go in, and devour the land, with all that is in it: the cities, and those that dwell therein.

Moreover, I will send Cockatrices and serpents among you which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you," sayeth the LORD.

O Who will give my head water enough, and a well of tears for mine eyes, that I may weep night and day for the slaughter of my people?

Would God that I had a cottage somewhere far from folk, that I might leave my people, and go from them: for they be all adulterers and a shrinking sort.

They bend their tongues like bows, to shoot out lies: As for the truth, they may nothing away with all in the world. For they go from one wickedness to another, and hold nothing of me, sayeth the LORD.

They have set their stole in the midst of deceit, and for very dissembling falsity they will not know me, sayeth the LORD.