Words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who are in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,

unto whom the word of Jehovah hath been in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign,

and it is in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, till the completion of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, till the removal of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

Holy is Israel to Jehovah, The first-fruit of His increase, All consuming him are guilty, Evil cometh in unto them, an affirmation of Jehovah.

Thus said Jehovah: What -- have your fathers found in Me perversity, That they have gone far off from Me, And go after the vanity, and become vain,

And have not said, Where is Jehovah, Who bringeth us up out of the land of Egypt, Who leadeth us in a wilderness, In a land of deserts and pits, In a dry land, and of death-shade, In a land -- none hath passed through it, Nor dwelt hath man there?'

The priests have not said, 'Where is Jehovah?' And those handling the law have not known Me. And the shepherds transgressed against Me, And the prophets have prophesied by Baal, And after those who profit not have gone.

Therefore, yet I plead with you, An affirmation of Jehovah, And with your sons' sons I plead.

Hath a nation changed gods? (And they are no gods!) And My people hath changed its honour For that which doth not profit.

And where are thy gods, that thou hast made to thyself? Let them arise, if they may save thee, In the time of thy vexation, For -- the number of thy cities have been thy gods, O Judah,

In vain I have smitten your sons, Instruction they have not accepted, Devoured hath your sword your prophets, As a destroying lion.

Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness.

And withheld are showers, and gathered rain hath not been. The forehead of a whorish woman thou hast, Thou hast refused to be ashamed.

And it hath come to pass, when ye are multiplied, And have been fruitful in the land, In those days -- an affirmation of Jehovah, They say not any more, 'The ark of the covenant of Jehovah,' Nor doth it go up on the heart, Nor do they remember concerning it, Nor do they inspect, nor is it made again.

In those days do the house of Judah Go unto the house of Israel, And they come together from the land of the south, unto the land That I caused your fathers to inherit.

Turn back, O backsliding sons, I cause your backslidings to cease. -- Behold us, we have come to Thee, For Thou art Jehovah our God.

Surely in vain from the heights, The multitude of mountains -- Surely in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.

And the shameful thing hath devoured The labour of our fathers from our youth, Their flock and their herd, Their sons and their daughters.

We have lain down in our shame, and cover us doth our confusion, For against Jehovah our God we have sinned, We, and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, Nor have we hearkened to the voice of Jehovah our God!

Be circumcised to Jehovah, And turn aside the foreskins of your heart, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury go out as fire, and hath burned, And there is none quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.

Gone up hath a lion from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations hath journeyed, He hath come forth from his place To make thy land become a desolation, Thy cities are laid waste, without inhabitant.

Make ye mention to the nations, Lo, sound ye to Jerusalem: 'Besiegers are coming from the land afar off, And they give forth against cities of Judah their voice.

For my people are foolish, me they have not known, Foolish sons are they, yea, they are not intelligent, Wise are they to do evil, And to do good they have not known.

I have looked to the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly.

Jehovah, Thine eyes, are they not on stedfastness? Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back.

And I -- I said, 'Surely these are poor, They have been foolish, For they have not known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.

For this I am not propitious to thee, Thy sons have forsaken Me, And are satisfied by that which is not god, I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, And at the house of a harlot They gather themselves together.

Go ye up on her walls, and destroy, And a completion make not, Turn aside her branches, for they are not Jehovah's,

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, Because of your speaking this word, Lo, I am making My words in thy mouth become fire, And this people wood, and it hath devoured them.

And it hath come to pass, when ye say, 'For what hath Jehovah our God done to us all these?' That thou hast said unto them, 'As ye have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So do ye serve strangers in a land not yours.

Me do ye not fear, an affirmation of Jehovah? From My presence are ye not pained? Who hath made sand the border of the sea, A limit age-during, and it passeth not over it, They shake themselves, and they are not able, Yea, sounded have its billows, and they pass not over.

And they have not said in their heart, 'Let us fear, we pray you, Jehovah our God, who is giving rain, The sprinkling and the gathered, in its season, The appointed weeks of harvest He keepeth for us.'

Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.

