unto whom came the word of Yahweh, in the days of Josiah son of Amen king of Judah, - in the thirteenth year of his reign;

So then, the word of Yahweh came unto me, saying:

Then said I - Ah! My Lord Yahweh! Lo! I know not how to speak, - For a child, am I!

Then said Yahweh unto me, Do not say, A child, am, I, - For against whomsoever I send thee, shalt thou go, And whatsoever I command thee, shalt thou speak:

Be not afraid of their faces, For with thee, am I, to deliver thee Declareth Yahweh.

Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth, - and Yahweh said unto me, Lo! I have put my words in thy mouth.

Moreover the Word of Yahweh came unto me saying, What canst thou see Jeremiah? And I said, A twig of an almond-tree, can I see.

Then said Yahweh unto me - Thou hast rightly seen, - for keeping watch, am I over my word to perform it.

And the word of Yahweh came unto me a second time saying, What canst thou see? And I said, A boiling caldron, Can I see, with, the front thereof lion the North.

Then said Yahweh unto me, - Out of the North, shall break forth calamity, against all the inhabitants of the land.

For behold me! calling for all the families of the kingdoms of the North, Declareth Yahweh, - and they shall come, and set every one his throne at the opening of the gates of Jerusalem and against all her walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah!

And they will fight against thee but shall not prevail against thee, - for with thee, am I, Declareth Yahweh, to deliver thee.

And the word of Yahweh came unto me, saying;

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying - Thus saith Yahweh, I remember in thy behalf, the lovingkindness of thy youthful days, The love of thy bridal estate, - Thy coming out after me, Through the desert, Through a land, not sown:

Holiness, was Israel unto Yahweh, The first-fruit of his increase, - All that devoured it, were held guilty, Calamity used to come upon them, - Declareth Yahweh.

Hear ye the word of Yahweh O house of Jacob, And all the families of the house of Israel.

Thus, saith Yahweh, - What did your fathers find in me by way of perversity, that they removed far from me, - and went after vanity, and became vain?

Neither said they, Where is Yahweh, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, - Who led us Through the desert, Through a land of wastes and clefts, Through a land of parched places and of death-shade, Through a land, Along which no man had passed, And in which no son of earth dwelt?

The priests, said not Where is Yahweh? And, they who handled the law, did not acknowledge me, And the shepherds transgressed against me, - And the prophets, prophesied by Baal, And so after things that could not profit, did they walk.

Therefore yet further will I plead with you Declareth Yahweh, Yea with your children's children, will I plead.

Be amazed, O ye heavens, at this, - And shudder, be dried up utterly, Urgeth Yahweh.

Is not this what thou wast certain to do for thyself, - in that thou didst forsake Yahweh thy God, when he was leading thee by the way?

Let thy wickedness correct thee And thine apostasies, rebuke thee, Know therefore and see That it is a wicked thing and a bitter, that thou shouldest have forsaken Yahweh thy God, And that the dread of me should not have pertained to thee, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

For though thou wash thee with nitre, And take thee much soap, Yet is thine iniquity inscribed before me Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

Wherefore, should ye plead against me, All of you, have transgressed against me Declareth Yahweh.

O generation see, ye, the word of Yahweh, A desert, became I unto Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Wherefore, have my people said, We have roved about, We will not come in any more unto thee?

Even from this one, shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head, - For Yahweh hath rejected those in whom thou confidest, and thou shalt not prosper with them.

He hath said, If a man send away his wife, and she go from him and become another man's, will he return unto her, again? would not that land be, utterly defiled? And, thou, hast been unchaste with many neighbours, and yet thinkest to return unto me! Declareth Yahweh.

And Yahweh said unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen what apostate Israel, did? She used to go upon every high mountain and beneath every green tree, and commit unchastity there.

yet, in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah returned not unto me, with all her heart, - but, falsely, Declareth Yahweh.

Then said Yahweh unto me, - Apostate Israel, hath justified herself, - more than treacherous Judah.

Go, and proclaim these words, towards the North and say - Return! thou apostate - Israel, Urgeth Yahweh, I will not lower my face against you, - for full of lovingkindness, I am, Declareth Yahweh, I will not maintain mine anger unto times age-abiding.

Only, acknowledge thine iniquity, that against Yahweh thy God, hast thou transgressed, - and hast gone hither and thither unto foreigners under every green tree, and unto my voice, ye have not hearkened Declareth Yahweh.

