because I have now preached long against malicious Tyranny, and showed them of destruction. For the which cause they cast the word of the LORD in my teeth, and take me ever to the worst.

Wherefore, I thought from henceforth not to speak of him, nor to preach anymore in his name. But the word of the LORD was a very burning fire in my heart and in my bones, which when I would have stopped, I might not.

For why? I heard so many derisions and blasphemies, yea even of my own companions, and such as were conversant with me: which went about, to make me afraid, saying, "Upon him; let us go upon him, to fear him, and make him hold his tongue: that we may overcome him, and be avenged of him."

But the LORD stood by me, like a mighty giant: therefore my persecutors fell, and could do nothing. They shall be sore confounded, for they have done unwisely, they shall have an everlasting shame.

Let it happen unto that man, as to the cities which the LORD turned upside down, when he had long heard the wicked rumor of them;

because he slew me not, as soon as I came out of my mother's womb, and because my mother was not my grave herself, that the birth might not have come out, but remained still in her.

'Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: behold, I will turn back the weapons, that ye have in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, which besiege you round about the walls, and I will bring them together into the midst of this city,

and I myself will fight against you, with an outstretched hand, and with a mighty arm, in great displeasure and terrible wrath:

and will smite them, that dwell in this city, yea both man and cattle shall die of the pestilence.

And after this, sayeth the LORD, I shall deliver Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his servants, his people - and such as are escaped in the city, from the pestilence, sword, and hunger - into the power of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: yea into the hands of their enemies; into the hands of those that follow upon their lives, which shall smite them with the sword. They shall not pity them, they shall not spare them, they shall have no mercy upon them.'

Whoso abideth in this city shall perish: either with the sword, with hunger, or with pestilence. But whoso goeth out to hold on the Chaldeans part that besiege it, he shall save his life, and shall win his soul for a prey.

Behold, sayeth the LORD, I will come upon you that dwell in the valleys, rocks and fields, and say: Tush, who will make us afraid? Or, who will come into our houses?

For I will visit you, sayeth the LORD, because of the wickedness of your inventions, and will kindle such a fire in your wood, as shall consume all that is about you.'"

Thus said the LORD also, "Go down in to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there these words,

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, thou king of Judah that sittest in the kingly seat of David: thou, and thy servants, and thy people, that go in and out at this gate.

Thus the LORD commandeth: Keep equity and righteousness, deliver the oppressed from the power of the violent: do not grieve nor oppress the stranger, the fatherless nor the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place.

And if ye keep these things faithfully, then shall there come in at the door of this house, kings, to sit upon David's seat: they shall be carried in Chariots and ride upon horses, both they and their servants, and their people.

But if ye will not be obedient unto these commandments, I swear by mine own self, sayeth the LORD, this house shall be waste.

For thus hath the LORD spoken upon the king's house of Judah: Thou art the head, as Gilead is in Lebanon: What wilt thou lay of it, if I make thee and thy cities also not so waste that no man shall dwell therein?

I will prepare a destroyer with his weapons for thee, to hew down thy special Cedar trees, and to cast them in the fire.

And all the people that go by this city, shall speak one to another: Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this noble city?

for he shall die in the place whereunto he is led captive, and shall see this land no more.

He thinketh in himself, 'I will build me a wide house, and gorgeous parlors.' He causeth windows to be hewn therein, and the ceilings and joists maketh he of Cedar, and painteth them with Sinoper.

Yea when he helped the oppressed and poor to their right, then prospered he well. From whence came this? But only because he had me before his eyes, sayeth the LORD.

But as an Ass shall he be buried corrupt, and be cast without the gates of Jerusalem.

I gave thee warning, while thou wast yet in prosperity. But thou saidst, 'I will not hear.' And this manner hast thou used from thy youth, that thou wouldest never hear my voice.

thou that dwellest upon Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the Cedar's trees. O how great shall thy mourning be, when thy sorrows come upon thee, as a woman travailing with child?

This man Jechoniah shall be like an image robbed and torn in pieces, which pleaseth no man, for all his apparel. Wherefore both he and his seed shall be sent away, and cast out into a land, that they know not.

Write this man among the outlaws, for no prosperity shall this man have all his life long. Neither shall any of his seed be so happy as to sit upon the seat of David, and to bear rule in Judah."

"Behold, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that I will raise up the righteous Branch of David, which shall bear rule, and discuss matters with wisdom, and shall set up equity and righteousness again in the earth.

In his time shall Judah be saved and Israel shall dwell without fear. And this is the name that they shall call him: even, 'The LORD our righteous maker.'

But, 'The LORD liveth, which brought forth, and led the seed of the house of Israel, out of the North land, and from all countries where I had scattered them.' And they shall dwell in their own land again."

My heart breaketh in my body because of the false prophets, all my bones shake: I am become like a drunken man that by the reason of wine can take no rest; for very fear of the LORD, and of his holy words.

"For the prophets and the priests themselves are polluted hypocrites, and their wickedness have I found in my house, sayeth the LORD.

Wherefore, their way shall be slippery in the darkness, wherein they may stagger and fall. For I will bring a plague upon them, even the year of their visitation, sayeth the LORD.

And therefore the LORD of Hosts giveth you this warning, "Hear not the words of the prophets, that preach unto you, and deceive you: for they speak the meaning of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

They say unto them, that despise me: The LORD hath spoken it, 'Tush, ye shall prosper right well.' And unto all them that walk after the lusts of their own heart, they say, 'Tush, there shall no misfortune happen you.'

For who hath sitten in the council of the LORD, that he hath heard and understood what he is about to do? Who hath marked his device, and heard it?

And the wrath of the LORD shall not turn away again, until he perform and fulfils the thought of his heart. And in the latter days ye shall know his meaning."

But if they had continued in my counsel and heard my words: they had turned my people from their evil ways and wicked imaginations.

I have heard well enough what the prophets say, that preach lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed.'

How long will this continue in the prophets' hearts: to tell lies, and to preach the crafty subtlety of their own heart?

Whose purpose is, with the dreams that everyone tell, to make my people forget my name, as their forefathers did when Baal came up.

But thus shall ye say, every one to another: What answer hath the LORD given? Or what is the LORD's commandment?

And as for 'the burden of the LORD,' ye shall speak no more of it: for every man's own word is his burden, because ye have altered the words of the living God the LORD of Hosts our God.

And will bring you to an everlasting confusion, and into such a shame, as shall never be forgotten.

In the one mound were very good figs, even like as those that be first ripe. In the other mound were very naughty figs, which might not be eaten they were so evil.

and I will set mine eyes upon them for the best, for I will bring them again in to this land. I will build them up, and not break them down. I will plant them, and not root them out.

And like as thou knowest the naughty figs, which may not be eaten they are so evil: Even so will I, sayeth the LORD, let Zedekiah the king of Judah - yea, and all his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem that remain over in this land, and them also that dwell in Egypt - to be vexed and plagued in all kingdoms and lands.

And will make them to be a reproof, a common byword, a laughingstock and shame, in all the places where I shall scatter them.

A sermon that was given unto Jeremiah, upon all the people of Judah: In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was, in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Which sermon Jeremiah the prophet made unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabiters of Jerusalem, on this manner.

"From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, unto this present day, that is even the twenty third year, the word of the LORD hath been committed unto me. And so I have spoken to you. I have risen up early, I have given you warning in season, but ye would not hear me.

Though the LORD hath sent his servants, all the prophets, unto you in season: Yet would ye not obey. Ye would not incline your ears to hear.

He said, 'Turn again every man from his evil way, and from your wicked imaginations, and so shall ye dwell forever in the land that the LORD promised you and your forefathers:

'Nevertheless, ye would not hear me,' sayeth the LORD, 'but have defiled me with the works of your hands, to your own great harm.'

Lo, I will send out, and call for all the people that dwell in the North, sayeth the LORD, and will prepare Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant, and will bring them upon this land, and upon all that dwell therein, and upon all the people that are about them, and will utterly root them out. I will make of them a wilderness, a mockage, and a continual desert.

When the seventy years are expired, I will visit also the wickedness of the king of Babylon and his people sayeth the LORD: yea, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it a perpetual wilderness,

and will fulfill all my words upon that land which I have devised against it - yea, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied of all people -

so that they also shall be subdued unto divers nations and great kings, for I will recompense them according to their deeds and works of their own hands.'

"For thus hath the LORD God of Israel spoken unto me, 'Take this wine cup of indignation from my hand, that thou mayest cause all the people, to whom I send thee, for to drink of it:

that when they have drunken thereof, they may be mad, and out of their wits, when the sword cometh that I will send among them.'

