Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look, I do not know [how] to speak, for I [am] a youth."

But Yahweh said to me, "You must not say, 'I [am] a youth,' for to {whomever} I send you, you will go, and {whatever} I command you, you will speak.

Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, "Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, {saying}, "What [are] you seeing, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I [am] seeing a branch of an almond tree."

Then Yahweh said to me, "You did well to see, for I [am] watching over my word to perform it."

And the word of Yahweh came to me a second [time], {saying}, "What [are] you seeing?" And I said, "I [am] seeing a {boiling} pot, and its face [is] from [the] face of [the] north."

Then Yahweh said to me, "From [the] north disaster will be unleashed on all the inhabitants of the land.

For, look, I [am] calling to all [the] clans of [the] kingdoms of [the] north," {declares} Yahweh, "and they will come and set each one his throne [at] the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its surrounding walls, and against all the cities of Judah.

"For from long ago you have broken your yoke, you tore to pieces your bonds. And you said, 'I will not serve!' But on every high hill and under every leafy tree you [were] lying down [as] a prostitute.

Yet I planted you [as] a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me [into something that is] degenerate, the foreign vine?

Restrain your foot from [being] barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, '[It is] hopeless. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'

"Lift up your eyes at [the] barren heights, and see where you have not been ravished. Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert, and you have defiled [the] land with your fornication and with your wickedness.

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there.

Then Yahweh said to me, "Apostate Israel has proved herself more upright than treacherous Judah.

Then I thought, 'How I would set you among the children, and I would give you a land of desire, an inheritance of [the] glory of [the] hosts of nations.' And I thought, 'You would call me, "My father," and you would not turn back from {behind} me.'

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin {without} inhabitant.

Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It will be peace for you,' while the sword reaches up to the throat."

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "{A hot wind from the barren heights} in the desert, {in the direction of} the daughter of my people, not to winnow and not to cleanse,

Then I said, "[They are] just simple people, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Yahweh, the law of their God.

"They have denied Yahweh, and have said, 'Not he, {for} evil will not come on us, we will see neither sword nor famine.

And they do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear please Yahweh our God, the [one who] gives [the] autumn rain and [the] spring rain in its season, {the set times of the harvest} he keeps for us.'

For wicked people are found among my people, they lie in wait like the hiding of fowlers, they set up a trap, they catch humans.

Thus says Yahweh: "Stand at [the] roads and look, and ask for [the] ancient paths, where the way of the good [is], and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves. But they said, 'We will not walk [in it].'

And I raised up watchmen over you: 'Listen attentively to [the] sound of a horn.' But they said, 'We will not listen attentively.'

And I will cast you {out of my sight} just as I cast out all of your blood relatives, all of the offspring of Ephraim." '

For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," {declares} Yahweh, "They have set their abominations in the house that is called {by my name}, to defile it.

And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem [the] sound of jubilation, and [the] sound of joy, [the] voice of [the] bridegroom, and [the] voice of [the] bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.

And Yahweh said, "Because of their forsaking my law that I set {before} them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it,

Egypt, Judah, and Edom, and the {Ammonites}, and Moab, and all those who are trimmed to [the] side, those who live in the desert, for all the nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised of heart."

Woe to me, because of my wound. My wound [is] incurable. But I said, "Surely this [is my] sickness, and I must bear it."

in order to keep the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as [it is] this day." '" Then I answered and said, "{Let it be so}, O Yahweh."

And Yahweh said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, {saying}, 'Hear the words of this covenant and do them,

And Yahweh said to me, "A conspiracy is found among the {people} of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

For the number of your towns are your gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [are the] altars you have set up to the shameful things, to make smoke offerings to Baal.

Yahweh called your name, 'A leafy olive tree, {beautiful with fine fruit}.' With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing.

But you, Yahweh, you know me, you see me, and you test [that] my heart [is] with you. Tear them apart like sheep for [the] slaughtering, and set them apart for [the] day of slaughter.

{How long} will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? [The] animals and [the] birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future."

Thus Yahweh said to me: "Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not {place} it in water."

{And then}, {after a long time}, then Yahweh said to me, "Stand up, go [to the] Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there."

Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem [with] drunkenness.

"Say to the king and to the queen mother, '{Take a lower seat}, for {your beautiful crown} has come down from your head.'

So Yahweh said to me, "You must not pray for this people, for [their] happiness.

Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, look, the prophets [are] saying to them, 'You will not see [the] sword, and famine will not be yours, but reliable peace I will give to you in this place.'"

And Yahweh said to me, "The prophets [are] prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them, and I have not commanded them, and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, and a divination, worthless, and the deceitfulness of their {minds}."

Then Yahweh said to me, "[Even] if Moses and Samuel stood {before me}, my heart [would] not [be] to this people. Send [them] away from my {sight}, and let them go out.

