What will you say when the LORD appoints over you as your head those whom you taught to be your allies? Pain will seize you like that seizing a woman about to give birth, will it not?

Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots? Then you who are trained to do evil will also be able to do good.

Hope of Israel, its deliverer in time of trouble, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who sets up his tent for a night?

Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a strong man who can't deliver? You are among us, LORD, and your name is the one by which we're called. Don't abandon us!

Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the false prophets who prophesy in my name, "There will be no sword and famine in this land' (though I haven't sent them): "By the sword and by famine these prophets will be finished off!

The people to whom they have prophesied will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters. I'll pour out on them the judgment they deserve.'"

Can any of the worthless gods of the nations make it rain? Can the heavens themselves bring forth showers? Aren't you the one who does this, LORD our God? So we hope in you, for you are the one who does all these things.

"Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem, and who will grieve for you? Who will go out of his way to ask about your welfare?

"The woman who gave birth to seven will grow faint, her life will expire. Her sun will set while it's still day. She will be disgraced and humiliated. I'll kill the rest of them with swords in the presence of their enemies," declares the LORD.

You are aware LORD, remember me, pay attention to me, and vindicate me in front of those who pursue me. You are patient don't take me away. Know that I suffer insult because of you!

I didn't sit in the company of those who have fun, and I didn't rejoice. Because of your hand on me, I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.

For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters who are born in this place, about their mothers who give birth to them, and about their fathers who father them in this land:

"Therefore, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, "As surely as the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt.'

Rather it will be said, "As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind, who makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD, making the LORD his trust.

"The heart is more deceitful than anything. It is incurable who can know it?

I am the LORD who searches the heart, who tests the inner depths to give to each person according to what he deserves, according to the fruit of his deeds.

As a partridge gathers together eggs that it didn't lay, so is a person who amasses wealth unjustly. In the middle of his life it will leave him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool."

LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn aside from you will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.

Let those who pursue me be put to shame, but don't put me to shame. Let them be terrified, but don't let me be terrified. Bring the day of judgment on them, and destroy them with double destruction!

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "Ask the nations. Who has ever heard of anything like this? You have done a most horrible thing, virgin Israel.

They make their land into a desolate place, an object of lasting scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.

""This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle. For they have forsaken me and have treated this place as foreign. In it they have burned incense to other gods that neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah knew. They have also filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

I'll make this city into a desolate place and an object of scorn. All who pass by it will be astonished and will scoff because of all its wounds.

"Then you are to break the jug in front of the men who have come with you,

When the priest Pashhur, Immer's son, who was the officer in charge of the LORD's Temple heard Jeremiah prophesying these words,

You, Pashhur, and all those living in your house will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon and there you will die. There you and all your loved ones to whom you have falsely prophesied will be buried.'"

Butthe LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, those who pursue me will stumble and won't prevail. They'll be put to great shame, when they don't succeed. Their everlasting disgrace won't be forgotten.

LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the inner motives and the heart, let me see you take vengeance on them, for I've committed my case to you.

Cursed is the person who brought the good news to my father, "A baby boy has been born to you," making him very happy.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "I'm about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. I'll gather them into the center of this city.

Afterwards," declares the LORD, "I'll give King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people those who are left in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine into the control of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, right into the hand of their enemies and the hand of those who want to kill them. He'll execute them with swords and won't pity them. He won't spare them, nor will he have compassion on them."'

Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live. He will save his life as a spoil of war.

This is what the LORD says, house of David: "Judge appropriately every morning, and deliver those who have been robbed from the oppressor, so my anger does not break out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of your evil deeds.

"Look, I'm against you, city dwelling in the valley, rock of the plain," declares the LORD, "those of you who say, "Who can come down against us and who can enter our habitations?'

"Listen to this message from the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates.

This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place.

"For this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Shallum, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah: "He went out from this place and won't return to it again.

"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage.

How terrible for him who says, "I'll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.'

You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth.

and give you to those who are trying to kill you, whom you fear that is, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

I'll hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die.

This is what the LORD says: "Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.'"

"How terrible for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.

Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, "You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven't taken care of them, and now I'm about to take care of you because of your evil deeds," declares the LORD.

"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll raise up a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who rules wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

"Therefore, the time is coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, "As surely as the LORD lives who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt,'

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."

Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, for they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one repents of his evil. All of them are like Sodom to me, and her residents like Gomorrah."

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Don't listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you; they're giving you false hopes. They declare visions from their own minds they don't come from the LORD!

