For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

But draw near here, sons of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer and the harlot.

Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;

Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy so that it cannot hear.

I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul will be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the robes of salvation, He covered me with the robe of righteousness like a bridegroom adorns himself with ornaments, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes out as brightness, and her salvation as a burning lamp.

You will no more be called Forsaken; nor will your land any more be called Desolate; but you will be called My Delight is in her, and your land, Married; for Jehovah delights in you, and your land is married.

Therefore I will number you to the sword; and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because I called and you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear and did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.

But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and I will rejoice in My people; and the voice of weeping will no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying be heard in her.

And it will be, before they call I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

I also will choose the things that delude them, and I will bring their fears on them, because I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before My eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.

Hear the Word of Jehovah, you who tremble at His Word; your brothers who hated you, who cast you out for My name's sake, said, Let Jehovah be glorified. But He will appear to your joy, and they will be ashamed.

Before she travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a man child.

Who has heard a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will the earth be brought forth in one day? Or will a nation be born at once? For Zion travailed and also brought forth her sons.

Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn for her;

that you may suck and be satisfied with her comforting breasts; that you may milk out and be delighted with the fullness of her glory.

For so says Jehovah, Behold, I will hold out peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like a flowing stream. Then you will suck, you will be carried on her sides and be dandled upon her knees.

Hear the Word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

a wild ass used to the wilderness; in the desire of her passion she snuffs at the wind; in her time who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not tire themselves; in her month they will find her.

Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot with many lovers; yet come back to Me, says Jehovah.

And I said after she had done all these things, Turn to Me! But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce to her, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and whored, she also.

And it happened, from the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and fornicated with stones and stocks.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah.

Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.

Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around; because she rebelled against Me, says Jehovah.

How long shall I see the banner and hear the sound of the ram's horn?

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul faints because of murderers.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her.

Go up on her vine-rows and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's.

Now hear this, O foolish people and without heart; who have eyes and see not; who have ears and hear not;

The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch tents on her all around; they shall feed each one in his hand.

Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; always before Me are grief and wounds.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of Jehovah is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Therefore hear, nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My Words, nor to My Law, but have rejected it.

Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and declare there this Word, and say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah.

And now, because you have done all these works, says Jehovah, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer;

Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.

Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a weeping on the high places. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.

Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her seasons; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of 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?

I will take up a weeping and a wailing for the mountains, and a mourning for the pastures of the wilderness; because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone.

Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O women, and let your ear receive the Word of His mouth, and teach your daughters to weep, and each one teach her neighbor to mourn.

Hear the Word which Jehovah speaks to you, O house of Israel.

Hear the Words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem.

Then Jehovah said to me, Declare all these Words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the Words of this covenant, and do them.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My Words. And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.

And you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time they cry to Me for their trouble.

What is to My beloved in My house, since she has committed her many evils? And has the holy flesh caused your evil to pass from you? How then do you exult?

I have forsaken My house; I have left My inheritance. I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.

My inheritance is like a speckled bird to Me; the birds all around are against her. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.

This evil people, who refuse to hear My Words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.

For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear.

Hear and give ear; do not be proud; for Jehovah has spoken.

But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride. And my eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because Jehovah's flock was captured.

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague.

Their widows are more numerous about Me than the sand of the seas; I have brought on them, against a mother of a young man, a ravager at noonday; I have caused anguish and terror to fall on her suddenly.

She who bore seven languishes; she has breathed out her life; her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah.

And say to them, Hear the Word of Jehovah, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the people of Jerusalem who enter in by these gates!

But they did not obey, nor bowed down their ear, but made their neck stiff, so that they might not hear nor receive instruction.

Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My Words.

And say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and people of Jerusalem. So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which shall cause the ears of him who hears it to tingle.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their necks so that they might not hear My Words.

And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;

because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear the Word of Jehovah.

And say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

But if you will not hear these Words, I swear by Myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a ruin.

I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed My voice.

O earth, earth, earth! Hear the Word of Jehovah!

But if they had stood in My wisdom and had caused My people to hear My Words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.

And Jehovah has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not listened nor bowed down your ear to hear.

But hear now this word that I speak in your ears and in the ears of all the people:

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah. Jehovah has not sent you, but you make this people to trust in a lie.

because they have not listened to My Words, says Jehovah, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending; but you would not hear, says Jehovah.

And hear the Word of Jehovah, all you exiles, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon;

For I will give health back to you, and will heal you of your wounds, says Jehovah; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her.

So says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place.

Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off. And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd keeps his flock.

So says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.

And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the riches that I bring to it.

Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah: So says Jehovah of you, You shall not die by the sword.

It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I plan to do to them, that they may each man turn from his evil way, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

And Baruch read in the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance to the New Gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.

But Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had pleaded with the king that he should not burn the scroll, but he would not hear them.

And please hear now, O my lord the king; I beg you, let my cry be pleasing to you, so that you cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take in your hand thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet up out of the pit before he dies.

But if the rulers hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you;

saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread; and there we will dwell;

then now hear the Word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you surely set your faces to go into Egypt, and go to live there,

But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured by the sword and by the famine.

And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make our cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our men?

And Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah that is in the land of Egypt.