a wild ass used to the wilderness; in the desire of her passion she snuffs at the wind; in her time who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not tire themselves; in her month they will find her.

Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot with many lovers; yet come back to Me, says Jehovah.

And I said after she had done all these things, Turn to Me! But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce to her, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and whored, she also.

And it happened, from the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and fornicated with stones and stocks.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah.

Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.

Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around; because she rebelled against Me, says Jehovah.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul faints because of murderers.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her.

Go up on her vine-rows and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's.

The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch tents on her all around; they shall feed each one in his hand.

Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; always before Me are grief and wounds.

Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her seasons; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah.

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a far country. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign vanities?

Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O women, and let your ear receive the Word of His mouth, and teach your daughters to weep, and each one teach her neighbor to mourn.

What is to My beloved in My house, since she has committed her many evils? And has the holy flesh caused your evil to pass from you? How then do you exult?

I have forsaken My house; I have left My inheritance. I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.

My inheritance is like a speckled bird to Me; the birds all around are against her. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.

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.

because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

For I will give health back to you, and will heal you of your wounds, says Jehovah; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her.

So says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place.

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the sons of the flock and the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not pine away any more at all.

So says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take in your hand thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet up out of the pit before he dies.

But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured by the sword and by the famine.

And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make our cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our men?

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely fulfil our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. You will surely fulfil your vows and surely carry out your vows.

Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation.

Its sound is like a serpent's going, for they shall go in force and come against her with axes like woodcutters.

They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts and cannot be counted.

Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

Moab is plundered and has come up out of her cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

O dweller of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, What is happening?

O you who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and live in the rock, and be like the dove making her nest in the sides of the mouth of the pit.

Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized; and the mighty men's hearts in Moab shall be at that day like the heart of a woman in her pangs.

So, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cause a shout of war to be heard in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. And it shall be a heap of ruins, and her daughter-villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall inherit his inheritance, says Jehovah.

Why do you glory in your valley, your flowing valleys, O backsliding daughter? she trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?

I have heard a message from Jehovah, and a herald is sent to the nations, saying, Gather together and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the home of the strong. But I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen one I may appoint over it? For who is like Me? And who will summon Me? And who is that shepherd who will stand before Me?

Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah. And at that day the heart of the mighty men of Edom shall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.

So her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silenced in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Declare among the nations, and cause them to hear, and lift up a banner. Cause them to hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; her images are shamed, her idols are broken in pieces.

For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land a desert, and none shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall depart, both man and beast.

For, lo, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon a company of great nations from a northern land. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there. Their arrows shall be as those of a skillful, mighty man; none shall return in vain.

And Chaldea shall be a prize; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, says Jehovah.

Because of the wrath of Jehovah it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly a waste. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be amazed and hiss at all her plagues.

Put yourselves in order against Babylon all around; all you who bend the bow, shoot at her. Hold back no arrows, for she has sinned against Jehovah.

Shout against her all around. She has given her hand; her foundations have fallen, her walls have been thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her.

Come against her from the border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her completely. Let nothing of her be left.

Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.

Make the archers hear against Babylon. All you who tread a bow, camp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.

So her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be silenced in that day, says Jehovah.

A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and on the people of Babylon, and on her rulers, and on her wise men.

A sword is on the liars, and they shall become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be afraid.

A sword is on their horses and their chariots, and on all the mixed people in her midst; and they shall become as women. A sword is to her treasuries, and they shall be robbed.

A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act madly with idols.

So the beasts of the desert shall dwell there with jackals. And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell in her again. And it shall not again have anyone in it forever; it shall not be lived in until generation and generation.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the home of the strong. But I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen one whom I will appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will set Me the time? And who is that shepherd who will stand before Me?

And I will send aliens to Babylon who will sift her and will empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her all around.

Do not let the treader fully tread his bow; nor lift himself up in his armor. And do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

So the dead shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, those thrust through in her streets.

Flee out of the middle of Babylon, and each man deliver his soul. Be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; He will give to her a just reward.

Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, which made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations rage.

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us go, each one into his own country; for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the skies.

Set up a banner in the land; blow a trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations against her. Call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz together against her; set a commander against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough locusts.

Consecrate nations against her, with the kings of the Medes, her governors and all her rulers, and all the land of his kingdom.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they have remained in strongholds; their might has failed. They became like women; they have burned her houses; her bars are broken.

For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; it is time to thresh her. Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

So Jehovah says this: Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

Her cities are a desert, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass by it.

My people, go out of her midst; and let each man deliver his soul from the fierce anger of Jehovah.

So, behold, the days come that I will punish the idols of Babylon. And all her land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.

And the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall shout for Babylon; for the plunderers shall come to her from the north, says Jehovah.

So, behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will punish her idols, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet plunderers shall come to her from Me, says Jehovah.

because Jehovah is stripping Babylon, and the great voice will perish out of her. And her waves will roar like great waters; the noise of their voice is given,

because the ravager has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are captured. Every one of their bows is broken, for Jehovah, the God of vengeance, shall surely repay.

And I will make her rulers drunk, also her wise ones, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a never-ending sleep and not awaken, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be completely broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the people shall be in the fire, and they shall be weary.

And you shall say, In this way shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her. And they shall be weary. So far are the words of Jeremiah.