Thou, Thou hast known, O Jehovah, Remember me, and inspect me, And take vengeance for me of my pursuers, In Thy long-suffering take me not away, Know -- I have borne for Thee reproach.

I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.

Why has my pain become unending,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
You truly have become like a mirage to me—
water that is not reliable.

For this cause the Lord has said, If you will come back, then I will again let you take your place before me; and if you give out what is of value and not that which has no value, you will be as my mouth: let them come back to you, but do not go back to them.

Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze
to this people.
They will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Thou dost not take to thee a wife, Nor hast thou sons and daughters in this place.

For this is what the Lord has said about the sons and daughters who come to birth in this place, and about their mothers who have given them birth, and about their fathers who have given life to them in this land:

For this is what the Lord has said: Do not go into the house of sorrow, do not go to make weeping or songs of grief for them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, even mercy and pity.

For the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, before your eyes and in your days I will put an end in this place to the laughing voices and the voice of joy; to the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride.

{And then} when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, '{Why} has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what [is] our iniquity, and what [is] our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?'

Then thou hast said unto them: Because that your fathers have forsaken Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, And go after other gods, and serve them, And they bow themselves to them, And Me have forsaken, and My law not kept,

And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me.

And thou hast let go -- even through thyself, Of thine inheritance that I gave to thee, And I have caused thee to serve thine enemies, In a land that thou hast not known, For a fire ye have kindled in Mine anger, Unto the age it doth burn.

This is what the Lord has said: Cursed is the man who puts his faith in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart is turned away from the Lord.

They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.

I, the Lord, probe into people's minds. I examine people's hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,
So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;
In the midst of his days it will forsake him,
And in the end he will be a fool.”

And I hastened not from feeding after Thee, And the desperate day I have not desired, Thou -- Thou hast known, The produce of my lips, before Thy face it hath been,

This is what the Lord has said to me: Go and take your place in the doorway of Benjamin, where the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the doorways of Jerusalem;

and thou hast said unto them: Hear a word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem, who are coming in by these gates,

This is what the Lord has said: See to yourselves, that you take up no weight on the Sabbath day, or take it in through the doors of Jerusalem;

Rise, and thou hast gone down to the potter's house, and there I cause thee to hear My words;

Now, then, say to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am forming an evil thing against you, and designing a design against you: let every man come back now from his evil way, and let your ways and your doings be changed for the better.

"Therefore thus says Yahweh, 'Please ask among the nations, "Who has heard {the like of this}?" The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.

And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known, All their counsel against me is for death, Thou dost not cover over their iniquity, Nor their sin from before Thee blottest out, And they are made to stumble before Thee, In the time of Thine anger work against them!

This is what the Lord has said: Go and get for money a potter's bottle made of earth, and take with you some of the responsible men of the people and of the priests;

and thou hast gone forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, that is at the opening of the gate of the pottery, and hast proclaimed there the words that I speak unto thee,

Say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem; the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, I will send evil on this place which will be bitter to the ears of anyone hearing of it.

'And thou hast broken the bottle before the eyes of the men who are going with thee,

And say to them, This is what the Lord of armies has said: Even so will this people and this town be broken by me, as a potter's bottle is broken and may not be put together again: and the bodies of the dead will be put in the earth in Topheth, till there is no more room.

The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth, all the houses on whose rooftops incense has been burned to all the host of heaven (sun, moon, stars), and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods.”’”

The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send on this town and on all her towns all the evil which I have said; because they made their necks stiff, so that they might not give ear to my words.

And it came to pass the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.

For the Lord has said, See, I will make you a cause of fear to yourself and to all your friends: they will come to their death by the sword of their haters, and your eyes will see it: and I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take them away prisoners into Babylon and put them to the sword.

And thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there shalt thou be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied falsely.

O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.

For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].

Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered [the] life of [the] poor from [the] hand of evildoers.

Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
“A baby boy has been born to you!”
And made him very happy.

Will you get directions from the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, is making war against us; it may be that the Lord will do something for us like all the wonders he has done, and make him go away from us.

The Lord God of Israel has said, See, I am turning back the instruments of war in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and the Chaldaeans, who are outside the walls and shutting you in; and I will get them together inside this town.

And to this people you are to say, The Lord has said, See, I put before you the way of life and the way of death.

O house of David, thus says Yahweh, "Execute judgment in the morning, justice, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from [the] hand of [the] oppressor, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and it burns, and there is no [one who] quenches [it] because of the evil of your deeds.

Beware! I am against you,
you who sit above the valley,
you atop the rocky plateau—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you who say, “Who can come down against us?
Who can enter our hiding places?”

I will punish you according to what you have done—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will kindle a fire in its forest
that will consume everything around it.’”

This is what the Lord has said: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there give him this word,

Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.

