Against him, have been roaring wild lions, They have uttered their voice, - and have made his land a desolation, His cities, have been burned, so as to have no inhabitant.

Wilt thou not do this to thyself? thou didst forsake Jehovah thy God in the time of thy being led in the way.

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 had planted you [O house of Israel as] a choice vine,
A completely faithful seed.
How then have you turned against Me
Into degenerate shoots of a foreign and wild vine [alien to Me]?

How wilt thou say, I was not defiled? I went not after the Baalims? See thy way in the valley, know what thou didst; a young she camel entangling her ways;

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 barefoot, and thy throat from thirst: and thou wilt say, Despairing, no; for I loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Wherefore would ye contend with me? Ye all have transgressed against me, saith Jehovah.

I have struck down your children in vain;
they would not accept discipline.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets
like a ravaging lion.

How wilt thou make good thy way to seek love? for this also thou didst teach the evil ones thy ways.

And thou wilt say, Because I was innocent his anger turned back from me. Behold me judging thee for thy saying, I sinned not

Why wilt thou despise greatly to do the second time thy way? also thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wert ashamed of Assur.

Also from this thou wilt go forth and thy hands upon thy head: for Jehovah rejected thy trusts and thou shalt not give success to them.

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

Lift up thine eyes upon the naked hills and see where thou wert not lain with. Upon the ways thou didst sit for them as the ravens in the desert; and thou wilt defile the land with thy fornications and with thine evil

Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

Wilt thou then put me away and cast me off for ever? Or wilt thou withdraw thyself clean from me?' Nevertheless, thou speakest such words, but thou art ever doing worse and worse."

Only know thine iniquity that thou didst transgress against Jehovah thy God, and thou wilt scatter thy ways to strangers under every green tree, and to my voice ye heard not, says Jehovah.

“Then I said,

‘How [gloriously and honorably] I would set you among My children
And give you a pleasant land—a wonderful heritage,
The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father
And not turn away from following Me.’

If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

If thou wilt swear, By the life of Yahweh! in faithfulness in justice and in righteousness, Then shall the nations bless themselves in him, And, in him, shall they glory.

Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is pounding and throbbing within me;
I cannot be silent,
For you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.

I beheld, The earth; and lo! it was waste and wild, - The heavens also and their light was not:

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.

O Lord, do not your eyes see good faith? you have given them punishment, but they were not troubled; you have sent destruction on them, but they did not take your teaching to heart: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they would not come back.

Lusty, well-fed horses, had they become, Every man unto his neighbours wife, would neigh!

They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food:

“The prophets are like the wind [their prophecy will not come to pass],
And the word [of God] is not in them.
In this manner it will be done to them [as they prophesied, not to us].”

Lo, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah, A nation -- strong it is, a nation -- from of old it is, A nation -- thou knowest not its tongue, Nor understandest what it speaketh.

They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.

Even for me, will ye have no reverence? Enquireth Yahweh, And because of me, will ye not he pained? In that though I placed the sand as a bound to the sea, A decree age-abiding, and it should not pass beyond it, - When they would toss themselves Then should they not prevail, When the waves thereof would roar Then should they not pass beyond it,

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as they would the vine. Pass your hand over them like grape gatherers over the branches.

I answered, "Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? Their ears are so closed that they cannot hear! Indeed, what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all.

But I am full of the wrath (judgment) of the Lord;
I am tired of restraining it.
“[I will] pour it out on the children in the street
And on the young men gathered together;
For both the husband and wife shall be taken,
The aged and the very old [though full of days they are not exempt from judgment].

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Give ear, O earth: see, I will make evil come on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not given attention to my words, and they would have nothing to do with my law.

My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the dust.
Mourn as you would for an only son,
a bitter lament,
for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

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

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.

But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward.

Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but stiffened their neck; they did more evil and behaved worse than their fathers.

Therefore shalt thou speak unto them all these words, Though they do not hearken unto thee, - And thou shalt cry aloud unto them Though they do not answer thee; -

You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths.

The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.

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.

"I would have gathered them," declares the LORD, "but there were no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and their leaves were withered. What I've given them has been taken away."'"

When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.

If my head were a spring of water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
over the slain of my dear people.

If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.

I said, "I will weep and mourn for the grasslands on the mountains, I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone."

Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

and will keep my promise, that I have sworn unto your fathers: Namely, that I would give them a land which floweth with milk and honey, as ye see it is come to pass unto this day." Then answered I, and said, "Amen. It is even so, O LORD, as thou sayest."

Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.”

They are turned back to the sins of their fathers, who would not give ear to my words; they have gone after other gods and become their servants: the people of Israel and the people of Judah have not kept the agreement which I made with their fathers.

What is to my beloved in my house making mischief to many, and they shall cause the holy flesh to pass away from thee? for thou didst evil, then wilt thou exult

Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?

But thou O Yahweh, knowest me, Wilt thou observe me and try my heart towards thee? Drag them away, as sheep for slaughter, And hallow them for the day when they are to be slain.

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; even they have cried aloud after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

“Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me [unlike the others]?
Are the birds of prey (enemies) surrounding her on every side?
Go, gather all the [wild] beasts of the field;
Bring them to devour [her]!

For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

This thy lot and the portion of thy measure from me, says Jehovah; because thou didst forget me and thou wilt trust in falsehood.

I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?

And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

Thou hope of Israel, its Saviour in the time of trouble, why wilt thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a traveller that turneth aside to stay a night?

Why wilt thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, Jehovah, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name: leave us not.

Thou wilt not despise us; for sake of thy name, thou wilt not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, thou wilt not break thy covenant with us.

Then said Jehovah unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

"And I will summon over them four types of calamity," {declares} Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and to destroy.

Thou, hast abandoned, me, Declareth Yahweh, Backward, thou wilt go, Therefore have I stretched forth my hand against thee and laid thee waste, - I am weary of having compassion.

I scattered them with a winnowing fork
at the gates of the land.
I made them childless; I destroyed My people.
They would not turn from their ways.

Thou knewest, O Jehovah: remember me, and review me, and avenge for me from him pursuing me; not for being slow of thy wrath wilt thou take me away; know, I suffered reproach for thee.

Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

Therefore, thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah],
“If you repent [and give up this mistaken attitude of despair and self-pity], then I will restore you [to a state of inner peace]
So that you may stand before Me [as My obedient representative];
And if you separate the precious from the worthless [examining yourself and cleansing your heart from unwarranted doubt concerning My faithfulness],
You will become My spokesman.
Let the people turn to you [and learn to value My values]—
But you, you must not turn to them [with regard for their idolatry and wickedness].

"They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air, and for the wild animals of the earth."

And in this land shall they die, old and young, and shall not be buried: no man shall beweep them, no man shall clip or shave himself for them.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out its roots by the stream, and he shall not see when heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green; and in the year of drought he shall not be careful, neither shall he cease to yield fruit.

Behold, they keep saying to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord [that is, the disaster that you prophesied]?
Let it come now!”

Thou wilt not be for a terror to me; thou my refuge in the evil day.

Yet they would not listen and obey and control their behavior; but they were stiff-necked in order not to hear and take instruction.

Now and then there would be something wrong with the pot he was molding from the clay with his hands. So he would rework the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit.

If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

But My people have forgotten Me, to a vain thing they make perfume, And they cause them to stumble in their ways -- paths of old, To walk in paths -- a way not raised up,

And thou, O Jehovah, knewest all their counsel against me to kill: thou wilt not expiate for their iniquity, and their sin from before thee thou wilt not wipe away, and they shall be weak before thee; do with them in the time of thine anger.

Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests

I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon every town about it, all the plagues that I have devised against them: for they have been obstinate, and would not obey my warnings."

Thou didst persuade me, O Jehovah, and I shall be persuaded: thou didst hold me fast, and thou wilt prevail: I was for a derision all the day, all mocking to me.

For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.

Wherefore, I thought from henceforth not to speak of him, nor to preach anymore in his name. But the word of the LORD was a very burning fire in my heart and in my bones, which when I would have stopped, I might not.

I hear many whispering words of intrigue against me. Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! They are saying, "Come on, let's publicly denounce him!" All my so-called friends are just watching for something that would lead to my downfall. They say, "Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up, so we can prevail over him and get our revenge on him.

because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

For thus hath the LORD spoken upon the king's house of Judah: Thou art the head, as Gilead is in Lebanon: What wilt thou lay of it, if I make thee and thy cities also not so waste that no man shall dwell therein?

As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you [are] frightened by their presence, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

The anger of Yahweh, wilt not return, Until he hath executed nor Until he hath established The purposes of his heart, - In the afterpart of the days, shall ye understand it perfectly.

But if they had stood in my council, and had caused my people to hear my words, then would they have turned them from their evil way and from the wickedness of their doings.

"For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again what he said. But you would not listen.