Then the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

This evil people, who refuse to hear My Words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.

For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear.

So you will speak to them this Word: So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Every skin shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to you, Do we not surely know that every skin shall be filled with wine?

Then you shall say to them, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will fill all the people of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Jehovah. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, to keep them from their destruction.

Hear and give ear; do not be proud; for Jehovah has spoken.

Give glory to Jehovah your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, setting up deep gloom.

Say to the king and to the queen mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for your greatness shall come down, even the crown of your glory.

Lift up your eyes and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

What will you say when he comes to punish you? For you have taught them to be rulers over you for a head. Do not pangs seize you, like a woman in travail?

And if you say in your heart, Why do these things come on me? It is because of the greatness of your iniquity; your skirts are bared, and your heels suffer violence.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Then you also may do good, who are accustomed to doing evil.

This is your lot, the share I have measured to you, says Jehovah, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.

I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the wickedness of your fornication, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean? How long will it still be?

The Word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the matter of droughts.

Judah mourns, and its gates droop. They are black to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters; they came to the cisterns, and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

Yea, the doe also calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass.

O the Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a traveler turning in to lodge?

Why should You be as a man stunned, as one mighty, yet who cannot save? Yet You, O Jehovah, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us!

So says Jehovah to this people; So they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet; therefore Jehovah does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.

Then Jehovah said to me, Do not pray for this people for good.

Then I said, Ah, O Lord Jehovah! Behold, the prophets are saying to them, You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine; but I will give you true peace in this place.

And Jehovah said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and a worthless divination, and a thing of no value, and the deceit of their heart.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, either them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their evil on them.

And you shall speak this word to them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and do not let them cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great break, with a very grievous blow.

If I go out into the field, then I see those killed with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, sicknesses of famine! Yes, both the prophet and the priest have gone up into a land that they do not know.

Do not abhor us for Your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; remember, do not break Your covenant with us.

Are there any among the vanities of the nations who make rain fall? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not You, O Jehovah our God? Then we will wait on You; for You do all these things.

Then Jehovah said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My soul could not be toward this people. Send them out of My sight, and let them go out.

And it will be, if they say to you, Where shall we go? Then you shall tell them, So says Jehovah: Those who are for death, go to death; and those for the sword, to the sword; and those for the famine, to the famine; and those for the captivity, to the captivity.

And I will set over them four kinds, says Jehovah; the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

And I will make them a horror to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall weep over you? Or who shall turn aside to ask your welfare?

And I will winnow them with a fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of sons; I will destroy My people, since they do not turn from their ways.

Their widows are more numerous about Me than the sand of the seas; I have brought on them, against a mother of a young man, a ravager at noonday; I have caused anguish and terror to fall on her suddenly.

She who bore seven languishes; she has breathed out her life; her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah.

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 loaned, nor have men loaned to me; yet every one curses me.

Jehovah said, Truly I will free you for good. Truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

And I will make you pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know. For a fire has been kindled in My anger; it shall burn against you.

O Jehovah, You know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on those who seek to hurt me. Do not take me away in Your long-suffering; know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.

Your Words were found, and I ate them; and Your Word was to me the joy and gladness of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Jehovah, the God of Hosts.

Why has my pain been without end, and why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You surely are to me like a deceitful brook, waters that cannot be trusted.

Therefore so says Jehovah, If you turn back, then I will bring you again; you shall stand before Me. And if you take the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth. Let them turn back to you, but do not return to them.

And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not overcome you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Jehovah.

The Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,

They shall die from deaths of diseases; they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried. But they shall be as dung on the face of the earth. And they shall be destroyed by the sword and by famine; and their bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.

For so says Jehovah, Do not enter into the house of mourning; do not go to weep nor moan over them. For I have taken away My peace from this people, says Jehovah, even loving-kindness and mercies.

Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men mourn for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.

Nor shall anyone tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead. Nor shall anyone give them the cup of comfort to drink for their father or for their mother.

Also you shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause the voice of mirth to cease out of this place before your eyes, and in your days, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

And it shall be, when you declare to this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?

Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My Law.

And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to Me;

even I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; where I will not grant you favor.

but, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where He had driven them. And I will bring them again into their lands that I gave to their fathers.

O Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.

Shall a man make gods to himself, and they are no gods?

Therefore, behold, I will make them know; this time I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah.

And you, even through yourself, have let go of the inheritance which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in My anger, which shall burn forever.

I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

Behold, they say to me, Where is the Word of Jehovah? Let it come now!

I have not hurried away from shepherding after You; nor have I desired the woeful day; You surely know the going forth of my lips before Your face.

Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of evil.

Let those who persecute me be ashamed, but do not let me be ashamed; let them be afraid, but do not let me be afraid. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double breaking.

So Jehovah said to me: Go and stand in the gates of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

And say to them, Hear the Word of Jehovah, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the people of Jerusalem who enter in by these gates!

So says Jehovah, Take heed to yourselves, and carry no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

Nor carry out a burden from your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.

And it shall be, if you carefully listen to Me, says Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy, to do no work in it;

And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of Jehovah.

But if you will not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to carry a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be put out.

The Word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My Words.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was working a work on the wheel.

And the vessel that he made in clay was ruined in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says Jehovah. Behold, As the clay in the potter's hands, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

The instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it;

if that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

And the instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it;

if it does evil in My sight, not to obey My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good.

Now then please, speak to the men of Judah, and to the people of Jerusalem, saying, So says Jehovah: Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

And they said, There is no hope; but we will walk after our own ways, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.

Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the old paths, to walk in by-paths, not in the highway,

to make their land desolate and a hissing forever. Everyone who passes by will be amazed, and will wag his head.

I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

Then they said, Come and let us plot schemes against Jeremiah. For the Law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the Word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.

Pay attention to me; O Jehovah, and attend to the voice of my foes.

Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You to do good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them.

Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and give them over to the hand of the sword. And let their wives be bereaved, and widows, and their men be slain of death; let their young men be struck by the sword in battle.

Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You suddenly bring a raiding party on them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet.

Yet, Jehovah, You know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight, but let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom by the entry of Potsherd Gate. And there declare the words that I shall tell you.

And say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and people of Jerusalem. So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which shall cause the ears of him who hears it to tingle.

Because they have forsaken Me, and have made this place famous and have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents.

They have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded nor spoke, nor did it come into My mind.

And I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem come to nothing in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives. And I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the animals of the earth.