Yea, and Pharaoh the king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and his people altogether one with another;

all the kings of Arabia, and, generally, all the kings that dwell in the desert;

For thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: Behold, a miserable plague shall go from one people to another, and a great stormy water shall arise from all the ends of the earth.

And the same day shall the LORD himself slay them, from one end of the earth to another. There shall no moan be made for any of them, none gathered up, none buried: but shall lie as dung upon the ground.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying,

"Thus sayeth the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all them which, out of the cities of Judah, come to do worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to say. Look that thou keep not one word back,

And after this manner shalt thou speak unto them, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: If ye will not obey me, to walk in my laws, which I have given you,

And the priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah preach these words in the house of the LORD.

Now when he had spoken out all the words that the LORD commanded him to preach unto all the people, then the priests, the prophets and all the people took hold upon him, and said, "Thou shalt die.

How darest thou be so bold, as to say in the name of the LORD, 'It shall happen to this house as it did unto Shiloh? And this city shall be so waste, that no man shall dwell therein?'"

And when all the people were gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, the princes of Judah heard of this rumor, and they came soon out of the king's Palace into the house of the LORD, and sat them down before the new door of the LORD.

Now as for me: I am in your hands. Do with me, as ye think expedient and good.

But this shall ye know: if ye put me to death, ye shall make yourselves, this city and all the inhabiters thereof, guilty of innocent blood. For this is of a truth: that the LORD hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words in your ears."

Then said the rulers and the people unto the priests and prophets, "This man may not be condemned to death, for he hath preached unto us in the name of the LORD our God."

There was a prophet also, that preached stiffly in the name of the LORD, called Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriathjearim: this man preached also against this city and against this land, according to all as Jeremiah sayeth.

Now when Jehoiakim the king with all the estate and princes had heard his words, the king went about to slay him. When Uriah perceived that, he was afraid, and fled, and departed into Egypt.

Then Jehoiakim the king sent servants in to the land of Egypt; Namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, which spake thus unto me,

Moreover, that people and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, and that will not put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, the same people will I visit with the sword, with hunger, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them in his hands, sayeth the LORD.

But the people that put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, sayeth the LORD, and they shall occupy it, and dwell therein.'"

neither have I sent them, sayeth the LORD: howbeit they are bold, falsely for to prophesy in my name: that I might the sooner drive you out, and that ye might perish with your preachers.'"

But if they be true Prophets in very deed, and if the word of the LORD be committed unto them, then let them pray the LORD of Hosts that the remnant of the ornaments, which are in the house of the LORD, and remain yet in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem, be not carried to Babylon also.

For thus hath the LORD of Hosts spoken concerning the pillars, the laver, the seat and the residue of the ornaments that yet remain in this city,

which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon took not, when he carried away Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the power of Judah and Jerusalem, from Jerusalem unto Babylon, captive.

And this was done in the same year: even in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. But in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth Month, it happened, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet of Gibeon, spake to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, and said,

Then the prophet Jeremiah gave answer unto the prophet Hananiah, before the priests and before all the people that were present in the house of the LORD.

The prophets that were before us in times past, which prophesied of war, or trouble, or pestilence -

either of peace, upon many nations and great kingdoms - were proved by this, if God had sent them in very deed: when the thing came to pass, which that prophet told before."

For thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: I will put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all this people, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, yea and so shall they do. And I will give him the beasts in the field.'"

So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh Month.

but seek after peace and prosperity of the city wherein ye be prisoners, and pray unto God for it. For in the peace thereof, shall your peace be.

"For thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Let not those prophets and soothsayers that be among you deceive you: and believe not your own dreams.

For why? They preach you lies in my name, and I have not sent them, sayeth the LORD.

But thus sayeth the LORD: When ye have fulfilled seventy years at Babylon, I will bring you home, and of mine own goodness I will carry you hither again to this place.

Thus hath the LORD spoken concerning the king that sitteth in the stool of David, and all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that are not gone with you into captivity.

Thus hath the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel spoken, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy lies unto you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, that he may slay them before your eyes.

And all the prisoners of Judah that are in Babylon, shall take upon them this term of cursing, and say, 'Now God do unto thee, as he did unto Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

Because they sinned shamefully in Israel. For they have not only defiled their neighbours' wives, but also preached lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them. This I testify, and assure, sayeth the LORD.