As a cage full of fowls, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.

Sanctify ye against her the battle, Rise, and we go up at noon. Woe to us, for turned hath the day, For stretched out are the shades of evening,

As the digging of a well, is for its waters, So she hath digged for her wickedness, Violence and spoil is heard in her, Before My face continually are sickness and smiting.

To whom do I speak, and testify, and they hear? Lo, their ear is uncircumcised, And they are not able to attend. Lo, a word of Jehovah hath been to them for a reproach, They delight not in it.

And with the fury of Jehovah I have been filled, (I have been weary of containing,) To pour it on the suckling in the street, And on the assembly of youths together, For even husband with wife are captured, An elder with one full of days,

They were ashamed when they did abomination! Yea, they are not at all ashamed, Yea, blushing they have not known, Therefore they do fall among those falling, In the time I have inspected them, They stumble, said Jehovah.

Thus said Jehovah: Stand ye by the ways and see, and ask for paths of old, Where is this -- the good way? and go ye in it, And find rest for yourselves. And they say, 'We do not go.'

Why is this to Me? frankincense from Sheba cometh, And the sweet cane from a land afar off, Your burnt-offerings are not for acceptance, And your sacrifices have not been sweet to Me.

Bow and javelin they take hold of, Fierce it is, and they have no mercy, Their voice as a sea doth sound, And on horses they ride, set in array as a man of war, Against thee, O daughter of Zion.

'We have heard its sound, feeble have been our hands, Distress hath seized us, pain as of a travailing woman.

All of them are turned aside by apostates, Walking slanderously -- brass and iron, All of them are corrupters.

Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and thou hast proclaimed there this word, and hast said, Hear a word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, who are coming in at these gates, to bow before Jehovah:

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Amend your ways, and your doings, And I cause you to dwell in this place.

Do not trust for yourselves Unto the words of falsehood, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah are they!

For, if ye do thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, If ye do judgment thoroughly Between a man and his neighbour,

Then I have caused you to dwell in this place, In the land that I gave to your fathers, From age even unto age.

Lo, ye are trusting for yourselves On the words of falsehood, so as not to profit.

A den of burglars hath this house, On which My name is called, been in your eyes? Even I, lo, I have seen, an affirmation of Jehovah.

But go ye, I pray you, Unto My place that is in Shiloh, Where I caused My name to dwell at first, And see that which I have done to it, For the wickedness of My people Israel.

And now, because of your doing all these works, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, And ye have not hearkened, And I call you, and ye have not answered,

I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh.

And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.

Art thou not seeing what they are doing In cities of Judah, and in streets of Jerusalem?

The sons are gathering wood, And the fathers are causing the fire to burn, And the women are kneading dough, To make cakes to the queen of the heavens, And to pour out libations to other gods, So as to provoke Me to anger.

Me are they provoking to anger? an affirmation of Jehovah, Is it not themselves, For the shame of their own faces?

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Your burnt-offerings add to your sacrifices, And eat ye flesh.

For I did not speak with your fathers, Nor did I command them in the day of My bringing them out of the land of Egypt, Concerning the matters of burnt-offering and sacrifice,

But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to My voice, And I have been to you for God, And ye -- ye are to Me for a people, And have walked in all the way that I command you, So that it is well for you.

And they have not hearkened, nor inclined their ear, And they walk in the counsels, In the stubbornness, of their evil heart, And are for backward, and not for forward.

Even from the day when your fathers Went out of the land of Egypt till this day, I send to you all my servants the prophets, Daily rising early and sending,

And they have not hearkened unto Me, Nor inclined their ear, and harden their neck, They have done evil above their fathers.

And have built the high places of Tophet, That are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters with fire, Which I did not command, Nor did it come up on My heart.

Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And it is not said any more, 'The Tophet,' And 'Valley of the son of Hinnom,' But 'Valley of the slaughter,' And they have buried in Tophet -- without place.

And have spread them to sun, and to moon, And to all the host of the heavens, that they have loved, And that they have served, And that they have walked after, And that they have sought, And to which they have bowed themselves, They are not gathered, nor buried, They are for dung on the face of the ground.

