The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

Why gad you about so much to change your way? you also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

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 its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

They were as fed horses in the morning: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I punish them they shall be cast down, says the LORD.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down, says the LORD.

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!

For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

And their nobles have sent their little ones for water: they came to the cisterns, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

Because the ground is parched, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O LORD God of hosts.

Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you from there;

And I will cast you out, and your mother that bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die.

The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the rest of the elders who were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

All your lovers have forgotten you; they seek you not; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquity; because your sins were increased.

Why cry you over your affliction? your sorrow is incurable for the multitude of your iniquity: because your sins were increased, I have done these things unto you.

Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

But you shall die in peace: and with the ceremonial fires of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they burn incense for you; and they will lament you, saying, Alas lord! for I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.

When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;

And you were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

Yet they were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

Take you again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

Then took Jeremiah another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive unto Babylon.

And now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which were upon your hand. If it seems good unto you to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well after you: but if it seems wrong unto you to come with me into Babylon, remain here: behold, all the land is before you: where it seems good and convenient for you to go, there go.

Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.

Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;

Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;

Even all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.

Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,

Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Ishmael also killed all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.

And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, and cast them into the midst of a pit, he, and the men that were with him.

But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he refrained, and killed them not with their brethren.

Now the pit in which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was that which Asa the king had made for defense against Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.

Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.

But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

Now it came to pass, that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.

Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:

Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.

For you were hypocrites in your hearts, when you sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, where they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of food, and were well-off, and saw no evil.

Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, says the LORD.

Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O you destroyers of my heritage, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and bellow like bulls;

I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have contended against the LORD.

Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.

And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

Also the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

The two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.

And a capital of bronze was upon it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of bronze. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.

And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.

He took also out of the city a eunuch, who had charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were the king's counsel, who were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

And spoke kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,