therefore thus the LORD doth certify you: Behold, I will visit Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: so that none of his shall remain among this people, and none of them shall see the good, that I will do for this people, sayeth the LORD. For he hath preached falsely of the LORD."

These are the words that the LORD showed unto Jeremiah, saying,

"Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: Write up diligently all the words, that I have spoken unto thee, in a book.

For lo, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that I will bring again the prisoners of my people of Israel and Judah, sayeth the LORD: For I will restore them unto the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall have it in possession."

For what else doth this signify, that I see? Namely, that all strong men smite every man his hand upon his loins, as a woman in the pain of her travail. Who ever saw a man travail with child? Enquire thereafter, and see. Yea, all their faces are marvelous pale.

Alas for this day, which is so dreadful, that none may be likened unto it: and alas for the time of Jacob's trouble, from the which he shall yet be delivered.

For in that day, sayeth the LORD, I will take his yoke from off thy neck, and break thy bonds. They shall no more serve strange gods under him,

For I am with thee, to help thee, sayeth the LORD. And though I shall destroy all the people among whom I have scattered thee, yet will I not destroy thee, but correct thee, and that with discretion. For I know, that thou art in no wise without fault.

All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and care nothing for thee. For I have given thee a cruel stroke, and chastened thee roughly: and that for the multitude of thy misdeeds, for thy sins have had the overhand.

And therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine enemies shall be led into captivity. All they that make thee waste, shall be wasted themselves: and all those that rob thee, will I make also to be robbed.

Their children shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall continue in my sight. And all those that vex them, will I visit.

A captain also shall come of them, and a prince shall spring out from the midst of them: him will I challenge to myself, and he shall come unto me. For what is he, that giveth over his heart to come unto me, sayeth the LORD?

I will repair thee again, O thou daughter of Israel, that thou mayest be fast and sure. Thou shalt take thy tabrets again, and go forth, with them that lead the dance.

Behold, I will bring them again from out of the north land, and gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and lame that are among them, with the women that be great with child, and such as be also delivered: and the company of them that come again, shall be great.

"Hear the word of the LORD, O ye Gentiles; preach in the Isles that lie far off, and say, 'He that hath scattered Israel, shall gather him together again, and shall keep him as a shepherd doth his flock.'

Yea, even thy posterity shall have consolation in this, sayeth the LORD, that thy children shall come again into their own land.

Moreover, I heard Ephraim, that was led away captive, complain on this manner, 'O LORD, thou hast corrected me, and thy chastening have I received, as an untamed calf. Convert thou me, and I shall be converted, for thou art my LORD God.

Upon this complaint, I thought thus by myself: Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not the child, with whom I have had all mirth and pastime? For since the time that I first communed with him, I have him ever in remembrance: therefore my very heart driveth me unto him; gladly and lovingly will I have mercy upon him, sayeth the LORD.

Get the watchman, provide teachers for thee: set thine heart upon the right way, that thou shouldest walk, and turn again, O thou daughter of Israel; turn again to these cities of thine.

For thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: It will come thereto, that when I have brought Judah out of captivity, these words shall be heard in the land and in his cities, 'The LORD, which is the fair bridegroom of righteousness, make thee fruitful O thou holy hill!'

"Behold, sayeth the LORD, the days come, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with men and with cattle.

Yea it shall come thereto, that like as I have gone about in times past to root them out, to scatter them, to break them down, to destroy them and chasten them: Even so will I also go diligently about, to build them up again, and to plant them, sayeth the LORD.

For every one shall die for his own misdeed, so that who so eateth a sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Behold, the days come, sayeth the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

not after the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand, and led them out of the land of Egypt: which covenant they brake, wherefore I punished them sore, sayeth the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, sayeth the LORD: I will plant my law in the inward parts of them, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

"Thus sayeth the LORD which gave the sun to be a light for the day, and the moon and stars to shine in the night: which moveth the sea, so that the floods thereof wax fierce: his name is the LORD of Hosts.

Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD: like as the heaven above cannot be measured, and as the foundations of the earth beneath may not be sought out; So will I also not cast out the whole seed of Israel, for that they have committed, sayeth the LORD.

Behold, the days come, sayeth the LORD, that the city of the LORD shall be enlarged from the tower of Hananel, unto the gate of the corner wall.

And Zedekiah shall be carried unto Babylon, and there shall he be, until the time that I visit him, sayeth the LORD. But if thou takest in hand to fight against the Chaldeans, thou shalt not prosper."

'Behold, Hananel the son of Shallum thine Uncle's son shall come unto thee, and require thee to redeem the land, that lieth in Anathoth unto thyself: for by reason of kindred it is thy part to redeem it, and to buy it out.'

And so, Hananel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of the LORD - and said unto me, 'Buy my land, I pray thee, that lieth in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin: for by heritage thou hast right to loose it out for thyself; therefore redeem it.' Then I perceived, that this was the commandment of the LORD,

and I gave the evidence unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hananel my cousin, and in the presence of the witnesses that be named in the evidence, and before all the Jews that were thereby in the court of the prison.

