“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You sat by the road waiting [eagerly] for them [those man-made gods]
Like an Arab [tribesman who waits to attack] in the desert,
And you have desecrated the land
With your [vile] prostitution and your wickedness (disobedience to God).

This is why the showers haven’t come—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look of a prostitute
and refuse to be ashamed.

Will he be angry {forever}? Will he maintain [it] {always}'? Look, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel, turning away from me, has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every branching tree, acting like a loose woman there.

She also saw that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger for ever.

"I said, "How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.' I said, "You will call me, my father, and won't turn back from following me.'

Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel," declares the LORD.

Return, apostate children, I will heal your backsliding. 'Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God.

Yes, the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground, you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning; just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted, you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Like a lion that has come up from its lair the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

“Behold, the enemy comes up like clouds,
His chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe (judgment is coming) to us, for we are ruined!”

Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.

‘Like watchmen of a field they are against her on all sides,
Because she has rebelled against Me,’ says the Lord.

The Lord answered, "This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good."

And you, O desolate one, what will you do?
Though you clothe yourself in scarlet,
Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
Though you enlarge your eyes with paint,
You make yourself beautiful in vain.
Your lovers (allies) despise you;
They seek your life.

For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like [a woman who] bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers."

"Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and look please, and take note, and search at its public squares, if you can find a person [who] does justice, [who] seeks honesty, so that I may forgive it.

O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

I thought, "Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. They do not know what their God requires of them.

Therefore will I go unto their heads and rulers, and talk with them: if they know the way of the LORD, and the judgments of our God." But these, in like manner, have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds in sunder.

So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things.

The Lord asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.

“They were like well-fed, lusty stallions,
Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

Because of these [things] shall I not punish?" {declares} Yahweh, "and on a nation who [is] like this, shall I not take revenge?

And the prophets are like wind, and the word [is] not in them.' Thus it will be done to them."

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word, look, I [am] making my words in your mouth like a fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.

Look, I [am] about to bring on you a nation from afar, house of Israel," {declares} Yahweh. "It [is] an enduring nation, it [is] {an ancient nation}. A nation whose language you do not know, and you cannot understand what they speak.

“Their quiver is [filled with the dead] like an open grave;
They are all mighty men [heroes of their nation].

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Fear ye not me, sayeth the LORD? Are ye not ashamed, to look me in the face? Which bind the sea with the sand, so that it cannot pass his bounds: for though it rage, yet can it do nothing; and though the waves thereof do swell, yet may they not go over.

‘For wicked men are found among My people,
They watch like fowlers who lie in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch men.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses [are] full of fraud. {Therefore} they have become great, and they have become rich.

Because of these [things] shall I not punish?" {declares} Yahweh, "and on a nation who [is] like this, shall I not take revenge?

The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it like this.
But what will you do at the end of it?

Like the casting forth by a wall of its waters, So, hath she cast forth her wickedness, - Violence and destruction, are heard in her, Before my face, continually, are suffering and smiting.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean like a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back thy hand, as a grape-gatherer unto the baskets.

To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears [are] {closed}, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.

Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things? No, they are not at all ashamed. They do not even know how to blush! So they will die, just like others have died. They will be brought to ruin when I punish them," says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord,
“Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is; then walk in it,
And you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

Hear, O earth, look, I [am] about to bring disaster to this people, the fruit of their plans, because they have not listened attentively to my words, and my teaching, they have rejected it also.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] about to put before this people stumbling blocks, and they will stumble against them, fathers and children together, neighbor and his friend will perish."

Thus says Yahweh: "Look, a people [is] coming from [the] land of [the] north, a great nation is woken up from [the] farthest part of [the] earth.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

We have heard the report of it;
Our hands become limp and helpless.
Anguish has gripped us,
Pain like that of a woman in childbirth.

“I [the Lord] have set you as an assayer [O Jeremiah] and as a tester [of the ore] of My people,
That you may know and analyze their acts.”

"Change your ways and your deeds, and I'll let you live in this place. Don't trust deceptive words like these, and say, "The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,'

Look, you [are] relying for yourselves on {deceitful words} without benefiting.

Has this house, which is called {by my name}, become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen [it]," {declares} Yahweh.

