{Your holy people} took possession for little [while]; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.

We have been since antiquity; you did not rule them; {they were not called by your name}.

as fire kindles brushwood, [the] fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, [that the] nations might tremble from your {presence}.

When you did terrible deeds [which] we did not {expect}, you came down; [the] mountains quaked because of your {presence}.

You meet with the one who rejoices, one who does righteousness. In your ways they remember you. Look! You were angry and we sinned against them [in] ancient [times] and we were saved.

And we all have become like the unclean, and all our deeds of justice like a menstrual cloth, And we all wither like leaf, and our iniquities take us away like the wind.

And there is no one who calls on your name, who pulls himself up to keep hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us, and melted us into the hand of our iniquity.

Yet now Yahweh, you [are] our father; we [are] the clay and you [are] our {potter}, and we all [are] the work of your hand.

You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh, and you must not remember iniquity forever! Look! Behold, now! We all [are] your people!

{Your holy cities} have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

{Our holy and beautiful temple}, where our ancestors praised you has {been burned} [by] fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins.

{who say}, "{Keep to yourself}! You must not come near me, for I am [too] holy for you!" These [are] a smoke in my {nostrils}, a fire burning all day.

your iniquities and the iniquities of your ancestors together, says Yahweh, because they made smoke offerings on the mountains and they taunted me on the hills, I will measure their punishment [from the] beginning into the fold of their garment."

And you shall leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you, and he will {give} his servants another name.

Whoever blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of trustworthiness, and the one who swears an oath in the land shall swear by the God of trustworthiness, because the former troubles are forgotten, and they are hidden from my eyes.

And I will shout in exultation over Jerusalem, and I will rejoice over my people, and [the] sound of weeping shall no longer be heard in it, or [the] sound of a cry for help.

There will no longer be a nursing infant {who lives only a few} days, or an old man who does not fill his days, for the boy will die {a hundred years old}, and the one who {fails to reach} {a hundred years} will be {considered} accursed.

And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer; [while] still they [are] speaking, I myself will hear.

Thus says Yahweh: "Heaven [is] my throne, and the earth [is] the footstool for my feet. Where [is] this house that you would build for me? And where [is] this resting place for me?

Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are frightened at his word: Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for my name's sake have said, "Let Yahweh be honored so that we may see your joy!" But they themselves shall be ashamed.

Who has heard [anything] like this? Who has seen [anything] like these [things]? Can a land be born in one day? Or can a nation be born in a moment? [Yet] when she was in labor, Zion indeed gave birth [to] her children.

Shall I myself I break open and not {deliver}?" says Yahweh, "or I who {delivers} lock up [the womb]?" says your God.

And you shall see and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall {flourish} like the grass, and the hand of Yahweh shall make itself known {to} his servants, and he shall curse his enemies.

and bring all your countrymen from all the nations [as] an offering to Yahweh on horses and chariots and in litters and on mules and camels, to {my holy mountain}, Jerusalem," says Yahweh, "just as the sons of Israel bring [an] offering in a clean vessel [to] the house of Yahweh.

"For just as the new heavens and earth that I [am] about to make shall stand before me," {declares} Yahweh, "so shall your descendants and your name stand.

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, among the priests who [were] in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,

[to] whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, "Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, {saying}, "What [are] you seeing, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I [am] seeing a branch of an almond tree."

And the word of Yahweh came to me a second [time], {saying}, "What [are] you seeing?" And I said, "I [am] seeing a {boiling} pot, and its face [is] from [the] face of [the] north."

But you, you must gird your loins, and stand, and speak to them all that I command you. {Do not be afraid of them}, or I will shatter you {before} them.

"Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember [concerning] you the loyal love of your childhood, the love of your betrothal-time, your going after me in the desert, in [the] land not sown.

Israel [was] holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All [those who] ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them," {declares} Yahweh.'"

Thus says Yahweh: "What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?

And they did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land {that no one passes through}, and no human lives there?'

The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.

{Therefore} I again bring a lawsuit against you," {declares} Yahweh, "and with {your children} I bring a lawsuit.

Has a nation exchanged gods? And they [are] not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

[Is] Israel a slave? Or {a slave born in a house}? Why has he become plunder?

[The] young lions have roared against him, they have {raised} their voices. And they have made his land as horror; his cities are destroyed, {without} an inhabitant.

Moreover, people of Memphis and Tahpanhes will {shave} your skull.

Did you not do this to yourself, [by] forsaking Yahweh, your God, at the time of your leading in the way?

Your wickedness will chastise you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Therefore know and see that [it is] evil and bitter, your forsaking of Yahweh, your God, and fear of me [is] not in you," {declares} the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

"For from long ago you have broken your yoke, you tore to pieces your bonds. And you said, 'I will not serve!' But on every high hill and under every leafy tree you [were] lying down [as] a prostitute.

