Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it."

Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north," says the LORD; "and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

"You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its officials, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you."

Israel was holiness to the LORD, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,"' says the LORD."

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

"Therefore I will yet contend with you," says the LORD, "and I will contend with your children's children.

"For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, 'I will not serve;' for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.

a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

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

who tell wood, 'You are my father;' and a stone, 'You have brought me out:' 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.'

"Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," says the LORD.

Generation, consider the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?'

How well you prepare your way to seek love. Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways.

Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.

"Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

"They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says the LORD.

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

"'Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way."

I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she did not return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says the LORD.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, you backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,' says the LORD. 'I will not keep anger forever.

"Return, backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem 'The throne of the LORD;' and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

"Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding." "Behold, we have come to you; for you are the LORD our God.

"If you will return, Israel," says the LORD, "if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;

Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety. Do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction."

For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn't turned back from us.

a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them."

As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'" says the LORD.

Destruction on destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.

I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

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

You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you dress yourselves with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.

"Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.

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

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Hosts, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand what they say.

Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

"But even in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a full end with you.

It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.

Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed everyone in his place."

As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.

Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down," says the LORD.

Thus says the LORD, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, 'Where is the good way?' and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not walk in it."

"I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet.'" But they said, "We will not listen."

Hear, earth. 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.'

"Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes. Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us."

"They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.

Men will call them 'rejected silver,' because the LORD has rejected them."

"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

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

Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered"; that you may do all these abominations?

Now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer:

therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

but this thing I commanded them, saying, 'Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

"You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.

Then will I 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."

and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the LORD of hosts.

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 every one deals falsely.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No. They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.

I will utterly consume them, says the LORD: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.'"

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 the LORD.

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."

"Take heed everyone of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?

"For the mountains will I 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; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone."

"I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."

therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.'"

"Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will punish all those who are circumcised in uncircumcision:

Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that 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 heart."

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

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 skillful men.

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

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

My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

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

which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, "Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so you shall be my people, and I will be your God;

The LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.