Go to my place in Shiloh, whereunto I gave my name afore time, and look well what I did to the same place for the wickedness of my people of Israel.

So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just like I destroyed Shiloh.

And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.'"

{Therefore} thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished."

Therefore look, days [are] about to come," {declares} Yahweh, "and it will no longer be called Topheth or [the] Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, and they will bury in Topheth {until there is no more place}.

They will [carelessly scatter and] spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which the dead have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried; they will be like dung on the face of the earth.

I hearkened and heard: they speak not what is right; there is no man who repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Every one turneth to his course, like a horse rushing into the battle.

How can you say, 'We [are] wise and the law of Yahweh [is] with us'? Look, surely {the lying stylus of the scribes} has made it a lie.

[The] wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what [is] wisdom to them?

Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things? No, they are not at all ashamed! They do not even know how to blush! So they will die just like others have died. They will be brought to ruin when I punish them, says the Lord.

For look, I [am] letting loose among you snakes, adders for which there is no incantation, and they will bite you," {declares} Yahweh.

Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, 'Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?"

I wish I had a lodging place in the desert where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. Then I would desert my people and walk away from them because they are all unfaithful to God, a congregation of people that has been disloyal to him.

And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Look, I [am] about to refine them, and I will test them, for what else can I do, because of the {presence} of the daughter of my people?

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They are always telling lies. Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.

Because of these [things] shall I not punish them?" {declares} Yahweh, "On a nation that [is] like this shall I not take revenge?

Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I [am] feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,

Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, "Look that ye call for mourning wives, and send for wise women: that they come shortly,

For hear O ye women the word of Yahweh, And let your ear take in the word of his mouth, - And teach your daughters a wail, Yea leach woman - her neighbour, a dirge: -

Speak, “Thus says the Lord,
‘The dead bodies of men will fall like dung on the open field,
And like sheaves [of grain] behind the reaper,
And no one will gather them.’”

"Look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will call into account all those who are circumcised in [the] foreskin:

They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood.

Every man has become [like a brute] irrational and stupid, without knowledge [of God];
Every goldsmith is shamed by his carved idols;
For his molten images are frauds and lies,
And there is no breath in them.

The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

For thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it."

For the shepherds [of the people] have become [like brutes,] irrational and stupid,
And have not searched for the Lord or asked about Him or realized their need for Him;
Therefore they have not been wise and have not prospered,
And all their flocks are scattered.

Listen, news: Look, [it is] coming, a great roar from [the] land of [the] north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors to keep when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace. I said at that time, "Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement exactly as I commanded you. If you do, you will be my people and I will be your God.

For as many cities as thou hast, O Judah, so many gods hast thou also: And look how many streets there be in thee, O Jerusalem: so many shameful altars have ye set up, to offer upon them unto Baal.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Look, I [am about to] punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by the famine.

Lord, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you.

But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

“For even your [tribal] brothers and the household of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously (unfaithfully) with you;
Indeed they are [like a pack of hounds] howling after you.
Do not believe them, although they may say kind words and promise you good things.”

“My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has raised her voice and roared against Me;
So I have come to [treat her as if I] hate her.

“Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me [unlike the others]?
Are the birds of prey (enemies) surrounding her on every side?
Go, gather all the [wild] beasts of the field;
Bring them to devour [her]!

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made {my pleasant field} like the desert of desolation.

“They have planted wheat but have reaped thorns;
They have exhausted themselves but without profit.
So be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce and raging anger of the Lord.”

Thus says Yahweh concerning all of the evil neighbors who touch the inheritance that I gave as an inheritance [to] my people Israel: "Look, I [am] about to drive them out from their land, and the house of Judah I will drive out from among them.

And if they, namely that trouble my people, will learn the ways of them, to swear by my name, 'The LORD liveth' - like as they learned my people to swear by Baal - then shall they be reckoned among my people.

Then I went [to the] Euphrates and I dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the loincloth was ruined; it was not good for anything.

“This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.

These wicked and malevolent people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubborn way of their heart and have followed other gods [which are nothing—just man-made carvings] to serve them and to worship them, let them be just like this waistband which is completely worthless.

Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem [with] drunkenness.