"You don't fear me, do you?' declares the LORD. "You don't tremble before me, do you? I'm the one who put the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail against it, though they roar, they cannot cross it.'

They don't say to themselves, "Let's fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn and the spring rain. He sets aside for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back from you what is good.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are filled with treachery. This is how they have become prominent and rich,

and have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They don't argue the case of the orphan to secure justice. They don't defend the rights of the poor.

Prepare for war against her. Get ready, let's attack at noon! How terrible for us that the day is coming to an end, and that the evening shadows are lengthening.

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Cut down trees and set up siege works against Jerusalem. It is the city to be judged, and there is oppression throughout the entire city.

As a well keeps its waters fresh, so the city keeps her wickedness fresh. Violence and destruction are heard in her, sickness and wounds are always before me.

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as they would the vine. Pass your hand over them like grape gatherers over the branches.

To whom will I speak and give a warning so they'll listen? Look, their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. Look, this message from the LORD is contemptible to them; they don't delight in it.

They treated my people's wound superficially, telling them, "Peace, peace,' but there is no peace.

This is what the LORD says: "Stand beside the roads and watch. Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it and find rest for yourselves. But they said, "We won't walk in it!'

What good is frankincense that comes from Sheba to me, or sweet cane from a distant country? Your burnt offerings aren't acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me."

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to put stumbling blocks in front of this people, and fathers and sons will stumble over them together. The neighbor and his friends will perish."

This is what the LORD says: "Look, people are coming from a northern country. A great nation is stirring from the ends of the earth.

They grab bow and spear; they're cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea as they ride on horses, deployed like men ready for battle against you, daughter of Zion."

We have heard the news about it, and our hands are limp. Distress has seized us like a woman in labor.

Don't go out into the field, and don't travel on the road, because the enemy has a sword, and terror is on every side.

Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as one mourns at the death of an only son. For the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

"I've made you an assayer of my people, as well as a fortress. You know how to test their way."

All of them are very rebellious, going around as slanderers. They're bronze and iron, and all of them are corrupt.

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says:

and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, "We're delivered' so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God?

Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I'm watching," declares the LORD.

Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

I'll cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

"As for you, don't pray on behalf of this people, don't cry or offer a petition for them, and don't plead with me, for I won't listen to you.

Are they provoking me?" asks the LORD. "Is it not themselves, and to their own shame?"

Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm about to pour out my anger and my wrath on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn, and it won't be put out."

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says:

You will say to them, "This is the nation that wouldn't listen to the voice of the LORD its God and wouldn't accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.'

"Cut off your hair and throw it away; let your lamentations rise on the barren heights, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that is subject to his wrath.

"For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," declares the LORD. "They have put their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it.

"Therefore, the time is near," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They'll bury in Topheth because there is no other place to do it.

"You are to say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "Will a person fall down and then not get up? Will someone turn away and then not turn back again?

I've listened and I've heard, and what they say is not right. No one repents of his evil and says, "What have I done?' "They all turn to their own course like a horse racing into battle.

How can you say, "We're wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,' when, in fact, the deceitful pen of the scribe has made it into something that deceives.

The wise men will be put to shame. They'll be dismayed and taken captive. Look, they have rejected the message from the LORD! So what kind of wisdom do they have?

They have treated my people's wound superficially, telling them, "Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.

Are they ashamed because they have done what is repugnant to God? They weren't ashamed at all; they don't even know how to blush! Therefore they'll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they'll be brought down," says the LORD.

Why are we sitting here? Join together! Let's go to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has condemned us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

"The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan. At the neighing of their stallions, the whole earth quakes. They're coming to devour the land and all it contains, the city and all who live in it.

Incurable sorrow has overwhelmed me, my heart is sick within me.

Listen! My people cry from a distant land: "Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her king no longer there?" "Why did they provoke me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign gods?"

The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we haven't been delivered.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why is there no healing for my people?

They use their tongues like a bow. Lies rather than truth fly throughout the land. They progress from one evil to another, and they don't know me," declares the LORD.

"Beware of your neighbors, and don't trust any of your relatives. For all of your relatives act deceitfully, and every friend goes around as a slanderer.

Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Look, I'm about to refine and test them. Because they're my people, what else can I do?

Their tongue is a deadly arrow that speaks deceit. With his mouth a person says, "Peace,' to his friend, but inwardly he sets a trap for him.

Who is the wise person who understands this, and to whom has the LORD spoken so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, ruined like the desert, without anyone passing through it?

