"Hast thou then utterly forsaken Judah?" said I, "Doest thou so abhor Zion? Or hast thou so plagued us, that we can be healed no more? We looked for peace, and there cometh no good: for the time of health, and lo, here is nothing but trouble.

As for your riches and treasure, I will give them out into a prey; not for any money, but because of all your sins, that ye have done in all your coasts.

I dwell not among the council of scorners, neither is my delight therein: but I dwell only in the fear of thy hand, for thou hast filled me with bitterness.

Upon these words, thus said the LORD unto me, "If thou wilt turn again, I shall set thee in my service: and if thou wilt take out the thing that is precious from the vile, thou shalt be even as mine own mouth. They shall convert unto thee, but turn not thou unto them:

and so shall I make thee a strong wall of steel against this people. They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail. For I myself will be with thee, to help thee, and deliver thee, sayeth the LORD.

They shall die a horrible death: and no man shall mourn for them, nor bury them, but they shall lie as dung upon the earth. They shall perish through the sword, and hunger, and their bodies shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and beasts of the earth.

Then make thou them this answer: Because your fathers have forsaken me, sayeth the LORD, and have cleaved unto strange gods, whom they have honored and worshiped: but me have they forsaken, and have not kept my law.

But it shall be said, 'The LORD liveth, that brought the children of Israel from the North, and from all lands where I had scattered them.' For I will bring them again into the land that I gave unto their fathers.

But first will I sufficiently reward their shameful blasphemies and sins, wherewith they have defiled my land: Namely, with their stinking Idols and abominations, wherewith they have filled mine heritage."

O LORD, my strength, my power, and refuge in time of trouble! The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the world, and say, "Verily our fathers have cleaved unto lies, their Idols are but vain and unprofitable.

He shall be like the heath that groweth in the wilderness. As for the good thing that is for to come, he shall not see it: but dwell in a dry place of the wilderness, in a salt and unoccupied land."

For he shall be as a tree, that is planted by the waterside: which spreadeth out the root unto moistness, whom the heat cannot harm, when it cometh, but his leaves are green. And though there grow but little fruit because of drought yet is he not careful, but he never leaveth off to bring forth fruit.

The deceitful maketh a nest, but bringeth forth no young: He cometh by riches, but not righteously. In the midst of his life must he leave them behind him, and at the last be found a very fool.

But thou, O LORD, whose throne is most glorious, excellent and of most antiquity, which dwellest in the place of our holy rest:

ye shall bear no burden also out of your houses in the Sabbath: Ye shall do no labour therein, but hallow the Sabbath, as I commanded your fathers.

Howbeit, they obeyed me not, neither hearkened they unto me: but were obstinate and stubborn, and neither obeyed me, nor received my correction.

But if ye will not be obedient unto me, to hallow the Sabbath: so that ye will bear your burdens through the gates of Jerusalem upon the Sabbath: Then shall I set fire upon the gates of Jerusalem, and it shall burn up the houses of Jerusalem, and no man shall be able to quench it."

But they say, 'No more of this, we will follow our own imaginations, and do every man according to the wilfulness of his own mind.'

But my people hath so forgotten me, that they have made sacrifice unto vain gods. And while they followed their own ways they are come out of the high street, and gone into a foot way not used to be trodden.

With an East wind will I scatter them, before their enemies. And when their destruction cometh, I will turn my back upon them, but not my face."

Yet LORD, thou knowest all their counsel that they have devised, to slay me. And therefore forgive them not their wickedness, and let not their sin be put out of thy sight: but let them be judged before thee as the guilty: This shalt thou do unto them in the time of thy indignation.

Behold therefore, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the children of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

The next day following, Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks again. Then said Jeremiah unto him, "The LORD shall call thee no more Pashhur, that is, excellent and increasing; but Magormissabib, that is, fearful and afraid everywhere.

But as for thee, O Pashhur, thou shalt be carried unto Babylon with all thine household, and to Babylon shalt thou come, where thou shalt die, and be buried: thou and all thy favorers, to whom thou hast preached lies."

O LORD, thou makest me weak, but thou refreshest me, and makest me strong again. All the day long am I despised, and laughed to scorn of every man:

Wherefore, I thought from henceforth not to speak of him, nor to preach anymore in his name. But the word of the LORD was a very burning fire in my heart and in my bones, which when I would have stopped, I might not.

But the LORD stood by me, like a mighty giant: therefore my persecutors fell, and could do nothing. They shall be sore confounded, for they have done unwisely, they shall have an everlasting shame.

because he slew me not, as soon as I came out of my mother's womb, and because my mother was not my grave herself, that the birth might not have come out, but remained still in her.

Whoso abideth in this city shall perish: either with the sword, with hunger, or with pestilence. But whoso goeth out to hold on the Chaldeans part that besiege it, he shall save his life, and shall win his soul for a prey.

But if ye will not be obedient unto these commandments, I swear by mine own self, sayeth the LORD, this house shall be waste.

