"Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you your beautiful sheep?

Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you despise Zion? Why have you struck us, so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but no good came, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was doing work at the potter's wheel.

But the vessel he was working on with the clay was ruined in the potter's hand. So he remade it into another vessel that seemed appropriate to him.

When the priest Pashhur, Immer's son, who was the officer in charge of the LORD's Temple heard Jeremiah prophesying these words,

Let the day on which I was born be cursed. Don't let the day on which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.

This message from the LORD came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah. (This was also the first year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.)

There was also a man named Uriah, Shemaiah's son from Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied in the LORD's name. He prophesied about this city and this land in words similar to those of Jeremiah.

King Jehoiakim, all his troops, and all the officials heard his words, and the king sought to kill him. Uriah heard about this and was afraid, so he fled and went to Egypt.

Yet because Shaphan's son Ahikam supported Jeremiah, he was not handed over to the people for them to kill.

The letter was sent by Shaphan's son Elasah and by Hilkiah's son Gemariah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon, and it said,

This is what the LORD says: "The people who survived the sword, found favor in the desert while Israel was seeking rest.

Indeed, after I turned away, then I repented. And after I came to understand, I slapped my forehead. I was both ashamed and humiliated because I bear the disgrace of my youth.'"

It won't be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. It was the eighteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.

The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard at the palace of the king of Judah

"Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the LORD had said, and he told me, "Please buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin because you have the right to possess it, and the right to redeem it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.' So I knew that this was a message from the LORD.

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and liquid offerings were poured out to other gods in order to provoke me.

This message from the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guard:

while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, namely Lachish and Azekah. (They were the only fortified cities that remained among the cities of Judah.)

Each person was to set free his male and female slaves who were Hebrews, so that no Jewish person would enslave his brother.

You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming release for one another, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.

I brought them to the LORD's Temple to the office of the descendants of Igdaliah's son Hanan, the man of God, which was next to the office of the officials, and which was above the office of Shallum's son Maaseiah, the keeper of the threshold.

In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, a fast was proclaimed in the LORD's presence in Jerusalem for all the people of Jerusalem, as well as all the people who were coming from the towns of Judah.

Then all the officials sent Nethaniah's son Jehudi, (who was also the grandson of Shelemiah and Cushi's great-grandson), to Baruch, who said, "Take the scroll that you read to the people and come." Neriah's son Baruch took the scroll with him and went to them.

The king was sitting in the winter palace in the ninth month and a stove was burning in front of him.

As Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut it with a scribe's knife and throw it into the fire which was in the stove, until all the scroll was burned in the fire in the stove.

Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people since he had not yet been put in prison.

When the Chaldean army was leaving Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army,

He was in the Gate of Benjamin, and chief officer Irijah, Shelemiah's son and the grandson of Hananiah, was there. He arrested Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him: "You are going over to the Chaldeans!"

So King Zedekiah gave the order, and they assigned Jeremiah to the courtyard of the guard. Each day they gave him a loaf of bread from the bakers' street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Mattan's son Shephatiah, Pashhur's son Gedaliah, Shelemiah's son Jucal, and Malchijah's son Pashhur heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:

So they threw Jeremiah into a cistern that belonged to the king's son Malchijah and was located in the courtyard of the guard. When they let Jeremiah down with ropes, because there was no water in the cistern only mud Jeremiah sank into the mud.

Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch in the king's house, heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern. The king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,

then you are to say to them, "I was presenting my request to the king that I not be taken back to the house of Jonathan to die there.'"

Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

This is how Jerusalem was captured: In the tenth month of the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, the wall of the city was breached.

This message from the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was confined in the courtyard of the guard:

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had released him from Ramah, when he was bound in chains, along with all the exiles from Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken into exile in Babylon.

Now on the day after Gedaliah was killed, when as yet no one knew about it,

This is what the LORD says: "Look, I'm going to give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies and into the hands of those seeking his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking his life."

To Egypt: Concerning the army of King Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, which was encamped by the Euphrates River at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

Moab will be ashamed because of Chemosh just as the house of Israel was ashamed because of Bethel, their confidence.

Wasn't Israel an object of mocking for you? Wasn't he treated like a thief, so that whenever you spoke about him you shook your head in contempt?

"Israel is a scattered flock, driven out by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria, and then afterward King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnawed his bones.

Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, therefore the nations have gone mad.

Suddenly, Babylon fell down and was shattered. Wail for her! Bring balm for her wound, perhaps she will be healed.

This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet delivered to Neriah's son Seraiah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

The city was under siege until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe that there was no food for the people of the land.

The wall of the city was broken through, and all the soldiers fled, leaving the city at night through the gate between the two walls next to the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.

In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month it was the nineteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

There was too much bronze to weigh in the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze oxen that were under the sea, and the stands which King Solomon had made for the LORD's Temple.

Each of the pillars was twelve cubits high and its circumference twelve cubits. It was hollow and about a handbreadth thick.

On each pillar was a capital of bronze, and the height of each capital was five cubits. Latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar was like this, including the pomegranates.

As for his living expenses, a regular allowance was given him daily by the king of Babylon as long as he lived, until the day of his death.

The yoke of my sins was bound on, fastened together by his hand. They settled on my neck; he caused my strength to fail. The LORD placed me in the power of those I cannot resist.

The guilt of my cherished people surpasses the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, without a hand to help her.

The LORD's anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. About him we had said, "Under his protection we will survive among the nations."

