O generation, you see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a desert to Israel? Or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, 'We roam about freely, we will not come again to you'?

"Lift up your eyes at [the] barren heights, and see where you have not been ravished. Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert, and you have defiled [the] land with your fornication and with your wickedness.

Therefore rain showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come. Yet {you have} [the] forehead of a woman prostitute, you refuse to be ashamed.

Yahweh, do not your eyes [look] for honesty? You have struck them, but they felt no pain, you have destroyed them, they refused to take discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, they have refused to turn back.

We have heard news of it, our hands grow slack, anxiety has grasped us, pain as a [woman who] gives birth.

And they built the high place of Topheth, which [is] in [the] Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I have not commanded, and it did not come into my mind.

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}.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?

But if you will not listen to it, my inner self will weep in secret places, because of {the presence of} [your] pride. And my eyes will weep bitterly, and they will melt [in] tears, because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.

She who gave birth to seven has withered away. She gasps her breath. Her sun {set} while still day. She has been put to shame and disgraced. And the remainder of them I will give to the sword {before} their enemies," {declares} Yahweh.

Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable? It refuses to become healed. Truly you are to me like a deceitful [brook], waters [that] are not trustworthy.

and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which [is at] the entrance of the Gate of the Potsherd, and proclaim there the words that I speak to you.

"{Therefore} look, days [are] about to come," {declares} Yahweh, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, {but} the Valley of the Slaughter.

Because he did not kill me in [the] womb, so that my mother would have been for me my grave, and [her] womb [would be] pregnant forever.

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.

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.

Inhabitants of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come to you, fear and pain as the [woman who] gives birth.

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.

Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain [is] incurable. Because of the greatness of your guilt--your sins are vast-- I have done these [things] to you.

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.'"

"For this city has been for me [a cause] of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even until this day, [so I will] remove it from my {sight},

And they built the high places of Baal that [are] in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to present as offerings their sons and their daughters to Molech, which I had not commanded them, and it had not come to my {mind} to do this detestable thing in order to cause Judah to sin."

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."

"At [the] end of seven years you must let go each one his fellow countryman, the Hebrew who has been sold to you and who has served you six years, and you must let him go free from you." But your ancestors did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ears.

"The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his descendants to not drink, have been carried out, and they have not drunk until this day, for they have obeyed the command of their ancestor. But {I have spoken to you over and over again}, and you have not listened to me.

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, had let him go from Ramah, {where he had been taken} bound in chains in the midst of all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported [to] Babylon.

When all the commanders of the armies who [were] in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [in an official position] in the land, and that {he had put him in charge of} men, and women, and little children, and of the poor of the land, of [all those] who had not been deported [to] Babylon,

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations [to] which they had been scattered to dwell as aliens in the land of Judah--

'You said, "Woe please to me, for Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary in my groaning and I do not find rest." '

Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has been quiet on his dregs, and he has not been poured out from vessel to vessel, and he has not gone into exile. {Therefore} his taste has remained unchanged, and his fragrance has not changed.

And joy and rejoicing have been taken away from [the] fruitful land, even from the land of Moab. And [the] wine from [the] wine presses I have caused to disappear. He will not tread [with] exuberant shouts. Exuberant shouts [will] not [be] exuberant shouts.

Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished. For your sons have been taken into captivity, and your daughters into captivity.

I have heard a message from Yahweh, and a messenger has been sent among the nations. "Gather and come against her, and rise for the battle."

How [the] city of praise has not been abandoned! The city of my joy!

"And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Ben-hadad."

The king of Babylon heard their report and his hands grew slack. Anxiety has seized him, fear and pain like the [woman who] gives birth.

At [the] sound, 'Babylon has been captured,' the earth will quake, and a cry for help among the nations will be heard."

We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens, and it has been lifted up to [the] skies.

[one] runner runs to meet [another] runner, and [one] messenger to meet [another] messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, {from end to end}.

And the fords have been seized, and the reed marshes have been burned with fire, and {the soldiers} are horrified.

The sea has risen over Babylon, she has been covered by the roar of its waves.

She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears [are] on her cheeks; she has no comforter among all her lovers. All her friends have been unfaithful to her; they have become her enemies.

Her uncleanness [was] in her skirts; she did not remember her future, she has descended beyond understanding, there is no comforter for her. See, O Yahweh, my persecution! [My] enemy has been made great!

Yahweh is righteous; I have rebelled [against] {his word}. Please hear, all [the] nations, And see my pain; My young women and young men went into captivity.

My life has been removed from peace, I have forgotten goodness.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses, to foreigners.

And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and {unclean meat} has not come into my mouth!"

And [the] Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people.

Your prophets have been like foxes among ruins.

Because [you] disheartened [the] heart of [the] righteous [by] deception, and I have not caused him pain, and strengthened [the] hands of [the] wicked [so that he did] not turn from his wicked way to save his life.

And they will raise a lament over you, and they will say to you, 'How you have been lost [who was] inhabited from [the] seas; the city that was praised, that was strong. It [is] [located] on the sea, and its inhabitants imposed their terror {on all of its inhabitants}.

