Only, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan hath been with Jeremiah so as not to give him up into the hand of the people to put him to death.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, hath this word been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Thus do ye say unto your lords, I -- I have made the earth with man, and the cattle that are on the face of the earth, by My great power, and by My stretched-out arm, and I have given it to whom it hath been right in Mine eyes.

These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: By me the yoke of the king of Babylon has been broken.

The prophet Jeremiah said, So be it: may the Lord do so: may the Lord give effect to the words which you have said, and let the vessels of the Lord's house, and all the people who have been taken away, come back from Babylon to this place.

The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

Then after the yoke had been broken off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah by Hananiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

Go and say to Hananiah, This is what the Lord has said: Yokes of wood have been broken by you, but in their place I will make yokes of iron.

Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the responsible men among those who had been taken away, and to the priests and the prophets and to all the rest of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon;

He sent it after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had been exiled from Jerusalem.

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

And I have been found of you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; and I have turned back to your captivity, and have gathered you out of all the nations, and out of all the places whither I have driven you -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and I have brought you back unto the place whence I removed you.

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.

And taken from them hath been a reviling by all the removed of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah doth set thee as Zedekiah, and as Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted with fire;

This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,' says the Lord."

So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who has been acting like a prophet among you?

Send to all those who have been taken away, saying, This is what the Lord has said about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has been acting as a prophet to you, and I did not send him, and has made you put your faith in what is false;

The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Ask, I pray you, and see, is a male bringing forth? Wherefore have I seen every man, His hands on his loins, as a travailing woman, And all faces have been turned to paleness?

Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it.

As for you, My servant Jacob,
do not be afraid—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and do not be dismayed, Israel,
for without fail I will save you from far away,
your descendants, from the land of their captivity!
Jacob will return and have calm and quiet
with no one to frighten him.

For I will be with you—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
to save you!
I will bring destruction on all the nations
where I have scattered you;
however, I will not bring destruction on you.
I will discipline you justly,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

all loving thee have forgotten thee, Thee they do not seek, For with the stroke of an enemy I smote thee, The chastisement of a fierce one, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins!

Why criest thou for thy hurt? thy pain is incurable: for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

Therefore all consuming thee are consumed, And all thine adversaries -- all of them -- Into captivity do go, And thy spoilers have been for a spoil, And all thy plunderers I give up to plunder.

But I will bring you health
and will heal you of your wounds—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
for they call you Outcast,
Zion whom no one cares about.

Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I turn back to the captivity of the tents of Jacob, And his dwelling places I pity, And the city hath been built on its heap, And the palace according to its ordinance remaineth.

And his sons have been as aforetime, And his company before Me is established, And I have seen after all his oppressors.

And his honourable one hath been of himself, And his ruler from his midst goeth forth, And I have caused him to draw near, And he hath drawn nigh unto Me, For who is he who hath pledged his heart To draw nigh unto Me? An affirmation of Jehovah.

And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God.

Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.

Again do I build thee, And thou hast been built, O virgin of Israel, Again thou puttest on thy tabrets, And hast gone out in the chorus of the playful.

With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way -- they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim -- My first-born is he.

And they have come in, And have sung in the high place of Zion, And flowed unto the goodness of Jehovah, For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, And for the young of the flock and herd, And their soul hath been as a watered garden, And they add not to grieve any more.

Thus saith Jehovah: A voice hath been heard in Ramah, the wail of very bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

This is what the Lord says:

Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for the reward for your work will come—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and your children will return from the enemy’s land.

There is hope for your future—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and your children will return to their own territory.

I have heard Ephraim moaning,
“You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined
like an untrained calf.
Restore me, and I will return,
for you, Lord, are my God.

For after my turning back I repented, And after my being instructed I struck on the thigh, I have been ashamed, I have also blushed, For I have borne the reproach of my youth.

Is Ephraim a dear son unto me? is he a child of delights? For whilst I have been speaking against him, I do constantly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I will certainly have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.

On this I have awaked, and I behold, and my sleep hath been sweet to me.

And it hath been, as I watched over them to pluck up, And to break down, and to throw down, And to destroy, and to afflict; So do I watch over them to build, and to plant, An affirmation of Jehovah.

In those days they will no longer say, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are put on edge.

For this is the covenant that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days, An affirmation of Jehovah, I have given My law in their inward part, And on their heart I do write it, And I have been to them for God, And they are to me for a people.

If this fixed order departs from My presence—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
then also Israel’s descendants will cease
to be a nation before Me forever.

Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And the city hath been built to Jehovah, From the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner.