Return, ye apostate sons, Urgeth Yahweh, for, I, am become your husband, - therefore will I take you one of a city, and two of a family, and will bring you to Zion;

And it shall come to pass when ye shall be multiplied and become fruitful in the land, in those days, Declareth Yahweh, They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh, Neither shall it come up on the heart, Neither shall they remember it, Neither shall they miss it, Neither shall it be made any more.

At that time, shall they call Jerusalem, The throne of Yahweh, and there shall be gathered unto her all the nations - to the Name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem; and they shall walk no more after the stubbornness of their own wicked heart.

But indeed as a wife goeth treacherously from her husband, so, have ye acted treacherously with me, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh.

A voice on the bare heights, is heard, The weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel, - Because they have perverted their way, Have forgotten Yahweh their God.

Return ye apostate sons, I will heal your apostasies! Behold us! we have come unto thee, For thou, art Yahweh our God.

Surely, to falsehood, pertain the hills The noisy throng on the mountains, - Surely, in Yahweh our God, is the salvation of Israel!

We must lie down in our shame And our reproach, be our covering, For, against Yahweh our God, have we sinned, We and our fathers, from our youth even until this day, - Neither have we hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh our God.

If thou wilt return, O Israel, Declareth Yahweh, Unto me, mayst thou return, - And if thou wilt remove thine abominations from before me, Then shalt thou not become a wanderer.

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.

For thus saith Yahweh Unto the men of Judah and unto Jerusalem, Till ye the untilled ground, - And do not sow among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves unto Yahweh So shall ye remove the impurity of your heart, ye men of Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, - Lest mine indignation, go forth as fire, and burn and there be none to quench it, Because of the wickedness of your doings.

On this account, gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl, - Because the glow of the anger of Yahweh hath not turned from us.

And it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth Yahweh, That the courage of the king shall fail, And the courage of the princes, - And the priests shall be astonished, And, the prophets, shall be amazed.

Then said I, - Ah! My Lord Yahweh! Surely, thou hast suffered this people and Jerusalem to be beguiled, saying, Peace, shall ye have, - whereas the sword shall reach unto the soul.

As the keepers of a field, have they come against her round about, - For against me, hath she rebelled, Declareth Yahweh.

I beheld, And lo! the garden-land, was a desert, - And, all its cities, had been broken down, Because of Yahweh, Because of the glow of his anger!

For, thus, saith Yahweh, A desolation, shall all the land become - Nevertheless a full end, will I not make.

Even though they say By the life of Yahweh, Yet in fact falsely, do they swear.

O Yahweh! thine own eyes, are they not directed to fidelity? Thou hast smitten them Yet have they not grieved, Thou hast consumed them - They have refused to receive correction, - They have made their faces bolder than a cliff, They have refused to return.

And, I, said, - Only, poor people, are they, - They act foolishly, For they know not the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God!

I will betake me unto the great men, and will speak, with them! For, they, know the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God! Yea but, they, with one accord have broken the yoke, torn off the bands.

For these things, shall I not punish? Demandeth Yahweh: Yea on a nation such as this, must not my soul avenge herself?

Scale ye her walls and destroy, But a full end, do not make, - Remove her tendrils, For not to Yahweh, do, they, belong!

For very treacherously, have the house of Israel and the house of Judah dealt with me, Declareth Yahweh.

They have acted deceptively against Yahweh, And have said, Not He! Neither shall there come upon us, calamity, Nor sword nor famine, shall we see;

Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, Because ye have spoken this word, - Behold me! making my words in thy mouth to be fire, And, this people, - wood, So shall it devour them.

Behold me! bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh, - A nation invincible, it is, A nation from age-past times, hath it been, A nation whose tongue thou shalt not know, Neither shalt thou understand what it speaketh:

Yet, even in those days, Declareth Yahweh, Will I not make of you, a full end.

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, For what cause hath Yahweh our God done to us all these things? Then shalt thou say unto them, - As ye forsook me, and served the gods of the foreigner in your own land, So, shall ye serve aliens in a land not your own.

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,

Neither have they said in their heart, - Let us we pray you, revere Yahweh our God, Who giveth rain, even the early and the latter, in its season, - The appointed weeks of harvest, he reserveth for us.

Upon these things, shall I not bring punishment? Demandeth Yahweh. Or, on a nation such as this, shall not my soul avenge herself?

For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Cut ye down timber, And cast up, against Jerusalem a mound, - That, is the city to be punished! There is, nothing, but oppression in her midst;

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel - Turn back thy hand, as a grape gatherer over the tendrils.

