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.

Therefore I, too, will choose harsh treatment for them, and will bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn't listen; but they did what I consider to be evil, and chose what doesn't please me."

"The priests didn't say, "Where is the LORD?' and those handling the Law didn't know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.

“Has a nation [ever] changed gods
Even though they were not gods [but merely man-made objects]?
But My people have exchanged their Glory (the true God)
For that [man-made idol] which does not benefit [them].

Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels? Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can even be counted.

“Roam back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look now and take note.
And look in her open squares
To see if you can find a man [as Abraham sought in Sodom],
One who is just, who [has integrity and moral courage and] seeks truth (faithfulness);
Then I will pardon Jerusalem—[for the sake of one uncompromisingly righteous person].

{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}.'

“For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba
And the sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not sweet and pleasing to Me.”

But you shall say to them, This is a nation which does not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, nor receives instruction; truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

"And you shall say to them, 'Thus asks Yahweh: "Do men fall and not stand up? If one turns away does he not return?

Why has this people turned away? Why does Jerusalem continue in apostasy? They hold on to deceit and refuse to repent.

How can you say, "We are wise! We have the law of the Lord"? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean.

“Everyone deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves committing iniquity.

I said, "Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? Why does the land lie in ruins? Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?"

He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger.

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

Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant

What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

You, O Lord are [uncompromisingly] righteous and consistently just when I plead my case with You;
Yet let me discuss issues of justice with You:
Why has the way of the wicked prospered?
Why are those who deal in treachery (deceit) at ease and thriving?

Thou plantest them, they take root, they grow, and bring forth fruit. They boast much of thee, yet doest thou not punish them.

{How long} will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? [The] animals and [the] birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future."

Thus says the Lord to this people [Judah], “In the manner and to the degree [already pointed out] they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember [in detail] their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

"Hast thou then utterly forsaken Judah?" said I, "Doest thou so abhor Zion? Or hast thou so plagued us, that we can be healed no more? We looked for peace, and there cometh no good: for the time of health, and lo, here is nothing but trouble.

Can any of the worthless gods of the nations make it rain? Can the heavens themselves bring forth showers? Aren't you the one who does this, LORD our God? So we hope in you, for you are the one who does all these things.

For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; [yet] everyone of them does curse me.

He will be like a tree planted by water:
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.

The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

But [if] it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do [to] it.

Does the snow of Lebanon leave from [the] crags of Sirion? Or are [the] cold waters flowing from distant mountains dried up?

And the next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib (terror on every side).

This is what the LORD says, house of David: "Judge appropriately every morning, and deliver those who have been robbed from the oppressor, so my anger does not break out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of your evil deeds.

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who builds his house by [acts of] unrighteousness
And his upper chambers by injustice,
Who uses his neighbor’s service without pay
And does not give him wages [for his work],

Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him.

This is what the LORD says: "Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.'"

In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.

Let the prophet who has a dream relate the dream, but let whoever receives my message speak my message truthfully. What does straw have in common with wheat?" declares the LORD.

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."

“As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“until through him I have destroyed it.

Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd does his flock.

Thus says Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it; Yahweh is his name:

Thus says the Lord, ‘If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not established the fixed patterns of heaven and earth, [the whole order of nature,]

Then the princes said to the king, "Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn't seek the welfare of this people, but the hurt."

Now see, this day I am freeing you from the chains which are on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will keep an eye on you; but if it does not seem good to you to come with me to Babylon, then do not come: see, all the land is before you; if it seems good and right to you to go on living in the land,

We will obey what the Lord our God to whom we are sending you tells us to do. It does not matter whether we like what he tells us or not. We will obey what he tells us to do so that things will go well for us."

“Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord negligently,
And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood [in executing the judgment of the Lord].

You daughter that does inhabit Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the plunderer of Moab shall come upon you, and he shall destroy your strongholds.

About the Ammonites, this is what the Lord says:

Does Israel have no sons?
Is he without an heir?
Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad
and his people settled in their cities?

For look, I [am] going to stir up, and I [am] going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from [the] land of [the] north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows [are] like a warrior [who has] achieved success, he does not return without success.

“Her cities have become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror,
A parched land and a desert,
A land in which no one lives,
And through which no son of man passes.

Do this now, so your heart does not grow faint, and so you don't become frightened because of the rumors that are heard in the land a rumor comes one year and then after it another rumor comes the next year about violence in the land and one ruler against another ruler.

This is what the Lord who rules over all says, "Babylon's thick wall will be completely demolished. Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed."

How does the city sit lovely, that was full of people! how has she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how has she become a slave!

The loyal love of Yahweh does not cease; his compassions do not come to an end.

For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.

For He does not afflict willingly and from His heart
Or grieve the children of men.

To defraud a man in his lawsuit—
The Lord does not approve of these things.

Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn't command it?

Doesn't evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?

Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Complain [of punishment] in view of his sins?

My eye pours down, and doesn't cease, without any intermission,

While we are, our eyes fail, for our help is vain; in our watching we have watched for a nation; it does not save.

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that does deliver us out of their hand.

And you, if you do warn [the] wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, on account of his guilt he will die, and you yourself will have saved your life.

And {when the righteous turns from his righteousness} and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block {before him}, he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand.

However, if you have warned the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning; also you have freed yourself [from responsibility].”

Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his [secret] room of carved images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has abandoned the land.’”

Then He said to me, “The wickedness (guilt) of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of blood and the city is full of perversion and injustice; for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; the Lord does not see [what we are doing].’

Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?

And the king who is among them shall carry burdens on his shoulder in the dark, and shall go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry out by it. He shall hide his face so that he does not see the ground with his eye.

“But if the prophet [who speaks without My authority] is enticed to speak a word [of his own], it is I the Lord who have caused that prophet [to speak falsely to please the inquirer, thus allowing himself to be a party to the inquirer’s sin], and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

Son of man, when a land, sinning against me, does wrong, and my hand is stretched out against it, and the support of its bread is broken, and I make it short of food, cutting off man and beast from it:

“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine, that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood?

How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;

But Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar by sending his ambassadors to Egypt so that they might give him horses and many troops. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Can he indeed break the covenant [with Babylon] and [still] escape?

“But if a man is righteous (keeps the law) and practices justice and righteousness,

and on the mountains he [does] not eat and he [does] not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he [does] not defile and he [does] not approach a woman of menstruation,

He doesn’t oppress anyone but returns his collateral to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

if he does not charge interest or take a percentage of increase [on what he lends in compassion], if he keeps his hand from sin and executes true justice between man and man,

“If he is the father of a violent son who sheds blood, and who does any of these things to a brother

and who does not any of those [duties], but even has eaten on the mountains, and defiled his neighbor's wife,

He oppresses [the] needy and [the] poor, [and] {he commits robbery}, [and] he [does] not return pledge for a loan, [and] he lifts his eyes to the idols [so] he does a detestable thing.

“Now behold, if this [wicked] man has a son who has observed all the sins which his father committed, and considers [thoughtfully what he has observed] and does not do like his father:

On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift [up] his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, [and] the wife of his neighbor he does not defile.

And he oppresses no one; he requires no pledge for a loan, and {he does not commit robbery}; he gives his bread to [the] hungry, and he covers the naked person [with] a garment.

He brings back his hand from iniquity; he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live!

As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

“Yet do you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father’s sin?’ When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has kept all My statutes and has done them, he shall certainly live.

The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.

“But if the wicked man turns [away] from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall certainly live; he shall not die.

“But when the righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits sin and acts in accordance with all the repulsive things that the wicked man does, will he live? All of his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered because of the treachery that he has committed and for his sin which he has committed; for them he shall die.

When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and he does injustice, then he will die because of them; because of his injustice that he did he will die!

Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.

and I gave my statutes to them, and my regulations I made known to them, which, if a person does them, then he will live by them.

"But in the desert the house of Israel rebelled against me; {they did not walk in my statutes}, and they rejected my regulations, which, if a person does them, he will live by them, and they greatly profaned my Sabbaths, and I decided to pour out my rage on them in the desert to destroy them,

Yet the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, which, if a man keeps, he will live; they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I decided to pour out My wrath on them and finish My anger against them in the wilderness.

Then I said to them, What does the high place where you go mean? So its name is called Bamah to this day.