'The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, commandeth thee to take this sealed evidence with the copy, and to lay it in an earthen vessel, that it may long continue.

For the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, hath determined that houses, fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.'

'O LORD God: It is thou that hast made heaven and earth with thy great power and high arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.

Thou showest mercy upon thousands, thou recompensest the wickedness of the fathers, into the bosom of the children that come after them. Thou art the great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of Hosts:

and hast given them this land, like as thou hadst promised unto their fathers: Namely, that thou wouldest give them a land, that floweth with milk and honey.

Now when they came therein, and possessed it, they followed not thy voice, and walked not in thy law: but all that thou commandedst them to do, that have they not done. And therefore come all these plagues upon them.

Behold, there are bulwarks made now against the city, to take it: and it shall be won of the Chaldeans that besiege it with sword, with hunger and death. And look, what thou hast spoken, that same shall come upon them. For lo, all things are present unto thee:

Yet sayest thou unto me, O LORD God, and commandest me that I shall loose a piece of land unto myself, and take witness thereto: and yet in the mean season the city is delivered into the power of the Chaldeans.'

Or, what hath this city been else, but a provoking of my wrath, ever since the day that I builded it, unto this hour? Wherein I cast it out of my sight,

They would not hear, to be reformed and correct. They have set their gods in the house that is hallowed unto my name, to defile it.

And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me all the days of their life, that they and their children after them may prosper.

And I will set up an everlasting covenant with them; Namely: that I will never cease to do them good, and that I will put my fear in their hearts, so that they shall not run away from me.

For thus sayeth the LORD: Like as I have brought all this great plague upon this people, so will I also bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

And men shall have their possessions in this land, whereof ye say now, that it shall neither be inhabited of people nor of cattle, but be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.

Yea, land shall be bought for money, and evidences made thereupon and sealed before witnesses in the country of Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem: in the cities of Judah; in the cities that are upon the mountains; and in them that lie beneath; yea, and in the cities that are in the desert. For I will bring their prisoners hither again, sayeth the LORD.'"

"Thus sayeth the LORD, which fullfilleth the thing that he speaketh; the LORD which performeth the thing that he taketh in hand; even he, whose name is the LORD:

And this shall get me a name, and praise and honour, among all people of the earth, which shall hear all the good, that I will show unto them: Yea, they shall be afraid and astonished at all the good deeds and benefits that I will do for them.

"Moreover thus sayeth the LORD: In this place, whereof ye say that it shall be a wilderness, wherein neither people nor cattle shall dwell: in like manner in the cities of Judah and without Jerusalem - which also shall be so void, that neither people nor cattle shall dwell there -

Shall the voice of gladness be heard again; the voice of the Bridegroom and of the bride; the voice of them that shall sing, 'Praise the LORD of Hosts, for he is loving and his mercy endureth forever,' and the voice of them that shall offer up gifts in the house of the LORD. For I will restore the captivity of this land, as it was afore, sayeth the LORD.

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: It shall come yet thereto, that in this land, which is void from men and cattle, and in all the cities of the land, there shall be set up shepherd's cottages:

in the cities upon the mountains; and in the cities that lie upon the plain and in the desert. In the land of Benjamin, in the fields of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah shall the sheep be numbered again, under the hand of him that telleth them, sayeth the LORD.

Behold, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that I will perform the good thing, which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

Behold, the days will come saith the LORD, that I will stir up unto David a righteous branch, and he shall reign a king, and shall be wise, and shall do equity and justice in the earth.

And in his days Judah shall be safe, and Israel shall dwell without fear. And this is the name that they shall call him: 'The LORD our righteousness.'

"Thus sayeth the LORD: May the covenant which I have made with day and night be broken, that there should not be day and night in due season?

"Considerest thou not what this people speaketh? 'Two kindreds,' say they, 'had the LORD chosen, and those same two hath he cast away.' For so far is my people come, that they have no hope to come together any more, and to be one people again.

then will I also cast away the seed of David my servant: so that I will take no prince out of his seed, to rule the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But yet I will turn again their captivity, and be merciful unto them."

These are the words which the LORD spake unto Jeremiah, what time as Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and all his Hosts, out of all the kingdoms that were under his power, and all his people, fought against Jerusalem, and all the cities thereof.

These are the words that the LORD spake unto Jeremiah the prophet, when Zedekiah was agreed with all the people at Jerusalem, that there should be proclaimed a liberty:

so that every man should let his servant and handmaid go free, Hebrew and Hebrewess, and no Jew to hold his brother as a bond man.

"Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers, when I brought them out of Egypt, that they should no more be bondmen: saying,

As for you, ye were now turned, and did right before me, in that ye proclaimed, every man to let his neighbour go free, and in that ye made a covenant before me, in the temple that beareth my name.

