O Lord who rules over all, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people's hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Why was I brought into the world to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: "Look, I [am] about to turn back the weapons of war that [are] in your hands, [with] which you [are] fighting against them, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the center of this city.

And {afterward}," {declares} Yahweh, "I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with [the] {edge} of [the] sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion." '

For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good," {declares} Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire." '

Look, I [am] against you, O inhabitants of the valley, O rock of the plain," {declares} Yahweh; "you who say, 'Who can descend against us, or who can enter into our hiding place?'

For if doing, ye shall do this word, and kings came into the gates of this house, sitting to David upon his throne, riding in chariots and upon horses, he send his servants and his people.

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.

And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

"'Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again.

"'For the Lord has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, "He will never return to this land.

All your shepherds will shepherd [the] wind, and your lovers will go into captivity. Yes, then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.

And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you [are] frightened by their presence, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

And into the land whereunto they lift up their souls to return, thither shall they not return.

Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein none delighteth? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not?

So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: "You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the Lord, affirm it!

but they'll say, "As surely as the LORD lives who brought the descendants of the Israelis from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them and brought them into the land.' Then they'll live in their own land."

For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God);
The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it].
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;
And their power is not right.

"{Therefore} their way will be to them like the slippery places, they will be pushed in the darkness, and they will fall into it, for I will bring disaster on them [in] the year of their punishment," {declares} Yahweh.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.

Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
They are leading you into futility;
They speak a vision of their own imagination,
Not from the mouth of the Lord.

The wrath of the Lord will not be turned back till he has done, till he has put into effect, the purposes of his heart: in days to come you will have full knowledge of this.

"[Is] not my word like fire?" {declares} Yahweh, "and like a blacksmith's hammer [that] breaks a rock into pieces?

And will bring you to an everlasting confusion, and into such a shame, as shall never be forgotten.

Jehovah hath shewed me, and lo, two baskets of figs, appointed before the temple of Jehovah, -- after the removing by Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, of Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the heads of Judah, and the artisan, and the smith, from Jerusalem, when he bringeth them into Babylon --

Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their harm, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

And it shall some to pass - When the seventy years are fulfilled, I will visit upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation, Declareth Yahweh their iniquity, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, - and I will turn it into age-abiding desolations.

Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, its kings and officials to make them into a ruin, an object of horror and scorn, and a curse, as it is this day;

[The] rage of battle will resound to the end of the earth, for [there is] a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations. He [is] entering into judgment with all wicked flesh, he will give them to the sword,' {declares} Yahweh."

“Wail, you shepherds, and cry;
And roll in ashes, you masters of the flock.
For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have come in full,
And you will fall and be broken into pieces like a choice vessel.

This is what the Lord has said: Take your place in the open square of the Lord's house and say to all the towns of Judah, who come into the Lord's house for worship, everything I give you orders to say to them: keep back not a word;

then I'll make this house like Shiloh and make this city into a curse to all the nations of the earth.'"'"

And when all the people were gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, the princes of Judah heard of this rumor, and they came soon out of the king's Palace into the house of the LORD, and sat them down before the new door of the LORD.

Micah the Morashtite, was prophesying, in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, - and he spake unto all the people of Judah, saying, thus, saith Yahweh of hosts - Zion, as a field, shall be plowed, And, Jerusalem, into heaps of ruins, shall be turned, And, the mountain of the house, be like mounds in a jungle,

and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty-men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt:

and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely , Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt;

And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people.

However, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Then shalt thou send them unto the king of Edom and unto the king of Moab and unto the king of the sons of Ammon, and unto the king of Tyre and unto the king of Zidon, - by the hand of messengers coming into Jerusalem, unto Zedekiah king of Judah.

And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and also the animals of the field I have given to him to serve him.

And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come: and then many nations and great kings shall bring him into subjection.

And it will come about, that if any nation does not become a servant to this same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, then I will send punishment on that nation, says the Lord, by the sword and need of food and by disease, till I have given them into his hands.

And you are not to give attention to your prophets or your readers of signs or your dreamers or those who see into the future or those who make use of secret arts, who say to you, You will not become servants of the king of Babylon:

And the nation that causeth its neck to enter into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and hath served him -- I have left it on its ground -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and it hath tilled it, and dwelt in it.'

And unto Zedekiah king of Judah I have spoken according to all these words, saying, 'Cause your necks to enter into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

And, if they be prophets, and if a word of Jehovah be with them, let them intercede, I pray you, with Jehovah of Hosts, so that the vessels that are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, have not gone into Babylon.

which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

Into Babylon, shall they be taken And there, shall they remain, Until the day that I visit them, Declareth Yahweh, When I will bring them up, and restore them unto this place.

Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of Jehovah's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon:

And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, says the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, before the priests and all the people who had come into the house of the Lord,

Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform your words which you have 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 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.

Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

By the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, into Babel) saying,

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

And I will be found of you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.

for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your fellow kinsmen who did not go with you into the exile--

And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will give them over to be driven hither and thither into all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I will drive them:

And hear ye the word of Jehovah, all the captivity which I sent from Jerusalem into Babel.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you in my name a lie, 'Look, I [am] going to give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and he will strike them before your eyes.

"Yahweh made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there are overseers [in] the house of Yahweh over any mad man [who] exhibits the behavior of a prophet, and you must put him into the stocks and into the neck iron,

Send word to all them that be in captivity, on this manner: Thus hath the LORD spoken concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you without my commission, and brought you into a false hope,

For lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, Saith Yahweh, - and will bring them back into the land which I gave to their fathers that they might possess it.

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child: wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more bring him into subjection:

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD: Thy bruisings are perilous, and thy wounds ready to cast thee into sickness.

{Therefore} all [those who] devour you will be devoured, and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity, and [those who] plunder you will be as plunder, and all [those who] plunder you I will make as plunder.

The wrath of the Lord will not be turned back till he has done, till he has put into effect, the purposes of his heart: in days to come you will have full knowledge of this.

Thus sayeth the LORD, "The people of Israel which escaped in the wilderness from the sword, found grace to come into their rest.

I will yet build thee, and thou wert built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet be adorned with the tabret, and thou wentest forth into the dance of those playing.

Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

Yea, even thy posterity shall have consolation in this, sayeth the LORD, that thy children shall come again into their own land.

“Place for yourself road signs [toward Canaan],
Make for yourself guideposts;
Turn your thought and attention to the highway,
To the way by which you went [into exile].
Retrace your steps, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these your cities.

How long will you go on turning this way and that, O wandering daughter? for the Lord has made a new thing on the earth, a woman changed into a man.

where Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, {saying}, "Why [are] you prophesying, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it,

and Zedekiah, the king of Judah, will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but surely he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and {he will speak face to face with him} and {he will see him eye to eye},

and he shall lead Zedekiah into Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him, says Jehovah; though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not be blessed.

So Hanameel son of mine uncle, came unto me, according to the word of Yahweh into the guard-court, and said unto me, Buy, I pray thee my field that is in Anathoth which is in the land of Benjamin, for, thine, is the right of inheritance, and, thine, the redemption, - buy it for thyself. So I knew, that the word of Yahweh, it was.

And I put it in writing, stamping it with my stamp, and I took witnesses and put the money into the scales.

Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, take these writings, this writing of the purchase, and the sealed, and this writing unrolled, and give them into an earthern vessel, so that they shall stand many days.

showing loyal love to the thousands, and repaying the guilt of {parents} into the laps of their children after them. Powerful, great, mighty, his name [is] Yahweh of hosts,

Look, the siege ramps have come up [to] the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the plague, and what you spoke happened, and look, you [are] seeing [it].

Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, "Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness," though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] going to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

The Babylonian soldiers that are attacking this city will break into it and set it on fire. They will burn it down along with the houses where people have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods on their rooftops.

But they put their disgusting images into the house which is named by my name, making it unclean.

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

"So now {therefore}, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, [of] which you [are] saying, 'It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague':

See, I will get them together from all the countries where I have sent them in my wrath and in the heat of my passion and in my bitter feeling; and I will let them come back into this place where they may take their rest safely.

And the fields will be bought in this land [of] which you [are] saying, "It [is] a desolation, {without humankind or animals}. It has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans."

the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his lovingkindness endureth for ever; and of them that bring'sacrifices of thanksgiving into the house of Jehovah. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, saith Jehovah.

I, the Lord, say that shepherds will once again count their sheep as they pass into the fold. They will do this in all the towns in the southern hill country, the western foothills, the southern hill country, the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah.'

"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Go and say to Zedekiah the king of Judah, now you must say to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Look, I [am] going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

And you will not escape from his hand, but surely you will be captured, and into his hand you will be given, and {you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye}, and {you will speak face to face with him}, and [to] Babylon you will go.'

And all the officials and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant to let go each one his [male] slave and each one his female slave, not enslaving them again, and they obeyed and they let [them] go.

but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.