For this is what the Lord has said about the family of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, and the top of Lebanon: but, truly, I will make you waste, with towns unpeopled.

And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each one to his neighbor, '{Why} has Yahweh done in this manner to this great city?'

Let there be no weeping for the dead, and make no songs of grief for him: but make bitter weeping for him who has gone away, for he will never come back or see again the country of his birth.

For this is what the Lord has said about Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: He will never come back there again:

Who says, I will make a wide house for myself, and rooms of great size, and has windows cut out, and has it roofed with cedar and painted with bright red.

He took up the case of the poor and needy,
then it went well.
Is this not what it means to know Me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.

But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.

So this is what the Lord has said about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

I spoke unto you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not my voice.

All thy friends consume doth wind, And thy lovers into captivity do go, Surely then thou art ashamed, And hast blushed for all thy wickedness.

O dweller in Lebanon, making a nest among cedars, How gracious hast thou been when pangs come to thee, Pain -- as of a travailing woman.

O land of Judah, land of Judah, land of Judah! Listen to what the Lord has to say!

The Lord has said, Let this man be recorded as having no children, a man who will not do well in all his life: for no man of his seed will do well, seated on the seat of the kingdom of David and ruling again in Judah.

So this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said against the keepers who have the care of my people: You have let my flock be broken up, driving them away and not caring for them; see, I will send on you the punishment for the evil of your doings, says the Lord.

Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Israel will live in security. This is the name he will go by: 'The Lord has provided us with justice.'

Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken in my midst. All my bones tremble. I have become like a drunken man, even like a man over whom wine has passed, because of Yahweh, and because of {his holy words}.

For the land is full [of] adulterers; for the land mourns because of a curse. [The] pastures of [the] desert are dry, and their evil has been their way of running, and their power [is] not right.

because both prophet and priest are ungodly,
even in My house I have found their evil.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;
And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become to Me like Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the poisonous water: for from the prophets of Jerusalem has profaneness gone forth into all the land.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: Do not give ear to the words which the prophets say to you: they give you teaching of no value: it is from themselves that their vision comes, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD has said, You shall have peace; and they say unto everyone that walks after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively [to] his word and heard [it]?

Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth [in] wrath, even a whirling tempest. It will whirl upon [the] head of [the] wicked

The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has executed, and till he has performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it perfectly.

The prophet who [has] with him a dream, let him tell [the] dream. But [the prophet] who [has] my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. {What is straw compared to wheat}?" {declares} Yahweh.

See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who let their tongues say, He has said.

And when this people, or the prophet, Or a priest, doth ask thee, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? Then thou hast said unto them: Ye are the burden, and I have left you, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Thus you shall say, each one to his neighbor and each one to his brother: 'What has Yahweh answered?' or, 'What has Yahweh spoken?'

Thus you shall say to that prophet, 'What has Yahweh answered you?' or, 'What has Yahweh spoken?'

But if you say, The word of weight of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said: Because you say, The weight of the Lord, and I have sent to you, saying, You are not to say, The weight of the Lord

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: Like these good figs, so in my eyes will be the prisoners of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldaeans for their good.

"From [the] thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and {I have spoken to you over and over again}, but you have not listened.

And [though] Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you {over and over again} you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear,

{saying}, 'Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestors from a long time back and until forever,

So this is what the Lord of armies has said: Because you have not given ear to my words,

And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that are written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said to me: Take the cup of the wine of this wrath from my hand, and make all the nations to whom I send you take of it.

And you are to say to them, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Take of this cup and be overcome, and let it come out again from your lips, and from your fall you will never be lifted up again, because of the sword which I will send among you.

And it will be, if they will not take of the cup in your hand, then you are to say to them, This is what the Lord of armies has said: You will certainly take of it.

And thou, thou dost prophesy unto them all these words, and hast said unto them: Jehovah from the high place doth roar, And from His holy habitation giveth forth His voice, He surely roareth for His habitation, A shout as of treaders down, God answereth all the inhabitants of the land,

A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, says the LORD.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, evil is going out from nation to nation, and a great storm will come up from the inmost parts of the earth.

And at that day, the bodies of those whom the Lord has put to death will be seen from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: there will be no weeping for them, their bodies will not be taken up or put to rest in the earth; they will be like waste on the face of the land.

Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery.

A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a wailing of the leaders of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD has plundered their pasture.

He has left his den like a lion, for their land has become a horror, because of the anger of the oppressors, and because of {his burning anger}."

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;

And you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: If you do not give ear to me and go in the way of my law which I have put before you,

Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered unto Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.

Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, {saying}, "{This man deserves the death sentence}, because he has prophesied against this city as that [which] you have heard with your ears."

Then Jeremiah said to all the rulers and to all the people, The Lord has sent me as his prophet to say against this house and against this town all the words which have come to your ears.

Now {therefore} amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent of the disaster that he has spoken over you.