Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,

Who is this that comes up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

Why boast yourself in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come against me?

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the thickets of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will arraign me? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I preserve.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the thickets of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will arraign me? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the LORD, who destroy all the earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.

Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,

He took also out of the city a eunuch, who had charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were the king's counsel, who were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:

The adversary has spread out his hand over all her precious things: for she has seen that the nations entered into her sanctuary, whom you did command that they should not enter into your congregation.

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are woven together, and come up upon my neck: he has made my strength to fall, the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

What thing shall I take to witness for you? what thing shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your run is vast as the sea: who can heal you?

Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their offspring, the children of their tender care? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.

And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them one who reproves: for they are a rebellious house.

Slay utterly old and young, both maidens, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the elders who were before the house.

And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim unto the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.

Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

Who say, It is not near for us to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel entirely, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.

Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

And say unto the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dismay, that their land may be emptied from all who are in it, because of the violence of all them that dwell in it.

That is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Lord GOD.

Likewise, you son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy you against them,

Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way, to save his life:

For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, who separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this act of your harlotries a small matter,

Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your allowance of food, and delivered you unto the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.

But as a wife that commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband!

Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will uncover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness.

You are your mother's daughter, that loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than you: yea, be disgraced also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

For thus says the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

But I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

Those that are near, and those that are far from you, shall mock you, who are infamous and full of tumult.

Who were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

Thus she committed her harlotries with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your mind is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side;

And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, who shall set against you buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I commit set judgment unto them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.

For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your mind is alienated:

That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bore unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

And furthermore, that you have sent for men to come from afar, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom you did wash yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments,

And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets upon their wrists, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword.

In that day shall your mouth be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

And her daughters who are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

And they shall take up a lamentation for you, and say to you, How are you destroyed, that were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, which was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who cause their terror to be on all that inhabit it!

Thus says the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.

Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.

Yet thus says the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they were scattered:

Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom are you like in your greatness?

To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shall you be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the lower parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD.

Whom do you surpass in beauty? go down, and be placed with the uncircumcised.

There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.

And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to sheol with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, who with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed those who were sick, neither have you bound up those who were broken, neither have you brought again those who were driven away, neither have you sought those who were lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.

I will seek those who were lost, and bring again those who were driven away, and will bind up those who were broken, and will strengthen those who were sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those who enslaved them.

To take plunder, and to carry off spoil; to turn your hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

Thus says the Lord GOD; Are you he of whom I have spoken in former times by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?

Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, who caused them to be led into captivity among the nations: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

And the chamber facing toward the north is for the priests, the keepers in charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, who come near to the LORD to minister unto him.

And you shall give to the priests, the Levites, that are of the descendants of Zadok, who approach unto me, to minister unto me, says the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.

And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say unto you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all its laws; and mark well those who may enter the house, going out from the sanctuary.

And the Levites who have gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.

And it shall come to pass, that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall bare children among you: and they shall be unto you as if born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; who have kept my charge, who went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

Young men in whom was no blemish, but handsome, and skilful in all wisdom, and gifted in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the language of the Chaldeans.

Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.

And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the young men who are of your age? then shall you make me endanger my head to the king.

Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who did eat the portion of the king's food.

Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:

I thank you, and praise you, O God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known unto me now what we desired of you: for you have now made known unto us the king's matter.

Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.

There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded you: they serve not your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

Now if you are ready that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, who speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap: because there is no other God that can deliver in this way.

But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,

There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, I say, your father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

Because an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and solving of riddles, and explaining of problems, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.

Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spoke and said unto Daniel, Are you that Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah?

And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be over the whole kingdom;

And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the satraps might give accounts unto them, and the king should suffer no loss.

Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regards not you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.

Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spoke and said unto Daniel, Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.

And when he came to the den, he cried with a grieved voice unto Daniel: and the king spoke and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?

And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came at the bottom of the den.

He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint who spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?