The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah -- it is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar,

And then the forces of the king of Babylon are laying siege against Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet hath been shut up in the court of the prison that is in the house of the king of Judah,

For Zedekiah, king of Judah, had had him shut up, saying, Why have you, as a prophet, been saying, The Lord has said, See, I will give this town into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;

Zedekiah, king of Judah, won't escape from the Chaldeans, for he has surely been given over to the king of Babylon. He will speak to him face to face and look at him eye to eye.

And Jeremiah saith, 'A word of Jehovah hath been unto me saying,

Lo, the mounts -- they have come in to the city to capture it, and the city hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence; and that which Thou hast spoken hath come to pass, and lo, Thou art seeing;

Yet Thou hast said unto me, O Lord Jehovah, Buy for thee the field with money, and cause witnesses to testify -- and the city hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans!'

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in and set this city on fire and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have been doing only evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.

For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

And they have been turning their backs and not their faces to me: and though I was their teacher, getting up early and teaching them, their ears were not open to teaching.

But have set their abominations in the house on which my name hath been called, to defile it;

They built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom) to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to [worship and honor] Molech—which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this repulsive thing, to cause Judah to sin.

And now therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith thus concerning this city, whereof ye say, It hath been given over into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:

and they have been to Me for a people, and I am to them for God;

"For I, the Lord, say: 'I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them.

and bought hath been the field in this land of which ye are saying, A desolation it is, without man and beast, it hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

Fields will be purchased with silver, the transaction written on a scroll and sealed, and witnesses will be called on in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in Judah’s cities—the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, and the cities of the Negev—because I will restore their fortunes.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said about the houses of this town and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been broken down to make earthworks and ...;

And I will make them clean from all their sin, with which they have been sinning against me; I will have forgiveness for all their sins, with which they have been sinning against me, and with which they have done evil against me.

And it hath been to Me for a name of joy, For praise, and for beauty, to all nations of the earth, Who hear of all the good that I am doing them, And they have feared, And they have trembled for all the good, And for all the peace, that I am doing to it.

"Haven't you noticed what these people have been saying? "The LORD rejected the two families that he had chosen!' They have contempt for my people and no longer consider them a nation.

The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me,

The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah -- and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his force, and all kingdoms of the land of the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples are fighting against Jerusalem, and against all its cities -- saying:

in peace thou diest, and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who have been before thee, so they make a burning for thee; and Ah, lord, they lament for thee, for the word I have spoken -- an affirmation of Jehovah.'

and the forces of the king of Babylon are fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that are left -- against Lachish, and against Azekah, for these have been left among the cities of Judah, cities of fortresses.

The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the making by the king Zedekiah of a covenant with all the people who are in Jerusalem, to proclaim to them liberty,

"The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. 'I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. It stipulated,

At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.

And, though, ye, just now turned and did that which was right in mine eyes, by proclaiming liberty, every man to his neighbour, - and solemnised a covenant before me, in the house on which my Name hath been called,

But you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been freed to go wherever they wanted, and you have again subjugated them to be your slaves.

yea, I have given them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcase hath been for food to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth.

The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying:

But we have been living in tents, and have done everything which Jonadab our father gave us orders to do.

However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: Come, let’s go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies. So we have been living in Jerusalem.”

Performed have been the words of Jonadab son of Rechab, when he commanded his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk unto this day, for they have obeyed the command of their father; and I -- I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened unto Me.

And I have sent you all my servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them, saying, Come back, now, every man from his evil way, and do better, and go not after other gods to become their servants, and you will go on living in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but your ears have not been open, and you have not given attention to me.

And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:

if so be the house of Israel do hear all the evil that I am thinking of doing to them, so that they turn back each from is evil way, and I have been propitious to their iniquity, and to their sin.'

Perhaps then they will ask the Lord for mercy and will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. For the Lord has threatened to bring great anger and wrath against these people."

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. That room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate. There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said.

So all the rulers sent Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the book from which you have been reading to the people and come. So Baruch, the son of Neriah, took the book in his hand and came down to them.

and it cometh to pass, when they hear all the words, they have been afraid one at another, and say unto Baruch, 'We do surely declare to the king all these words.'

Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month, and with the fire-pan burning before him.

And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four columns, he cut it with the scribe's knife, and cast it into the fire that was in the pan until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the pan.

And the king and all his servants who are hearing all these words have not been afraid, nor rent their garments.

Then after the book, in which Baruch had put down the words of Jeremiah, had been burned by the king, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

Then Jeremiah took another book, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who put down in it, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the book which had been burned in the fire by Jehoiakim, king of Judah: and in addition a number of other words of the same sort.

Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people since he had not yet been put in prison.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they lifted the siege from Jerusalem.

The officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What has been my sin against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah had heard the things that Jeremiah had been telling the people. They had heard him say,

'Thus said Jehovah: He who is remaining in this city dieth, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and he who is going forth unto the Chaldeans liveth, and his soul hath been to him for a prey, and he liveth.