The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my Law that I gave them. They didn't obey me and didn't live according to it.

Instead, they followed their rebellious hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors taught them."

Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I'll make these people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water.

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Think about what I'm saying! Indeed, call out the professional mourners! Send for the best of them to come.

Let them hurry and lament for us. Let tears run down from our eyes, and let our eyelids flow with water.

For a sound of mourning is heard from Zion: "How we're ruined! Our shame is very great, because we have left the land, because our houses are torn down.'"

Speak! "This is what the LORD says: "The corpses of people will fall like dung on the surface of the field, and like a row of cut grain behind the harvester when there is no one to gather it."'"

This is what the LORD says: "The wise man is not to boast in his wisdom; the strong man is not to boast in his strength; and the rich man is not to boast in his riches.

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, all those who live in the desert and shave the corners of their beard; indeed all the other nations that are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel that is uncircumcised of heart."

This is what the LORD says: "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified of them.

For the practices of the people are worthless. Indeed, a tree is cut down from the forest; it's the work of the hands of a craftsman with an ax.

There is no one like you, LORD. You are great, and your name is great and powerful.

Who wouldn't fear you, king of the nations? This is what you deserve! Indeed, among all the wise men of the nations, and throughout all their kingdoms, there is no one like you!

Everyone is stupid and senseless. They follow worthless instruction from a piece of wood!

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. The idols are the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothing is violet and purple. The idols are all the work of skilled craftsmen.

The LORD is the true God; he's the living God and the everlasting king. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

The LORD is the one who made the world by his power, who established the earth by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

When his voice sounds there is thunder from the waters of heaven, and he makes clouds rise up from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings wind out of his storehouses.

Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false. There is no life in them.

The Portion of Jacob is not like these. He made everything, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name.

For this is what the LORD says: "I'm going to throw out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I'll bring distress on them so they'll experience it."

Woe is me because of my injury. My wound is severe. I said, "Truly this is my sickness, and I must bear it.

My tent is destroyed, and all my tent cords are broken. My sons have gone away from me, they no longer live. There is no one to pitch my tent again and set up my curtains.

Because the shepherds are stupid and don't seek the LORD, therefore, they don't prosper, and their flock is scattered.

The sound of a report, it's coming now! There is a great commotion from a land in the north to make the towns of Judah desolate, a refuge for jackals."

LORD, I know that a person's life is not his to control, nor does a person establish his way in life.

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

You are to say to them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Cursed is the person who does not listen to the words of this covenant

As a result, I'll fulfill the oath that I made with your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, just as is the case today."'" Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to bring disaster on them from which they won't be able to escape. They'll cry out to me, but I won't listen to them.

Judah, you have as many gods as you have towns, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful idols as there are streets in Jerusalem. You burn incense to Baal on these altars.

Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who seek to kill you, all the while threatening you, "Don't prophesy in the name of the LORD so you won't die by our hand!"

Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "I'm about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and daughters will die by famine.

You plant them and they take root, they grow and bear fruit. "You are near to us," they say with their mouths, but the truth is that you're far from their hearts.

Is my inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to me? Are the other birds of prey all around her coming against her? Go, gather all the wild animals and bring them to devour it.

This is what the LORD says about all the wicked neighbors who strike out against the land I've given to my people Israel as their inheritance: "I'm about to uproot them from their land, and I'll uproot the house of Judah from among them.

If they have learned the ways of my people well, to swear by my name: "As surely as the LORD lives,' just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they'll be built up among my people.

This is what the LORD told me: "Go and buy a linen belt for yourself, and put it around your waist. But don't let it get wet."

Take the belt that you bought and that is around your waist. Get up and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a crevice in the rock."

So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, just as the LORD had commanded me.

"This is what the LORD says: "In the same way I'll ruin the pride of Judah and the pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people that refuses to listen to my words, that stubbornly pursues their own desires, and that follows other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt that is not good for anything.

For just as the belt clings tightly to a person's waist, so I've made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah cling tightly to me,' declares the LORD. "I did this so that they would be my people, name, praise, and glory. But they wouldn't listen.'

"This is what you're to tell them: "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Every wineskin is to be filled with wine."' When they say to you, "Don't we know very well that every wineskin is to be filled with wine?',

then say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "I'm about to make all the inhabitants of this land drunk the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem.

"Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you your beautiful sheep?

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?

"This is your fate, the portion I've measured out for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

This is this message from the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: