for the customs of the peoples are worthless.
Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;
it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

Yahweh, there is no one like You.
You are great;
Your name is great in power.

They are both stupid and foolish,
instructed by worthless idols
made of wood!

You are to say this to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

When He thunders,
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,
and He causes the clouds to rise
from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from His storehouses.

Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by his carved image,
for his cast images are a lie;
there is no breath in them.

They are worthless, a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment
they will be destroyed.

My tent is destroyed;
all my tent cords are snapped.
My sons have departed from me and are no more.
I have no one to pitch my tent again
or to hang up my curtains.

For the shepherds are stupid:
they don’t seek the Lord.
Therefore they have not prospered,
and their whole flock is scattered.

Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah, and the altars you have set up to Shame—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

The Lord named you
a flourishing olive tree,
beautiful with well-formed fruit.
He has set fire to it,
and its branches are consumed
with a great roaring sound.

You planted them, and they have taken root.
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,
but far from their conscience.

Is My inheritance like a hyena to Me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;
bring them to devour her.

“Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates and hide it in a rocky crevice.”

The cities of the Negev are under siege;
no one can help them.
All of Judah has been taken into exile,
taken completely into exile.

Can the Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,
you who are instructed in evil.

Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,
your heinous prostitution
on the hills, in the fields—
I have seen your detestable acts.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
You are unclean—
for how long yet?

Judah mourns;
her gates languish.
Her people are on the ground in mourning;
Jerusalem’s cry rises up.

Their nobles send their servants for water.
They go to the cisterns;
they find no water;
their containers return empty.
They are ashamed and humiliated;
they cover their heads.

The ground is cracked
since no rain has fallen on the land.
The farmers are ashamed;
they cover their heads.

Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
panting for air like jackals.
Their eyes fail
because there are no green plants.

Though our guilt testifies against us,
Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake.
Indeed, our rebellions are many;
we have sinned against You.

Hope of Israel,
its Savior in time of distress,
why are You like a foreigner in the land,
like a traveler stopping only for the night?

Why are You like a helpless man,
like a warrior unable to save?
Yet You are among us, Yahweh,
and we are called by Your name.
Don’t leave us!

And I replied, “Oh no, Lord God! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.’”

But the Lord said to me, “These prophets are prophesying a lie in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.

The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them—they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them.”

You are to speak this word to them:
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
day and night may they not stop,
for the virgin daughter of my people
has been destroyed by a great disaster,
an extremely severe wound.

Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
Or can the skies alone give showers?
Are You not the Lord our God?
We therefore put our hope in You,
for You have done all these things.

So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.

“However, take note! The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’

for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight.

Can one make gods for himself?
But they are not gods.

Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for You are my praise.

Don’t become a terror to me.
You are my refuge in the day of disaster.

Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev bringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.

“House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

Pay attention to me, Lord.
Hear what my opponents are saying!

“Therefore, take note! The days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

“Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people traveling with you,

and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.

But Jeremiah answered, “This is what you are to say to Zedekiah:

‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will repel the weapons of war in your hands, those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.

Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils of war.

You are to say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates.

For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

You are like Gilead to Me,
or the summit of Lebanon,
but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,
uninhabited cities.

Are you a king because you excel in cedar?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
and administer justice and righteousness?
Then it went well with him.

Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot,
a jar no one wants?
Why are he and his descendants hurled out
and cast into a land they have not known?

“The days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David.
He will reign wisely as king
and administer justice and righteousness in the land.

“The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’

because both prophet and priest are ungodly,
even in My house I have found their evil.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Among the prophets of Jerusalem also
I saw a horrible thing:
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
and none turns his back on evil.
They are all like Sodom to Me;
Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord’s mouth.

I am against those who prophesy false dreams”—the Lord’s declaration—“telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.”

“But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the Lord says: in this way I will deal with king Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

When the 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will make it a ruin forever.

all the kings of the north, both near and far from one another;
that is, all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth.
Finally, the king of Sheshach will drink after them.

“Then you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.

If they refuse to take the cup from you and drink, you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: You must drink!

“As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them:

The Lord roars from heaven;
He raises His voice from His holy dwelling.
He roars loudly over His grazing land;
He calls out with a shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.

“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah’s cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word.

You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to Me by living according to My instruction that I set before you

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all the people of Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and plead for the Lord’s favor, and did not the Lord relent concerning the disaster He had pronounced against them? We are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”

Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon through messengers who are coming to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem.

Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.

‘I have not sent them’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore, I will banish you, and you will perish—you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.’”

Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming, “Look, very soon now the articles of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you.

If they are indeed prophets and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them intercede with the Lord of Hosts not to let the articles that remain in the Lord’s temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem go to Babylon.’

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them,

for they are prophesying falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

For this is what the Lord says: “When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place.

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “I am about to send against them sword, famine, and plague and will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad.

Based on what happens to them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will create a curse that says, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’

To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say,

for the days are certainly coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it.”

These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah.

Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land.
I will gather them from remote regions of the earth—
the blind and the lame will be with them,
along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth.
They will return here as a great assembly!

This is what the Lord says:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
a lament with bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children
because they are no more.

I have heard Ephraim moaning,
“You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined
like an untrained calf.
Restore me, and I will return,
for you, Lord, are my God.

for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.”

“The days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.

“In those days, it will never again be said:

The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

“Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

“Look, the days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when the city from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate will be rebuilt for the Lord.

Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to hand this city over to Babylon’s king, and he will capture it.

the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men in order to give to each person according to his ways and the result of his deeds.

Look! Siege ramps have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened. Look, You can see it!

The Chaldeans who are going to fight against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses where incense has been burned to Baal on their rooftops and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

Fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It’s a desolation without man or beast; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans!’

“This is what the Lord says: In this place, which you say is a ruin, without man or beast—that is, in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets that are a desolation without man, without inhabitant, and without beast—there will be heard again

“Look, the days are coming”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will fulfill the good promises
that I have spoken
concerning the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.

“Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families He had chosen.’ My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them.

As for you, you will not escape from his hand but are certain to be captured and handed over to him. You will meet the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak face to face; you will go to Babylon.

You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a temporary resident.’

so you must go and read from the scroll—which you wrote at my dictation—the words of the Lord in the hearing of the people at the temple of the Lord on a day of fasting. You must also read them in the hearing of all the Judeans who are coming from their cities.

Perhaps their petition will come before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people are great.”

The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide yourselves and tell no one where you are.”

You are to proclaim concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: This is what the Lord says: You have burned the scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written on it: The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without man or beast?’

But when he was at the Benjamin Gate, an officer of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, and he apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.”