Mourn not over the dead, and be not woe for them, but be sorry for him that departeth away: for he cometh not again, and seeth his native country no more.

Yea when he helped the oppressed and poor to their right, then prospered he well. From whence came this? But only because he had me before his eyes, sayeth the LORD.

But as an Ass shall he be buried corrupt, and be cast without the gates of Jerusalem.

I gave thee warning, while thou wast yet in prosperity. But thou saidst, 'I will not hear.' And this manner hast thou used from thy youth, that thou wouldest never hear my voice.

But as for the land that ye will desire to return unto, ye shall never come at it again.

But, 'The LORD liveth, which brought forth, and led the seed of the house of Israel, out of the North land, and from all countries where I had scattered them.' And they shall dwell in their own land again."

But if they had continued in my counsel and heard my words: they had turned my people from their evil ways and wicked imaginations.

Am I then God that seeth but the thing, which is nigh at hand, and not that is afar off? sayeth the LORD.

But thus shall ye say, every one to another: What answer hath the LORD given? Or what is the LORD's commandment?

"From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, unto this present day, that is even the twenty third year, the word of the LORD hath been committed unto me. And so I have spoken to you. I have risen up early, I have given you warning in season, but ye would not hear me.

'Nevertheless, ye would not hear me,' sayeth the LORD, 'but have defiled me with the works of your hands, to your own great harm.'

But first the city of Jerusalem, and all the cities of Judah, their kings and princes: to make them desolate, waste, despised and cursed according as it is come to pass this day.

But if they will no receive the cup of thy hand, and drink it, then tell them: Thus doth the LORD of Hosts threaten you: drink it ye shall, and that shortly.

And the same day shall the LORD himself slay them, from one end of the earth to another. There shall no moan be made for any of them, none gathered up, none buried: but shall lie as dung upon the ground.

But this shall ye know: if ye put me to death, ye shall make yourselves, this city and all the inhabiters thereof, guilty of innocent blood. For this is of a truth: that the LORD hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words in your ears."

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and the people of Judah put him to death for this? No verily, but rather feared the LORD, and made their prayer unto him. For the which cause also the LORD repented of the plague, that he had devised against them. Should we then do such a shameful deed against our souls?"

But Ahikam the son of Shaphan helped Jeremiah, that he came not into the hands of the people to be slain.

But the people that put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, sayeth the LORD, and they shall occupy it, and dwell therein.'"

Hear them not, but serve the king of Babylon, that ye may live. Wherefore will ye make this city to be destroyed?

But if they be true Prophets in very deed, and if the word of the LORD be committed unto them, then let them pray the LORD of Hosts that the remnant of the ornaments, which are in the house of the LORD, and remain yet in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem, be not carried to Babylon also.

And this was done in the same year: even in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. But in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth Month, it happened, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet of Gibeon, spake to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, and said,

"Go, and tell Hananiah these words, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: Thou hast broken the chain of wood, but instead of wood thou shalt make chains of iron.

Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto the prophet Hananiah, "Hear me, I pray thee, Hananiah: The LORD hath not sent thee, but thou bringest this people into a false belief.

but seek after peace and prosperity of the city wherein ye be prisoners, and pray unto God for it. For in the peace thereof, shall your peace be.

But thus sayeth the LORD: When ye have fulfilled seventy years at Babylon, I will bring you home, and of mine own goodness I will carry you hither again to this place.

"But whereas ye say that God hath raised you up prophets at Babylon:

and that because they have not been obedient unto my commandments, sayeth the LORD; which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets. I stood up early, and sent unto them, but they would not hear, sayeth the LORD.

Because they sinned shamefully in Israel. For they have not only defiled their neighbours' wives, but also preached lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them. This I testify, and assure, sayeth the LORD.

"But as for Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt speak unto him:

but they shall do service unto God their LORD, and to David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

For I am with thee, to help thee, sayeth the LORD. And though I shall destroy all the people among whom I have scattered thee, yet will I not destroy thee, but correct thee, and that with discretion. For I know, that thou art in no wise without fault.

Why makest thou moan for thy harm? I myself have pity of thy sorrow; but for the multitude of thy misdeeds and sins I have done this unto thee.

They departed from hence in heaviness, but with joy will I bring them hither again. I will lead them by the rivers of water in a straight way, where they shall not stumble: For I will be Israel's father, and Ephraim shall be my firstborn.

But now sayeth the LORD, "Leave off from weeping, and crying, withhold thine eyes from tears, for thy labour shall be rewarded, sayeth the LORD. And they shall come again out of the land of their enemies:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, sayeth the LORD: I will plant my law in the inward parts of them, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And from thenceforth shall no man teach his neighbour or his brother, and say, 'Know the LORD.' But they shall all know me, from the lowest unto the highest, sayeth the LORD. For I will forgive their misdeeds, and will never remember their sins anymore.