Unto whom, can I speak - and bear witness, that they may hear? Lo! uncircumcised, is their ear, that they cannot attend, - Lo! the word of Yahweh, hath become to them a reproach, they take no delight therein.

So then with the indignation of Yahweh, am I full I am too weary to hold it in, am constrained to pour it out, upon the boy in the street, and upon the circle of young men, together, - For, even husband with wife, will be captured, The eider with him who is full of days;

And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together, - For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, Declareth Yahweh.

Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing, they had done! Nay! they did not, at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how, to exhibit shame, Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when I punish them, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh.

Thus saith Yahweh - Stand ye at the ways - and see, And ask for the paths of age-past times, Where is the good way? And walk therein, And ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein !

Wherefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! laying before this people, stumblingblocks, - And fathers and sons together, shall stumble against them, The neighbour and his friend, shall perish.

Thus, saith Yahweh, Lo! a people coming in from the land of the North, - Yea a great nation, shall be stirred up out of the remote parts of the earth:

Rejected silver, are they called, For, Yahweh, hath rejected them.

The word that came unto Jeremiah, from Yahweh saying: -

Stand thou in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and thou shalt proclaim there this word, - and shalt say - Hear ye the word of Yahweh all Judah ye who are entering in at these gates, to bow down unto Yahweh:

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts God of Israel, Amend your ways, and your doings, - That I may cause you to dwell in this place.

Do not, on your part trust in false words, saying, - The temple of Yahweh The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh they are!

A den of robbers, hath this house on which my Name hath been called become in your own eyes? I, also, - lo! I have seen it Declareth Yahweh.

Now, therefore - Because ye have done all these deeds Declareth Yahweh, - And though I spake unto you betimes speaking, Yet ye hearkened not, And though I cried unto you Yet ye answered not,

Is it me, they are provoking? Enquireth Yahweh, - Is it not themselves, - unto the shame of their own faces?

Wherefore, Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh - Lo! mine anger and mine indignation, are about to be poured out upon this place, On man and on beast, and On the tree of the field and On the fruit of the ground, - And it shall burn and shall not be quenched.

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts God of Israel, - Your ascending-offerings, add ye unto your peace-offerings and eat ye flesh.

But thou shalt say unto them, - This, is the nation that hearkened not unto the voice of Yahweh its God, Neither accepted they correction, - Perished is fidelity, And is cut off out of their mouth.

Cut thou off thy crown of hair O Jerusalem , and cast it away, And lift thou up on the bare heights, a dirge, - For Yahweh hath rejected and cast out the generation with which he was wroth.

For the sons of Judah, have done, that which was wicked in mine eyes, Declareth Yahweh, - They have set their abominations in the house whereon my Name hath been called to defile it;

Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be called any more - The Topheth, nor The valley of Ben-hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter, - And they shall bury in Topheth, for want of place;

At that time, Declareth Yahweh, Shall they bring forth, The bones of the kings of Judah, and The bones of his princes, and The bones of the priests, and The bones of the prophets, and The bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Out of their graves,

Then shall, death, be chosen rather than life, by all the remnant of them that remain, of this wicked family, - in all the places, whither I have driven them, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.

Therefore shalt thou say unto them - Thus, saith Yahweh, Will men fall and not arise? Will one turn away, and not come back?

Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, And the turtle and the swallow and the crane, observe the season for coming; But my people know not the just sentence of Yahweh.

How can ye say, Wise, are, we, And the law of Yahweh, is with us? But indeed lo! falsely, hath dealt the false pen of the scribes!

Ashamed are the wise, dismayed and captured! Lo! the word of Yahweh, have they rejected, And, what wisdom, have, they?

Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing, they had done? Nay! they did not, at all turn pale Nay! they did not so much as know how to exhibit shame! Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when they are punished, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh:

I will, surely remove, them, declareth Yahweh: There shall be no grapes on the vine Nor figs on the fig-tree, Even the leaf, hath faded, Though I have given them these things, they shall pass away from them.

Why are, well sitting still? Gather yourselves together and let us enter the defenced cities And let us be silent there, - For, Yahweh our God, hath put us to silence And made us drink poisoned water, Because we have sinned against Yahweh.

For behold me! sending among you serpents - vipers which there is no charming, - And they shall fatally bite you declareth Yahweh.

Lo! the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a land far away, Is, Yahweh, not in Zion? Is, her King, not within her? Why, have they provoked me with their carved images, with their foreign vanities?