And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon.

And a curse shall be taken up from them by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

And these are the Words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

Ask now, and see whether a man is giving birth? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and all faces are turned into paleness?

There is none to plead your cause; for your ulcer there are no healing medicines for you.

All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many.

Why do you cry over your crushing? Your pain is incurable, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many, I have done these things to you.

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.

I have surely heard Ephraim mourning to himself, saying, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bull not broken in; turn me, and I shall be turned. For You are Jehovah my God.

In those days they shall not say any more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the sons are dull.

great in wisdom and mighty in work; for Your eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

For so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to defend against the siege-mounds and against the sword:

So says Jehovah: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is a waste 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;

Nor shall you build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have anything; but all your days you shall live in tents, so that you may live many days in the land where you are strangers.

But it happened when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the Chaldean army, and for fear of the Syrian army. So we are living at Jerusalem.

The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are done. For to this day they do not drink, but obey their father's commandment. But I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen to Me.

And the rulers said to Baruch, Go hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are.

And it happened, he being in the gate of Benjamin, a commander of the guard named Irijah was there, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans.

Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land?

And, behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought out to the king of Babylon's rulers, and they shall say, Your friends have urged you on, and have prevailed against you. Your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away.

But I will deliver you in that day, says Jehovah. And you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Please let me go. And I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know. Why should he kill you so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?

then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. And they found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.

And they said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our cry be pleasing to you, and pray for us to Jehovah your God, even for all this remnant, (for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes behold us),

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says Jehovah. For I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. And, behold, today they are a ruin, and no one lives there

Therefore My fury and My anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted, deserted as at this day.

They are not humbled to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in My Law, nor in My statutes which I have set before you and before your fathers.

Why have I seen that they are afraid, turned backward? And their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled for refuge, and they do not look back. Terror is all around, says Jehovah.

Who is this rising up like the Nile, whose waters are moved like the rivers?

Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation.

They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts and cannot be counted.

O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself into your sheath; rest and be still.

How do you say, We are mighty and strong men for war?

All you who are around him, mourn him. And all you who know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!

Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized; and the mighty men's hearts in Moab shall be at that day like the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish; for your sons are taken away into exile, and your daughters into exile.

Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, from all those who are around you. And you shall be driven out, each man straight forward; and there shall be none to gather up the runaways.

For so says Jehovah: Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have surely drunk. And are you to be entirely acquitted? You shall not be acquitted, but you shall surely drink.

Concerning Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard bad news. They are melted; anxiety is in the sea; it cannot be quiet.

Declare among the nations, and cause them to hear, and lift up a banner. Cause them to hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; her images are shamed, her idols are broken in pieces.

Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O destroyers of My inheritance; because you are fat like the heifer in grass, and bellow like bulls;

I have laid a trap for you, and you are also captured, O Babylon, and you did not know. You were found and also caught, because you have fought against Jehovah.

They lay hold on a bow and spear; they are cruel and will not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses arrayed like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon.

They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their judgment they shall perish.

You are My war-club and weapons of war; for with you I will shatter nations; and with you I will destroy kingdoms.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they have remained in strongholds; their might has failed. They became like women; they have burned her houses; her bars are broken.

and that the fords are stopped. And they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war are frightened.

Her cities are a desert, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass by it.

So, behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will punish her idols, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

because the ravager has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are captured. Every one of their bows is broken, for Jehovah, the God of vengeance, shall surely repay.

So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon.

And you shall say, In this way shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her. And they shall be weary. So far are the words of Jeremiah.

She bitterly weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt deceitfully with her; they became her enemies.

The roads of Zion mourn without any going to the appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

Her enemies have become as chief; her haters are at ease; for Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her sins. Her children have gone, captive before the enemy.

For these I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who could refresh my soul is far from me. My sons are desolated because the enemy prevails.

They hear that I sigh; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard my evil; they are glad that You have done it. You will bring the day that You have called, and they shall be like me.

Let all their wickedness come before You; and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

Her gates have sunk in the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her kings and her rulers are among the nations. The Law is no more; also her prophets also find no vision from Jehovah.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and are silent; they send up dust on their heads; they gird on sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

They say to their mothers, Where are grain and wine? In their fainting they are like the wounded in the streets of the city, in their pouring out their lives to their mothers' bosom.

Arise, cry out in the night. At the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of Jehovah. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your children who are faint for hunger in the head of every street.

He walled up my ways with cut stone; my paths are crooked.

And I said, My strength and my hope from Jehovah are gone.

It is by Jehovah's kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail.

They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

How the gold has become dim; the fine gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

The precious sons of Zion are weighed against pure gold; how they are counted as earthen vessels, the work of a potter's hand!

Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets; those reared in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.

Better are the ones slain by the sword than the ones slain by hunger; those who pine away, pierced because the fruits of my fields failed.

they reeled blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood, so that not any can touch their clothes.

While we are, our eyes fail, for our help is vain; in our watching we have watched for a nation; it does not save.

We are orphans and fatherless; our mothers are as widows.

We are pursued on our necks; we grow weary; rest is not given to us.

Our fathers have sinned and are not; we have borne their iniquities.

Our heart is faint for this; our eyes are dim for these things.

unless You have utterly rejected us; You are very angry against us.

And the sons are stiff of face, and hard of heart. I am sending you to them; and you shall say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah.

And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; for they are a rebellious house. Yea, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, and of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words, nor frightened by their faces, though they are a rebellious house.

And you shall speak My Words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are rebellious.

For you are not sent to a people of a deep lip and of a difficult language, but to the house of Israel;

But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are strong of forehead and hard of heart.

I have made your forehead as an adamant harder than flint. Do not be bowed down by their faces, though they are a rebellious house.

And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and shall not be one who warns them. For they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: He who hears, let him hear; and he who stops his ears, let him stop; for they are a rebellious house.

You shall burn a third part with fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part and beat around it with a sword; and you shall scatter a third part in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.

So says the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the middle of the nations, and all around her are the lands.

And she has changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and defiled My Laws more than the countries that are all around her; for they have rejected My judgments and My Laws; they have not walked in them.

Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you multiplied more than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in My Laws, neither have kept My judgments, nor have done according to the judgments of the nations all around you;

And I will make you a waste and a curse among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a chastening and a horror to the nations which are all around you, when I shall execute judgments against you in anger and in fury and in rebukes among them. I Jehovah have spoken it.

Yet I will leave a remainder that may be left to you some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the lands.

And My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways and your abominations that are in your midst. And you shall know that I am Jehovah who strikes.

For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision to all her multitude shall not return, and a man shall not hold his life strong in iniquity.

And He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his image room? For they are saying, Jehovah does not see us; Jehovah has forsaken the earth.

He also said to me, You turn again, and you shall see greater evils that they are doing.