But yet ye have turned yourselves again, and blasphemed my name, in this: That every man hath required his servant and handmaid again, whom ye had letten go quit and free, and compelled them to serve you again, and to be your bondmen.

Yea, those men that have broken my covenant, and not kept the words of the covenant which they made before me - when they hewed the calf in two, and when there went through the two halves thereof -

Those men will I give into the power of their enemies, and into the hands of them that follow upon their lives. And their dead bodies shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and beasts of the field.

As for Zedekiah the king of Judah and his princes, I will deliver them into the power of their enemies, and of them that desire to slay them, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's host, which now is departed from you.

But through my commandment, sayeth the LORD, they shall come again before this city, they shall fight against it, win it, and burn it. Moreover I will lay the cities of Judah so waste, that no man shall dwell therein."

and brought them to the house of the LORD, into the closet of the children of Hanan the son of Igdaliah the man of God: which was by the closet of the princes, that is above the closet of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, which is the chief of the treasury.

yea, ye shall have no vineyards: but for all your time ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live long in the land, wherein ye be strangers.'

Thus have we obeyed the commandment of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father, in all that he hath charged us, and so we drink no wine all our life long: we, nor our wives, our sons, and our daughters.

but we dwell in tents, we obey, and do according unto all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

But now that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, 'Come, let us go to Jerusalem, that we may escape the host of the Chaldeans and the Assyrians: and so we dwell now at Jerusalem.'"

The words which Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded his sons, that they should drink no wine, are fast and surely kept: for unto this day they drink no wine but obey their father's commandment. But as for me, I have stood up early, I have spoken unto you, and given you earnest warning: and yet have ye not been obedient unto me.

Yea, I have sent my servants, all the prophets, unto you. I rose up early, and sent you word, saying: O turn you, every man from his wicked way: amend your lives, and go not after strange gods, to worship them: that ye may continue in the land, which I have given unto you and your fathers. But ye would neither hear me, nor follow me.

The children of Jonadab Rechab's son have steadfastly kept their father's commandment that he gave them, but this people is not obedient unto me.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon everyone that dwelleth in Jerusalem, all the trouble that I have devised against them. For I have spoken unto them, but they would not follow: I have called unto them, nevertheless they would give me no answer."

Jeremiah also spake unto the household of the Rechabites, "Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Forsomuch as ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath bidden you:

"Take a book, and write therein all the words, that I have spoken to thee, to Israel, to Judah, and to all the people, from the time that I began for to speak unto thee in the reign of Josiah, unto this day.

That when the house of Judah heareth of the plague, which I have devised for them, they may peradventure turn, every man from his wicked way, that I may forgive their offenses and sins."

And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am in prison, so that I may not come into the house of the LORD:

therefore go thou thither, and read the book, that thou hast written at my mouth: Namely, the words of the LORD, and read them in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: that the people, whole Judah, and all they that come out of the cities, may hear.

Peradventure they will pray meekly before the face of LORD, and turn, every one from his wicked way. For great is the wrath and displeasure, that the LORD hath taken against this people."

So Baruch the son of Neriah did, according unto all that Jeremiah the Prophet commanded him, reading the words of the LORD out of the book in the LORD's house.

And this was done in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, when it was commanded that all the people of Jerusalem should fast before the LORD, and they also that were come from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

Then read Baruch the words of Jeremiah out of the book within the house of the LORD, out of the treasury of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the Scribe, which is beside the higher loft of the new door of the LORD's house: that all the people might hear.

And Micaiah told them all the words that he heard Baruch read out of the book before the people.

And they said unto him, "Sit down, and read the book that we may hear also." So Baruch read, that they might hear.

Then said the princes unto Baruch, "Go thy way, and hide thee with Jeremiah, so that no man know where ye be."

And they went in to the king to the court. but they kept the book in the chamber of Elishama the Scribe, and told the king all the words that he might hear.

So the king sent Jehudi to fetch him the book, which he brought out of Elishama the Scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it, that the king and all the princes, which were about him might hear.

Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah besought the king, that he would not burn the book: notwithstanding the king would not hear them,

Now, after that the king had burnt the book, and the sermons which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah: The word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

"Take another book, and write in it all the foresaid sermons that were written in the first book, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burnt.

And tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: Thou hast burnt the book, and thou thoughtest within thyself: Why hast thou written therein, that the king of Babylon shall come, and make this land waste, so that he shall make both people and cattle to be out of it?

Therefore thus the LORD sayeth, of Jehoiakim the king of Judah: There shall none of his generation sit upon the throne of David. His dead corpse shall be cast out, that the heat of the day and the frost of the night may come upon him.

And I will visit the wickedness of him, of his seed, and of his servants. Moreover all the evil that I have promised them, though they heard me not, will I bring upon them, upon the inhabiters of Jerusalem, and upon all Judah."

Then took Jeremiah another book, and gave it Baruch the Scribe, the son of Neriah, which wrote therein out of the mouth of Jeremiah all the sermons that were in the first book, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah did burn. And there were added unto them many more sermons than before."