On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year of the exile to Babylon, while I was among the captives on the bank of the Chebar River, heaven opened up and I saw visions from God.

I was amazed to see a wind storm blow in from the north, consisting of a massive cloud and fire that was flashing back and forth, surrounded by bright light. From deep within the cloud, something was shining that appeared to have a color like bronze that had been placed in fire until it glowed.

The form of their faces was human, but each of the four also had the face of a lion to the right, the face of an ox to the left, and the face of an eagle behind them.

Now, in the midst of the living beings there was something that appeared to glow like coals kindled by a fire, like torches that moved back and forth between the living beings. The fire was dazzling, and lightning flashed from the fire.

Their wheels and their construction details looked like gold-colored beryl. Each wheel was identical in form to the others, and they appeared to have been constructed and designed as if one wheel were within another.

There was spread out over the heads of the living beings what looked like a canopy, in outward appearance resembling ice,

A sound came from above the canopy that was spread out over their heads. Whenever they stood still, they lowered their wings.

From above the canopy that was spread out over their heads, there appeared to be something reminiscent of a throne, resembling sapphire in form.

There was the likeness of the appearance of a human being seated on the likeness of the throne high above. I noticed that from what appeared to look like his waist upward there was something that looked like metal that glowed as if it were immersed in fire. Below this there was something resembling fire, with a radiant light surrounding him.

The appearance of the radiant light resembled that of a rainbow shining in a cloud on a rainy day. This was what the appearance of the form of the glory of the LORD resembled. When I saw all of this, I fell flat on my face. Then I heard a voice speaking.

Even while he was speaking to me, the Spirit entered me, set me on my feet, and I listened to the voice that had been speaking to me.

As I watched, all of a sudden there was a hand being stretched out in my direction! And there was a scroll

Then he told me, "Son of Man, fill your stomach and digest this scroll that I'm giving you." So I ate it, and it was like sweet honey in my mouth.

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he told me, "Get up! Go to the valley, and I'll speak with you there."

So I got up, went to the valley, and there was the glory of the LORD, standing there just like I had seen at the Chebar River. So I fell on my face.

"Now, Lord GOD," I replied, "I've never been defiled, ever since I was young until now. I haven't eaten an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts, and no unclean meat has ever entered my mouth!"

and I saw a likeness comparable to the appearance of a man. From his thighs downward there was the appearance of fire, and from his waist upward, there was the appearance of brightness that looked like brass.

All of a sudden, the glory of the God of Israel was there! It looked like what I had seen back in the valley.

Then he told me, "Son of Man, look up toward the north." So I looked off toward the north. Suddenly, off toward the north, facing the gate that led to the altar, the image that provoked God's jealousy was standing near the entrance.

Then the Spirit brought me to the entrance of the court. As I watched, all of a sudden, there was a hole in the wall!

So I entered, looked around, and there was every form of crawling thing, loathsome animals, and all kinds of idols from the house of Israel carved all around the wall.

All of a sudden, I noticed six men approaching from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. Each of them held a destructive weapon in his hand. Among them there was one man, clothed in linen, who was equipped with a writing set at his side. They went in and presented themselves beside the bronze altar.

While they were out carrying out the executions, I was left alone. So I fell on my face and cried out, "O Lord GOD, are you going to destroy all of the survivors of Israel when you pour out your anger on Jerusalem?"

As I continued to watch, there on the expanse above the heads of the cherubim was a massive sapphire stone that resembled a throne in form and appearance.

The LORD spoke to the man who was clothed in white linen, telling him, "Go between the whirling wheels, under the cherubim, and fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim. Then scatter them over the city." So he entered as I watched.

The glory of the LORD rose above the cherub and moved to the threshold of the Temple. A cloud filled the Temple and the court was filled with the brilliance of the LORD's glory.

He issued this order to the man who was clothed in white linen: "Take fire from within the whirling wheels, among the cherubim." So he went and stood beside the wheels.

Then a cherub stretched out his hand to the fire, which was among the cherubim, took some of the fire, and placed it in the hands of the one clothed in white linen, who took it and left.

Whenever they moved, they proceeded without turning around as they moved, but they followed in the direction where their head was facing, without looking around as they moved.

The wheels whose sound I was hearing were called "the whirling wheels".

Each had four faces. The first one was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

While I was prophesying, Benaiah's son Pelatiah died, so I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice. "Ah, Lord GOD," I said, "are you going to put an end to the survivors within Israel?"

"Son of Man, your brothers, your other relatives, your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel are the people to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, "They've abandoned the LORD. This land was given to us for an inheritance.'"

I did just as I was commanded. I brought out the luggage as if it were luggage for exile. I did this during the day. Then in the evening I dug a hole in the wall with my hand and brought the luggage out in total darkness and carried it out on my shoulder while they were watching.

If it was useless before it was burned, now that it's been burned and charred through, it's even more useless!

You are to declare, "This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: "Your birth place was the territory that belonged to the Canaanites. Your father was an Ammonite and your mother was a Hittite.

Now as to your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord wasn't cut. You weren't washed with water to clean you, and nobody rubbed you with salt. And it's certain that you weren't wrapped in strips of cloth.

"When I passed by you again, I looked at you, and noticed that it was your proper time for love. I spread my cloak over you to cover your nakedness. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a covenant with you," declares the Lord GOD. "You belong to me.

At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality.