But if you say, 'The burden of Yahweh,' {therefore} thus says Yahweh, 'because of your saying these words, "The burden of Yahweh," then I will send to you, {saying}, "You shall not say, 'The burden of Yahweh.'"

{Therefore} look, here I am, and I will surely lift you up and forsake you and the city that I gave to you and to your ancestors from {my presence},

Yahweh showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs placed {before} the temple of Yahweh--after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them [to] Babylon.

And Yahweh asked me, "What [are] you seeing, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs--the good figs, very good, and the bad [figs], very bad, that cannot be eaten because of [their] bad quality."

And I will make them as a terror, an evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, as a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,

"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,

and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.'

'Yet you have not listened to me,' {declares} Yahweh, 'so that you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.'

{And then} when [the] seventy years [are] fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for their iniquity, and [the] land of [the] Chaldeans, and I will make it {an everlasting waste}.

and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who are trimmed to [the] side;

and all the kings of the north, near and far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the world that [are] on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach, he will drink after them.

And it will happen, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "You must certainly drink!

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. And roll about in mourning [in the dust], O leaders of the flock. For your days of slaughter and your dispersions have arrived, and you will fall like a vessel of desire.

And the {peaceful settlements} are devastated because of {the burning anger of Yahweh}.

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."

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.

But [as for] me, look, I [am] in your hand, do to me what [is] good and right in your eyes.

Only you must certainly know that if you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves innocent blood, and on this city and on its inhabitants, for {truly} Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears."

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "{This man does not deserve} a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us."

[Did] Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? [Was he] not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we [are] about to do great disaster to ourselves."

Indeed, there also was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah.

And when King Jehoiakim, and all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard, and he was afraid, and he fled and went [to] Egypt.

And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people.

thus said Yahweh to me--"Make for yourself fetters and yokes and put them on your neck,

And you must command them for their masters, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, this you shall say to your masters:

"I have made the earth with humankind and animals that [are] on the face of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever is right in my eyes.

"But it will be [that] the nation or kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague," {declares} Yahweh, "until I have destroyed it with my hand.

And you, you must not listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your interpreters of signs, and to your sorcerers who are {saying}, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'

For they [are] prophesying to you a lie, so that you [will be] removed from your land, and I will drive you away, and you will perish.

And I spoke words like these to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, {saying}, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

Why should you die--you and your people--by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

And you must not listen to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, {saying}, 'You must not serve the king of Babylon,' for they [are] prophesying a lie to you.

For I have not sent them," {declares} Yahweh, "but they [are] prophesying in my name {falsely}, so that I will drive them away. And you will perish--you and the prophets who are prophesying to you."

Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh, 'You must not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, {saying}, "Look, the vessels of the house of Yahweh [are] about to be quickly brought back from Babylon", for they [are] prophesying a lie to you.

But if they [are] prophets, and if there is with them the word of Yahweh, let them please plead with Yahweh of hosts, that the vessels that are left over in the {temple} of Yahweh, and the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, must not go [to] Babylon.'

For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left [in] the house of Yahweh, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and [in] Jerusalem:

And it was in that [same] year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azzur, the prophet who [was] from Gibeon, said to me in the house of Yahweh before the eyes of the priests and all the people, {saying},

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet before the eyes of the priests and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh,

and Jeremiah the prophet said, "Amen! May Yahweh do so; may Yahweh fulfill your words that you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all the exiles from Babylon to this place.

Nevertheless listen please [to] this word that I [am] speaking in your {hearing} and in the {hearing} of all the people,

The prophets who were {before} me and {before} you from ancient [times] prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms of war, and of disaster, and of plague.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I [am] going to send you from the face of the earth. This year you [will] die because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.'"

And Hananiah the prophet died in that [same] year in the seventh month.

And these [are] the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem [to] Babylon,

Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take for your sons wives, and give your daughters to men that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and you must not be few.

And seek the prosperity of the city where I have deported you, and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh, for in its prosperity you will have prosperity.'

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your prophets who [are] in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you, and you must not listen to your dreams that you [are] causing [them] to dream.

For they [are] prophesying {falsely} to you in my name; I have not sent them,' {declares} Yahweh.

When you search for me, then you will find [me], if you seek me with all your heart.

And I will let myself be found by you,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and I will restore your fortunes, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have driven you,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and I will bring you back to the place from which I deported you.'

for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your fellow kinsmen who did not go with you into the exile--

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you in my name a lie, 'Look, I [am] going to give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and he will strike them before your eyes.

And a curse will be taken [up] because of them by all the exiles of Judah who [are] in Babylon, {saying}, "May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,"

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, {saying}, 'Because you yourself sent letter in your name to all the people who [are] in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, {saying},

"Yahweh made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there are overseers [in] the house of Yahweh over any mad man [who] exhibits the behavior of a prophet, and you must put him into the stocks and into the neck iron,

For look, days [are] coming,' {declares} Yahweh, 'when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah,' says Yahweh, 'and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they will take possession of it.'"

Now these [are] the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

Ask please and see whether a male can bear a child. Why [do] I see every strong man [with] his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth? And [why] are all [their] faces changed to paleness?

And it will happen on that day,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'I will break his yoke from your neck and your bonds I will tear to pieces. And strangers will no longer let him work as a slave.

But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and you must not be dismayed, Israel, for look, I [am] going to save you from far, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return, and he will be at rest, and he will be at ease, and there will be no [one who] makes [him] afraid.

For thus says Yahweh, 'Your injury [is] incurable, your wound [is] overcome by sickness.

There is no [one who] pleads your cause, for [your] boil there is no healing for you.

All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not care for you. I have struck you [with the] blow of an enemy, [the] punishment of [the] cruel, because of the greatness of your guilt, your sins are numerous.

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.

{Therefore} all [those who] devour you will be devoured, and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity, and [those who] plunder you will be as plunder, and all [those who] plunder you I will make as plunder.

For I will present healing to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Because they have called you an outcast, [saying], "It is Zion, there is no [one who] cares for her." '

I will again build you, and you will be built, O virgin Israel. You will again adorn yourself [with] your tambourines, and you will go forth in [the] dancing in a ring of [the] merrymakers.

For there will be a day [when] watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim, 'Stand up, and let us go up [to] Zion, to Yahweh our God.'"

For thus says Yahweh, "Sing for joy for Jacob [with] gladness, and shout out for the head of the nations. Proclaim, praise, and say, 'Save, Yahweh, your people, the remnant of Israel.'

Look, I [am] going to bring them from [the] land of [the] north, and I will gather them from [the] remotest part of [the] earth. Among them [the] blind, and [the] lame, [those who are] pregnant, and [those who] give birth, together, a great assembly, they will return here.

Thus says Yahweh, "A voice [is] heard in Ramah, lamentation, [the] weeping of bitterness. Rachel [is] weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no [more]."

Thus says Yahweh: "Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work," {declares} Yahweh, "and they will return from [the] land of [the] enemy.

And there is hope for your future," {declares} Yahweh, "and [your] children will return to their territory.

Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, 'You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you [are] Yahweh my God.

[Is] Ephraim my dear son, or [the] child of [my] delight? For {as often as} I have earnestly spoken against him, I still remember him. {Therefore} my bowels are turbulent for him, surely I will have compassion on him," {declares} Yahweh.

"Set up for yourself road markers, make for yourself signposts, set your {mind} to the main road, [the] road [by which] you went. Return, O virgin of Israel, return to these your cities.

"Look, [the] days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah [with the] seed of humankind, and [with the] seed of animals.

"In those days they will say no longer, '{Parents} have eaten unripe fruit, and [the] teeth of [the] children {are set on edge}.'

Look, [the] days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will {make} a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, {saying}, 'Know Yahweh,' for all of them will know me, from their {smallest} and up to their {greatest}," {declares} Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember."

"Look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and the city will be rebuilt for Yahweh, from the Tower of Hananel [to] the Corner Gate.

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, that [was] the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

where Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, {saying}, "Why [are] you prophesying, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it,

'Look, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your uncle, [is] going to come to you, {saying}, "Buy for yourself my field that [is] at Anathoth, for {you have} the right of redemption to buy [it]." '

And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

'Ah Lord Yahweh! Look, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. {Nothing} is too difficult for you,

great in counsel and great [in] deed, whose eyes [are] opened to all the ways of the children of humankind, to give to each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds,

And you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an arm stretched out, and with great terror.

And they entered and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice, and they did not follow your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded to them to do, and you caused to happen [to] them all this disaster.

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].

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and [where] they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

For the people of Israel and the people of Judah were doing only evil in my eyes from their youth, for the people of Israel [were] only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands," {declares} Yahweh.

And they have turned to me [their] backs and not [their] faces, though {I have taught them over and over again}, but they [were] not listening to accept discipline.

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."

"So now {therefore}, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, [of] which you [are] saying, 'It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague':

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."