She who gave birth to seven has withered away. She gasps her breath. Her sun {set} while still day. She has been put to shame and disgraced. And the remainder of them I will give to the sword {before} their enemies," {declares} Yahweh.

Yahweh said, "{Surely} I will set you free {to be good} for you, {surely} I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in a time of trouble, and in a time of distress.

I sat not in the assembly of jokers, [nor did] I exult. Because of the {presence} of your hand I sat alone, for you filled me [with] indignation.

And you shall not enter [the] house of [the] banquet, to sit with them, to eat and drink."

{Therefore} look, days [are] coming,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and it will no longer be said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from the land of Egypt,"

Thus said Yahweh to me, "Go, and you must stand in the {People's Gate} through which the kings of Judah enter, and through which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

then kings and officials who sit on the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the people of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited {forever}.

But [if] it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do [to] it.

Then they said, "Come and let us plan plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not be lost from [the] priest, nor advice from [the] wise man, nor [the] word from [the] prophet. Come and {let us bring charges against him}, and let us not listen attentively to any of his words."

Thus said Yahweh, "Go and buy a potter's earthenware jar, and [take] some of the elders of the people, and some of the leaders of the priests,

Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people,

{And then} on the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "Yahweh will not call your name Pashhur, {but} Terror From All Around.

Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah:

For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good," {declares} Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire." '

And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself," {declares} Yahweh, "that this house will become a site of ruins." '"

I spoke to you {in the times you were secure}, [and] you said, 'I will not listen!' This [was] your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed my voice.

"I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies have said in my name, {saying}, 'I have dreamed! I have dreamed!'

And Yahweh asked me, "What [are] you seeing, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs--the good figs, very good, and the bad [figs], very bad, that cannot be eaten because of [their] bad quality."

For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. And I will build them and not annihilate [them], and I will plant them and not uproot [them].

And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine [of] wrath from my hand, and you must give it [to] all the nations to whom I [am] sending you to drink.

Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, [and] its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an [object of] hissing, and a curse, as [it is] this day;

and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who are trimmed to [the] side;

And you shall say to them, "Thus says Yahweh: 'If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set {before you},

When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the house of the king [to] the temple of Yahweh, and they sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh's [temple].

Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, {saying}, "{This man deserves the death sentence}, because he has prophesied against this city as that [which] you have heard with your ears."

Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, {saying}, "Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "{This man does not deserve} a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us."

Then men from the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembly of the people, {saying},

"Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, {saying}: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the {temple} as high places of wood." '

thus said Yahweh to me--"Make for yourself fetters and yokes and put them on your neck,

And you must not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a site of ruins?

'They will be brought [to] Babylon, and there they will stay until the day of my attending to them,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.'"

And it was in that [same] year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azzur, the prophet who [was] from Gibeon, said to me in the house of Yahweh before the eyes of the priests and all the people, {saying},

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet before the eyes of the priests and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh,

and Jeremiah the prophet said, "Amen! May Yahweh do so; may Yahweh fulfill your words that you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all the exiles from Babylon to this place.

Then Hananiah said before the eyes of all the people, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh, 'This is how I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, {within two years}, from the neck of all the nations.'" And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, "Please listen, Hananiah, Yahweh has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

Because you have said, 'Yahweh has raised up prophets for us [in] Babylon'--

Thus says Yahweh: 'Look, I [will] restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings, and [the] city will be rebuilt upon its mound, and [the] citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site.

"Set up for yourself road markers, make for yourself signposts, set your {mind} to the main road, [the] road [by which] you went. Return, O virgin of Israel, return to these your cities.

"Look, [the] days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah [with the] seed of humankind, and [with the] seed of animals.

"In those days they will say no longer, '{Parents} have eaten unripe fruit, and [the] teeth of [the] children {are set on edge}.'

{But} each will die because of his iniquity, {everyone} who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will {be set on edge}.

And Jeremiah said, "The word of Yahweh came to me, {saying},

Then Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the courtyard of the guard {according to} the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, 'Please buy my field that [is] at Anathoth, that [is] in the land of Benjamin, for to you [is] the claim of possession, and to you the redemption; buy [it] for yourself.' Then I knew that this [was] the word of Yahweh.

And I signed on the letter and sealed [it], and I called witnesses as witness, and I weighed out the money on a set of scales.

Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, "Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness," though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and [where] they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

"For this city has been for me [a cause] of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even until this day, [so I will] remove it from my {sight},

And they set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

Then I {set} {before} the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups, and I said to them, "Drink wine."

And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard, and it shall not be for you, but in tents you shall live all your days, so that you may live many days on the surface of the land where you [are] dwelling as aliens.'

and not to build houses [for] our living, and there is not vineyard, or field, or seed for us.