For thus says the Lord GOD, My people went down at first into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Depart you, depart you, go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no stately form nor splendor; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

Upon a lofty and high mountain have you set your bed: even there you went up to offer sacrifice.

You are wearied in the length of your way; yet you said not, There is no hope: you have found the life of your own hand; therefore you were not grieved.

There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

The way of peace they know not; and there is no justice in their paths: they have made themselves crooked paths: whosoever goes in them shall not know peace.

We all growl like bears, and mourn greatly like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

And there is none that calls upon your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of you: for you have hid your face from us, and have consumed us, because of our iniquities.

And I will bring forth a descendant out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man that has not fulfilled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.

For pass over the coasts of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.

Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a harlot's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.

I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if you can find a man, if there is any that executes justice, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.

Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: everyone that goes out there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there is no room.

For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then has not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Since as there is none like unto you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you is it due: since among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.

When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his storehouses.

Every man is senseless in his knowledge: every goldsmith is put to shame by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent anymore, and to set up my curtains.

And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their judgment.

Take the belt that you have bought, which is upon your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.

And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.

Because the ground is parched, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.

And the wild donkeys did stand in the high places, they sniffed at the wind like jackals; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

Have you utterly rejected Judah? has your soul loathed Zion? why have you smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? are not you he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon you: for you have made all these things.

Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that you know not, neither you nor your fathers; and there shall you serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor.

O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come unto you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.

Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever.

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

And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own plans, and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart.

And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you,

And shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.

And you, Pashhur, and all that dwell in your house shall go into captivity: and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and shall be buried there, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.

Thus says the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you from there;

And I will cast you out, and your mother that bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die.

But to the land to which they desire to return, there shall they not return.

And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Take yourself wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished.

There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines.

For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.

Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travails with child together: a great company shall return there.

And there is hope in your end, says the LORD, that your children shall come again to their own border.

And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers, and they that go forth with flocks.

And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, says the LORD: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.

Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

Thus says the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,

Thus says the LORD; if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus says the LORD; You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?

Then took Jeremiah another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

For though you had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself there in the midst of the people.

And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are deserting to the Chaldeans.

When Jeremiah had entered into the dungeon, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;

Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, he said, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray you, be accepted before you; that you cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sank in the mire.

My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the cistern; and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.

So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

Then you shall say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.

So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

And now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which were upon your hand. If it seems good unto you to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well after you: but if it seems wrong unto you to come with me into Babylon, remain here: behold, all the land is before you: where it seems good and convenient for you to go, there go.

Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the royal family, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.

Ishmael also killed all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.

That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.

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 of bread; and there will we dwell:

And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;

Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.

So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

Then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, You speak falsely: the LORD our God has not sent you to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:

And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace.

And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an oath, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

So that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but those that shall escape.

Behold, I will watch over them for harm, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them.

Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.

They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has passed the time appointed.