Is Israel a servant? Or is he a servant of the house? Why has he become a prey?

Why will you plead with Me? You all have sinned against Me, says Jehovah.

O generation, see the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, We roam freely; we will come no more to You?

Why did you trim your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught the evil women your ways.

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

Why shall I pardon you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me, and have sworn by No-gods. When I adjured them, then they committed adultery, and gathered themselves by troops in a harlot's house.

And it will be, when you shall say, Why does Jehovah our God do all these things to us? Then You shall answer them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Why does frankincense come to Me from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not pleasing, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.

Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a never-ending backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.

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

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a far country. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign vanities?

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of My people not come?

Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?

Righteous are You, O Jehovah, that I might contend with You; yet let me speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those happy who deal treacherously?

And if you say in your heart, Why do these things come on me? It is because of the greatness of your iniquity; your skirts are bared, and your heels suffer violence.

O the Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a traveler turning in to lodge?

Why should You be as a man stunned, as one mighty, yet who cannot save? Yet You, O Jehovah, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us!

Have You utterly rejected Judah? Or has Your soul hated Zion? Why have You stricken us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for the time of healing, and behold, trouble!

Why has my pain been without end, and why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You surely are to me like a deceitful brook, waters that cannot be trusted.

And it shall be, when you declare to this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?

Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame?

And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each one to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done this to this great city?

Is this man Coniah a despised broken jar? Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they do not know?

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

Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Jehovah has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. For why should this city be laid waste?

Now therefore why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?

Ask now, and see whether a man is giving birth? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Why do you cry over your crushing? Your pain is incurable, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many, I have done these things to you.

For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it,

And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, So says Jehovah: You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause man and beast to cease from there?

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Please let me go. And I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know. Why should he kill you so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?

And now so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and babe, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

Why have I seen that they are afraid, turned backward? And their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled for refuge, and they do not look back. Terror is all around, says Jehovah.

Why is your mighty one swept away? They did not stand, because Jehovah thrust him down.

So says Jehovah to the sons of Ammon: Has Israel no sons? Or has he no heir? Why does their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

Why do you glory in your valley, your flowing valleys, O backsliding daughter? she trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?