They keep on saying to those who despise me, "The LORD has said, "You will have peace."' To all who stubbornly follow their own desires they say, "Disaster won't come upon you.'

But who has stood in the LORD's council to see and hear his message? Who has paid attention to his message and obeyed it?

"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "rather than a God who is far away?

"I've heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said: "I had a dream; I had a dream.'

How long will this go on? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy from the deceit that is in their hearts?

Let the prophet who has a dream relate the dream, but let whoever receives my message speak my message truthfully. What does straw have in common with wheat?" declares the LORD.

"Therefore, look, I'm against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal my words from each other.

Look, I'm against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues to issue a declaration.

Look, I'm against those who prophesy based on false dreams," declares the LORD, "and relate them and lead my people astray with their lies and their recklessness. I didn't send them; I didn't command them, and they provide no benefit at all to these people," declares the LORD.

"As for the prophet, the priest, or the people who say, "I have an oracle of the LORD,' I'll judge that person and his household.

But you are to no longer mention the oracle of the LORD, because the oracle is only for the person to whom the LORD gives his message, and you have overturned the words of the living God, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, our God.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Like these good figs, so I'll regard as good the exiles of Judah whom I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

For this is what the LORD God of Israel says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of burning anger from my hand and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and I made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:

Dedan, Tema, Buz, and those who shave the corners of their beards;

all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the various people who live in the desert;

Look, I'm beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and do you actually think you will avoid punishment? You won't avoid punishment because I'm summoning the sword against all those who live in the land," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.'"

"You are to prophesy all these things against them, and you are to say to them, "The LORD roars from his high place, from his holy dwelling he lifts his voice. He roars loudly against his flock, and against all who live on the earth; he shouts like those treading grapes.

"This is what the LORD says: "Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's Temple and tell those from all the cities of Judah who are coming to worship at the LORD's Temple everything that I've commanded you to say to them. Don't leave out a word!

and listen to the words of my servants, the prophets, whom I've sent to you over and over but you wouldn't listen

There was also a man named Uriah, Shemaiah's son from Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied in the LORD's name. He prophesied about this city and this land in words similar to those of Jeremiah.

They brought Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword. Then they threw his body into a common grave."

Then send messengers to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon through the envoys who come to Jerusalem to king Zedekiah of Judah.

You aren't to listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, and your sorcerers who say to you, "Don't serve the king of Babylon.'

Don't listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, "You won't serve the king of Babylon.' Indeed, they're prophesying a lie to you.

For I didn't send them," declares the LORD, "and they're falsely prophesying in my name, so I will drive both you and the prophets who prophesy to you out of the land."

Then I spoke to the priests and all of the people: "This is what the LORD says: "Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: "The vessels from the Temple are about to be returned from Babylon very soon now." Indeed, they're prophesying a lie to you.

I'll bring back Jehoiakim's son Jeconiah, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon to this place,' declares the LORD, "for I'll break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

The prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people who were standing in the LORD's Temple.

The prophets who came before us from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms.

When a prophet prophesies peace, and what the prophet speaks comes about, he will be known as the prophet whom the LORD has truly sent."

Theseare the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

The letter was sent by Shaphan's son Elasah and by Hilkiah's son Gemariah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon, and it said,

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles who were taken from Jerusalem into exile to Babylon,

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Don't let the prophets and diviners who are among you deceive you, and don't listen to them when they tell you their dreams.

"But this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David's throne, and about the people who live in this city your brothers who didn't go with you into exile:

"Now, all you exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to this message from the LORD!

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says about Kolaiah's son Ahab and Maaseiah's son Zedekiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name, "I'm about to give them into the domination of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your eyes.

What happens to them will be the basis for a curse for all the Judean exiles who are in Babylon. People will say, "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the LORD roasted in the fire,

because they did something stupid in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and in my name they spoke lies that I didn't command them. I'm the one who knows, and I'm a witness," declares the LORD.'"

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Because you sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to Maaseiah's son Zephaniah the priest and to all the priests

And now, why didn't you rebuke Jeremiah from Anathoth who prophesies to you?

Rather, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

In addition, all who devour you will be devoured, and all your oppressors all of them will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who spoil you will become spoil.

Their children will be as they were before, and their congregation will be established before me. I'll punish all who oppress them.

Their leader will be one of their own, and their ruler will come from among them. I'll bring him near, and he will approach me, for who would otherwise dare to approach me?' declares the LORD.

This is what the LORD says: "The people who survived the sword, found favor in the desert while Israel was seeking rest.

I'll again build you, and you will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel! You will again take up your tambourines and go out to dance with those who are filled with joy.