They built [with] pine trees from Senir all of your boards for you; they took cedars from Lebanon to make a sailing mast {for you}.

"Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, I have broken. And look, it has not been bound up for giving of a remedy, or for [the] placing of a splint to bind it [up] to make it strong to take hold of the sword."

[This occurred] so that all of [the] trees [with abundant] water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between [their] thick foliage, and [so that]{all of the trees that are abundantly watered} {will not stand up to them} in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given [over] to death, to [the] world below in the midst of {mortals}, to [the people] going down to the grave."

"Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel [are] saying, 'Abraham was one [man], and he took possession of the land, and we [are] many; the land has been given for us as possession.'

because there [has been] to you {an ancient hostility}, and you handed over the {Israelites} to [the] power of [the] sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of {their final punishment}.

And I prophesied {just as} I had been commanded, and [there] was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together--[the] bones! Bone to its bone!

And [now] you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of his temple you have brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have been drinking wine from them, and you have praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone that [do] not see and [do] not hear and [do] not know, but the God {who holds your life in his hand} and all of your ways {come from him}, you have not honored.

" 'Tekel'--you have been weighed on scales and you have been found wanting.

" 'Peres'--your kingdom has been divided and given to [the] Medes and Persians.'"

Now {when} Daniel realized that the document was signed, he went to his house ({now he had windows in his upper room that were open} toward Jerusalem), and three times {daily} he knelt on his knees and prayed and [gave] praise before his God, {just as} he had been doing {previously}.

And the vision of the evening and the morning that has been {described}, it [is] true; and you, seal [up] the vision, for {it refers to many days to come}."

we have sinned and we have done wrong and we acted wickedly and we rebelled and [have been] turning aside from your commandments and from your ordinances.

"And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside [so as] not to listen to your voice, and [so] the curse and the oath which [was] written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.

And he said to me, "Daniel, man beloved, pay attention to the words that I [am] speaking to you and {stand upright where you are}, for I have now been sent to you." And {while he was speaking} with me this word, I stood up trembling.

"Now at that time, Michael, the great prince, will arise, {the protector} over the sons of your people, and it will be a time of distress that has not been since [your people] {have been} a nation until that time. And at that time your people will escape, {everyone who is found} written in the scroll.

Hear this, priests! Give heed, house of Israel! Listen, house of the king! Because the judgment [applies] to you; because you have been a snare for Mizpah, and a net spread out on Tabor;

A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spreads on the mountains, a great and strong army! There has been nothing like it from old, and after it nothing will be again {for generations to come}.

So I will send fire against Hazael's house and it will consume the citadel fortresses of Ben-Hadad.

"If thieves came to you, if plunderers of [the] night--How you have been destroyed!--would they not steal {what they wanted}? If grape gatherers came, would they not leave gleanings?

How Esau has been pillaged; his treasures have been ransacked!

For just as you have drunk on {my holy mountain}, all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and they will slurp, and they will be as [if] they had never been.

And those who have been saved will go up on Mount Zion to rule the mountain of Esau. And the kingdom {will belong to} Yahweh.

"In that day," {declares Yahweh,} "I will assemble the one who limps, and I will gather the one who has been scattered, and [those] whom I have mistreated.

Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls,

The inhabitants of the Mortar shall wail, for all the traders have perished; all who trade with silver have been cut off.

"I have cut off nations; their strongholds are deserted. I have laid waste their streets, so that none pass through. Their cities have been destroyed [and are] without a man, without an inhabitant.

"[Is it] a time for you yourselves to dwell in your houses that have been paneled [while] this house [is] desolate?"

I will whistle to them and gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they will become numerous as they have been numerous [before].

" 'On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a pan of fire among [sticks of] wood, and like a torch of fire among stalks of grain, and they will devour to [the] right and to [the] left all the surrounding peoples, and Jerusalem will be inhabited again [in] its place, in Jerusalem.

And they will dwell in it, and {there will be no more ban imposed}, and Jerusalem will dwell in security.

Judah has been faithless, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.

"Your words have been harsh against me," says Yahweh. "But you say, 'How have we spoken together against you?'

And he will bring back [the] hearts of [the] fathers to [the] sons, and the hearts of [the] sons to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land [with] a ban."

Now the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, [but] before they came together, she was found {to be pregnant} by the Holy Spirit.

But [as] he was considering these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary [as] your wife, for what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

saying, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star at its rising and have come to worship him."

Then Herod, [when he] saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent [soldiers] [and] executed all the children in Bethlehem and in all the region [around] it from [the age of] two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men.

Now [when he] heard that John {had been arrested}, he withdrew into Galilee.

And behold, a woman who had been suffering with a hemorrhage twelve years approached from behind [and] touched the edge of his cloak,

But when the crowd had been sent out, he entered [and] took her hand, and the girl got up.

And [after] the demon had been expelled, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were astonished, saying, "{This has never been seen before} in Israel!"

Then he began to reproach the towns in which the majority of his miracles had been done, because they did not repent:

"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

All [things] have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and {anyone to whom} the Son wants to reveal [him].

And he answered [and] said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to those [people] it has not been granted.

in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, who said, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden since the creation."