Like as this ordinance shall never be taken out of my sight, sayeth the LORD: So shall the seed of Israel never cease, but always be a people before me.

what time as the king of Babylon's Host laid siege unto Jerusalem. But Jeremiah the prophet lay bound in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house:

As for Zedekiah the king of Judah, he shall not be able to escape the Chaldeans, but surely he shall come into the hands of the king of Babylon: which shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and one of them shall look another in the face.

And Zedekiah shall be carried unto Babylon, and there shall he be, until the time that I visit him, sayeth the LORD. But if thou takest in hand to fight against the Chaldeans, thou shalt not prosper."

Now when they came therein, and possessed it, they followed not thy voice, and walked not in thy law: but all that thou commandedst them to do, that have they not done. And therefore come all these plagues upon them.

For seeing the children of Israel, and the children of Judah have wrought wickedness before me ever from their youth up, what have they else done, but provoked me with the works of their own hands, sayeth the LORD?

Or, what hath this city been else, but a provoking of my wrath, ever since the day that I builded it, unto this hour? Wherein I cast it out of my sight,

And men shall have their possessions in this land, whereof ye say now, that it shall neither be inhabited of people nor of cattle, but be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.

Then may my covenant also be broken, which I made with David my servant, and so he not to have a son to reign in his Throne. So shall also the priests and Levites never fail, but serve me.

then will I also cast away the seed of David my servant: so that I will take no prince out of his seed, to rule the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But yet I will turn again their captivity, and be merciful unto them."

and thou shalt not escape his hands, but shalt be led away prisoner, and delivered into his power. Thou shalt look the king of Babylon in the face and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and then shalt thou go to Babylon.

but shalt die in peace. Like as thy forefathers the kings, thy progenitors, were burnt: so shalt thou be burnt also, and in the mourning they shall say, 'Oh, lord.' For thus have I determined, sayeth the LORD.'"

But afterward they repented, and took again the servants and the hand maidens, whom they had let go free, and so made them bond again.

'When seven years are out, every man shall let his bought servant, a Hebrew go free, if he have served him six years.' But your fathers obeyed me not and hearkened not unto me.

But yet ye have turned yourselves again, and blasphemed my name, in this: That every man hath required his servant and handmaid again, whom ye had letten go quit and free, and compelled them to serve you again, and to be your bondmen.

But through my commandment, sayeth the LORD, they shall come again before this city, they shall fight against it, win it, and burn it. Moreover I will lay the cities of Judah so waste, that no man shall dwell therein."

But they said, "We drink no wine, for Jonadab the

yea, ye shall have no vineyards: but for all your time ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live long in the land, wherein ye be strangers.'

but we dwell in tents, we obey, and do according unto all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

But now that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, 'Come, let us go to Jerusalem, that we may escape the host of the Chaldeans and the Assyrians: and so we dwell now at Jerusalem.'"

The words which Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded his sons, that they should drink no wine, are fast and surely kept: for unto this day they drink no wine but obey their father's commandment. But as for me, I have stood up early, I have spoken unto you, and given you earnest warning: and yet have ye not been obedient unto me.

Yea, I have sent my servants, all the prophets, unto you. I rose up early, and sent you word, saying: O turn you, every man from his wicked way: amend your lives, and go not after strange gods, to worship them: that ye may continue in the land, which I have given unto you and your fathers. But ye would neither hear me, nor follow me.

The children of Jonadab Rechab's son have steadfastly kept their father's commandment that he gave them, but this people is not obedient unto me.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon everyone that dwelleth in Jerusalem, all the trouble that I have devised against them. For I have spoken unto them, but they would not follow: I have called unto them, nevertheless they would give me no answer."

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not fail, but have one out of his stock, to stand always before me."

And they went in to the king to the court. but they kept the book in the chamber of Elishama the Scribe, and told the king all the words that he might hear.

but commanded Jerahmeel the son of Amalek, and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to lay hands on Baruch the Scribe, and upon Jeremiah the Prophet: but the LORD kept them out of sight.

But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people in the land would obey the words of the LORD, which he spake by the Prophet Jeremiah.

but the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, win it, and set fire upon it.

Then said Jeremiah, "It is not so, I go not to the Chaldeans." Nevertheless Irijah would not believe him, but brought Jeremiah bound before the princes.

"Thus sayeth the LORD: Whoso remaineth in this city shall perish, either with the sword, with hunger or with pestilence: But whoso falleth unto the Chaldeans, shall escape, winning his soul for a prey, and shall live.

Then said the princes unto the king, "Sir, we beseech you let this man be put to death; For thus he discourageth the hands of the soldiers that be in this city, and the hands of all the people, when he speaketh such words unto them. This man verily laboureth not for peace of the people, but mischief."

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that dwelt in the fore entry of the prison. And they let down Jeremiah with cords into a dungeon, where there was no water, but mire.

Then Zedekiah the king sent and caused Jeremiah the prophet be called unto him, into the third entry, that was by the house of the LORD. And the king said unto Jeremiah, "I will ask thee somewhat, but hide nothing from me."