And chosen is death rather than life By all the remnant who are left of this evil family, In all the remaining places, whither I have driven them, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.

How do ye say, We are wise, And the law of Jehovah is with us? Surely, lo, falsely it hath wrought, The false pen of scribes.

Ashamed have been the wise, They have been affrighted, and are captured, Lo, against a word of Jehovah they kicked, And the wisdom of what -- have they?

They were ashamed when they did abomination! Yea, they are not at all ashamed, And blushing they have not known, Therefore, they do fall among falling ones, In the time of their inspection they stumble, said Jehovah.

I utterly consume them, an affirmation of Jehovah, There are no grapes in the vine, Yea, there are no figs in the fig-tree, And the leaf hath faded, And the strength they have passeth from them.

Wherefore are we sitting still? Be gathered, and we go in to the fenced cities, And we are silent there, For Jehovah our God hath made us silent, Yea, He causeth us to drink water of gall, For we have sinned against Jehovah.

Who doth give me in a wilderness A lodging-place of travellers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones.

A slaughtering arrow is their tongue, Deceit it hath spoken in its mouth, Peace with its neighbour it speaketh, And in its heart it layeth its ambush,

And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow.

For -- a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How have we been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because they have cast down our tabernacles.

But hear, ye women, a word of Jehovah, And your ear receiveth a word of His mouth, And teach ye your daughters wailing, and each her neighbour lamentation.

For death hath come up into our windows, It hath come into our palaces, To cut off the suckling from without, Young men from the broad places.

Lo, days are coming -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have laid a charge on all circumcised in the foreskin,

On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, And on the sons of Ammon, and on Moab, And on all cutting the corner of the beard, Who are dwelling in the wilderness, For all the nations are uncircumcised, And all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart!

Thus said Jehovah: Unto the way of the nations accustom not yourselves, And by the signs of the heavens be not affrighted, For the nations are affrighted by them.

For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, For a tree from a forest hath one cut, Work of the hands of an artificer, with an axe,

As a palm they are stiff, and they speak not, They are surely borne, for they step not, Be not afraid of them, for they do no evil, Yea, also to do good is not in them.

And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities is the tree itself.

Vanity are they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection they perish.

For thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, And have been an adversary to them, So that they are found out.

My tent hath been spoiled, And all my cords have been broken, My sons have gone out from me, and they are not, There is none stretching out any more my tent, And raising up my curtains.

That I commanded your fathers, In the day of My bringing them out from the land of Egypt, Out of the iron furnace, saying, Hearken to My voice, and ye have done them, According to all that I command you, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God,

In order to establish the oath that I have sworn to your fathers, To give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as this day. And I answer and say, 'Amen, O Jehovah.'

For I certainly testified against your fathers, In the day of My bringing them up out of the land of Egypt -- till this day, Rising early and testifying, saying, Hearken to My voice,

And they have not hearkened nor inclined their ear, And they walk each in the stubbornness of their evil heart, And I bring on them all the words of this covenant, That I commanded to do, and they did not.'

Therefore thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto them evil, That they are not able to go out from, And they have cried unto Me, And I do not hearken unto them.

And the cities of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem have gone, And they have cried unto the gods, To whom they are making perfume, And they give no deliverance at all to them, In the time of their vexation.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, who are seeking thy life, saying: Do not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, And thou dost not die by our hands.

And they have no remnant, For I bring evil unto the men of Anathoth, The year of their inspection!'

Till when doth the earth mourn, And the herb of the whole field wither? For the wickedness of those dwelling in it, Consumed have been beast and fowl, Because they said, 'He doth not see our latter end.'

They sowed wheat, and have thorns reaped, They have become sick -- they profit not, And they have been ashamed of your increases, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.

Thus said Jehovah concerning all my evil neighbours, who are striking against the inheritance that I caused my people -- Israel -- to inherit: 'Lo, I am plucking them from off their ground, And the house of Judah I pluck out of their midst.

and I go to Phrat, and dig, and take the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and lo, the girdle hath been marred, it is not profitable for anything.