For if you wash with natron, and you {use much soap}, your guilt [is] sticking as a stain {before} me," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

"How can you say, 'I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?' Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. [You are] a young she-camel, interweaving her ways.

Restrain your foot from [being] barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, '[It is] hopeless. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'

[Those who] say to the tree, 'You [are] my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth [to] me.' For they have turned [their] {backs} to me, and not [their] faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.'

But where [are] your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For [according to] the number of your towns are your gods, Judah.

"For {in vain} I have struck your children. They accepted no discipline. Your sword devoured your prophets, like a ravening lion.

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'?

Can a young woman forget her ornaments? [Or] a bride her sashes? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

How well you do [on] your way to seek love! {Therefore} even [to] the wicked [woman] you can teach your ways.

Also on your skirts is found [the] blood of [the] life of [the] innocent, [the] poor. You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house. But in spite of all these [things],

yet you say, 'But I am innocent, surely his anger has turned away from me.' Look, I [am] entering into judgment with you because of your saying, 'I have not sinned.'

How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

Also from there you will come out with your hands on your head, for Yahweh has rejected {those in whom you trust}, and you will not prosper through them.

"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.

Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you [are] the close friend of my youth?

Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,' {declares} Yahweh."

"Return, apostate children," {declares} Yahweh. "For {I am your master}, and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you [to] Zion.

In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from [the] land of [the] north to the land that I gave as an inheritance [to] your ancestors.

Return, apostate children, I will heal your backsliding. 'Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God.

Surely, an illusion [comes] from [the] hills, [the] turmoil [on] the mountains. Surely, in Yahweh our God [is] the salvation of Israel.

But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our ancestors from our youth, their flocks, and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. For against Yahweh our God we have sinned, we and our ancestors, from our youth and until this day. and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.'

If you return, Israel," {declares} Yahweh, "you return to me. And if you remove your abominations from my {presence}, and you do not wander,

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and burns, and there is no [one who] extinguishes [it], because of the evil of your deeds."

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin {without} inhabitant.

Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots [are] like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles, woe to us, for we are devastated.

Cleanse your heart from wickedness, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. {How long} will your thoughts of mischief dwell in your inner part?

"Report to the nations, 'Here they are!' Proclaim against Jerusalem, 'Besiegers [are] coming {from a distant land}, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.'

Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me," {declares} Yahweh.

"You obtained this for yourself [because of] your way and your deeds. This [is] your doom, for [it is] bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart."

My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear [in] my inner self the sound of a horn, [the] alarm of war.

Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment.

"For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me. They [are] foolish children, and they do not have insight. They [are] skillful at doing evil, and they do not know [how] to do good."

I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness, and to the heavens, and [they were] without their light.

I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all of the hills were jolted to and fro.

I looked and behold, the fruitful land [was] a desert, and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh, before the face of {his burning anger}.

And you, devastated one, what [do] you do, that you put on crimson, that you adorn yourself [with] ornaments of gold, that you make your eyes look bigger with the eye make-up? In vain you beautify yourself. [Your] lovers reject you; they seek your life.

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.

Then I said, "[They are] just simple people, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Yahweh, the law of their God.

Therefore a lion from [the] forest will kill them, A wolf [from the] desert plains will devastate them. A leopard [is] watching their cities, everyone [who] goes out from there will be torn, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are numerous.

"{How} can I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me, and they have sworn by [those who are] not gods. But I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and flocked [to] the house of a prostitute.

They were well-fed lusty horses, they neighed each to the wife of his neighbor.

Go up through her vineyards and destroy, but you must not make complete destruction. Remove her branches, for they [are] not to Yahweh.

And the prophets are like wind, and the word [is] not in them.' Thus it will be done to them."

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word, look, I [am] making my words in your mouth like a fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.

Their quiver [is] like an open tomb, all of them [are] warriors.

And they will eat your harvest and your food, they will eat your sons and your daughters, they will eat your flock and your herd, they will eat your vine and your fig tree, they will smash with the sword {your fortified cities}, in which you trust.

{And then}, when you [people] say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all of these [things] to us?' Then you will say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in {a land that does not belong to you}.'

And they do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear please Yahweh our God, the [one who] gives [the] autumn rain and [the] spring rain in its season, {the set times of the harvest} he keeps for us.'

Your iniquities have disturbed these, and your sins have kept away the good from you.

For wicked people are found among my people, they lie in wait like the hiding of fowlers, they set up a trap, they catch humans.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses [are] full of fraud. {Therefore} they have become great, and they have become rich.

They have grown fat, they have grown sleek, also, {their evil deeds have no limit}. They do not judge [with] justice, [the] legal cause of [the] orphan, or allow it to succeed, and [the] legal case of [the] poor, they do not defend.

{Sanctify} war against her. Arise, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day turns, for [the] shadows of evening are lengthened.

As a water well keeps its water cool, so she keeps cool her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her, sickness and wounds [are] continually {before me}.