Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jew's language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may devour their vilest excretions with you?

Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jew's language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

And they said to him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

And he heard it said concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the hight of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir-trees: and I will enter into the hight of its border, and the forest of its Carmel.

In those days was Hezekiah sick with a mortal disease. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he will recover.

Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?

Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men? and from whence came they to thee? and Hezekiah said, They have come to me from a far country, even from Babylon.

Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.

Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its goodliness is as the flower of the field:

They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.

Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said to thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I have not said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, I am, and none else besides me.

And said to me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth.

But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul, Prostrate thyself, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Savior.

I am sought by them that asked not for me; I am found by them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by my name.

Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

But the LORD said to me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatever I command thee thou shalt speak.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, What seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree.

Then said the LORD to me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and its face is towards the north.

Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drouth, and of the shades of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she hath gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou to me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth to the soul.

At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness towards the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,

For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.

Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.

That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

Then the LORD said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

And the LORD said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He will not see our last end.

And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.

Then said the LORD to me, Pray not for this people for their good.

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say to them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoken to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.

Then said the LORD to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to treat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

Therefore behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

Thus said the LORD to me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.

And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house; and said to all the people,

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah to him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

Then said Jeremiah to them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:

They say still to them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say to every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

Then said the LORD to me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? and I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given to you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

Then said the princes and all the people to the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,

Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD'S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.

Then said the prophet Jeremiah to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.

Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised up for us prophets in Babylon;

And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

And thou hast said to me, O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink ye wine.

But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:

But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.

And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he hath commanded you:

And they said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

Now it came to pass when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

Then said the princes to Baruch, Go, hide thyself, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are.

Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.

Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, In what have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?

Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.

Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

And Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and decayed rags under thy arm-holes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.

Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken to me?

Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thy house:

And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.