And Jehovah will stretch forth his hand and touch upon my mouth: and Jehovah will say to me, Behold, I gave my words into thy mouth.

Then said the LORD, "Thou hast seen right, for I will watch diligently upon my word, to perform it."

Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

For behold me calling to all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah; and they came, and gave a man his throne at the opening of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all her walls round about and upon all the cities of Judah.

And through them shall I declare my judgment, upon all the wickedness of those men that have forsaken me: that have offered unto strange gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Behold, I gave thee this day for a fortified city and for a pillar of iron and for a wall of brass upon all the land to the kings of Judah, to her chiefs, to her priests, and to the people of the land.

Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

"Wherefore I am constrained, sayeth the LORD, to make my complaint upon you, and upon your children.

The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

Also the sons of Noph and Tahapanes, they will feed thee upon the crown of the head.

“Have you not brought this on yourself
By abandoning (rejecting) the Lord your God
When He led you in the way?

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

“For though you wash yourself with lye
And use much soap,
The stain of your guilt is [still] before Me [and you are soiled and dirty],” says the Lord God.

Say not now, 'I am not unclean, and I have not followed Baal.' Look upon thy own ways in the woods, valleys and dens: so shalt thou know, what thou hast done. Thou art like a swift Dromedary that goeth easily his way:

Thou keepest thy foot from nakedness, and thy throat from thirst, and thinkest thus in thyself, 'Tush: I will take no sorrow; I will love the strange gods, and hang upon them.'

For they say to a stock, 'Thou art my father,' and to a stone, 'Thou hast begotten me.' Yea, they have turned their back upon me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble, when they say, 'Stand up and help us!'

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

Yet darest thou say, 'I am guiltless: Tush, his wrath cannot come upon me.' Behold, I will reason with thee because thou darest say, 'I have not offended.'

Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

Let your eyes be lifted up to the open hilltops, and see; where have you not been taken by your lovers? You have been seated waiting for them by the wayside like an Arabian in the waste land; you have made the land unclean with your loose ways and your evil-doing.

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.

Moreover, when ye be increased and multiplied in the land, then, sayeth the LORD, there shall no more boast be made of the ark of the LORD's Covenant: No man shall think upon it, neither shall any man make mention of it: for from thenceforth it shall neither be visited, nor honored with gifts.

In those days, shall the house of Judah go unto the house of Israel, - that they may enter together out of the land of the North, upon the land which I gave as an inheritance unto your fathers.

A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

The hills fall, and all the high pride of the mountains; but the health of Israel standeth only upon God our LORD.

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A burning wind from the open hilltops in the waste land is blowing on the daughter of my people, not for separating or cleaning the grain;

A wind too strong for these, cometh in for me. Now, will, I also, pronounce sentences upon them:

“Your ways and your deeds
Have brought these things on you.
This is your tragedy and doom; how bitter,
How it has touched your heart!”

Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

"Nevertheless this shall come upon them because my people is become foolish, and hath utterly no understanding. They are the children of foolishness, and without any discretion. To do evil, they have wit enough: but to do well, they have no wisdom."

I have looked upon the earth, and see, it is waste and void. I looked toward heaven, and it had no shine.

And therefore let the earth mourn, and let the heaven be sorry above: for the things that I have purposed and taken upon me to do, shall not repent me, and I will not go from it."

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look now and take note.
And seek in her open squares,
If you can find a man,
If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth,
Then I will pardon her.

O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

For this cause, hath the lion out of the forest smitten them, The wolf of the waste plains, preyeth upon them, The leopard, is keeping watch over their cities, Every one that goeth out from thence, is torn in pieces, - For they have multiplied their transgressions, Numerous are their apostasies.

"Should I then, for all this, have mercy upon thee? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. And albeit they were bound to me in marriage, yet they fell to adultery, and hunted harlots' houses.

For these shall I not review? says Jehovah; and shalt not my soul be avenged upon a nation such as this?

Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S.

They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.

Upon these things, shall I not bring punishment? Demandeth Yahweh. Or, on a nation such as this, shall not my soul avenge herself?

Be strong, ye sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem, and in Tekoa strike the trumpet, and lift up a lifting up upon the house of the vineyard, for evil overhung from the north, and great breaking.

To her shall come the shepherds and their flocks; they fixed the tents upon her round about; they fed each with his hand.

As a pit, letting flow her waters, so she dug up her evil: violence and oppression will be heard in her; upon my face continually disease and smiting.

Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

"For from the least unto the most, they hang all upon covetousness: and from the prophet unto the priest, they go all about with falsity and lies.

Thus said Jehovah, Stand ye upon the ways, and see, and ask for the beaten paths of old, where this the good way, and go ye in it, and find rest to your soul. And they will say, We will not go.

Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O company, That which is upon them.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

Then shall this cry be heard, "Our arms are feeble! Heaviness and sorrow is come upon us, as upon a woman travailing with child!

No man go forth into the field, no man come upon the high street: for the sword and fear of the enemy shall be on every side!"

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

For they are all unfaithful and fallen away, they hang upon filthy lucre; they are clean brass and iron, for they hurt and destroyed every man.

Behold, you trusting to yourselves upon words of falsehood not to receive profit.

And ye came and stood before me in this house which my name was called upon it, and ye said, We were delivered to do all these abominations.

Was this house which my name was called upon it a cave of those breaking down in your eyes? also I, behold, I saw, says Jehovah.

And I did to the house which my name was called upon it, which ye are trusting in it, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

And thou shalt not pray for this people, and thou shalt not lift up a wailing and prayer for them, and thou shalt not entreat upon me: for I hear thee not

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel; Add your burnt-offerings upon your sacrifices and eat flesh.

"And thou shalt now speak all these words unto them, but they shall not hear thee: thou shalt cry upon them, but they shall not answer thee.

Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up.

For the sons of Judah did evil in mine eyes, says Jehovah; they set, their abominations in the house which my name was called upon it, to defile it,

And they built heights to Tophet which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in fire; which I commanded not, and it came not upon my heart.

“At that time,” says the Lord, “they [the Babylonian army] will bring out from their graves the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

Wherefore did this people of Jerusalem turn away a continual turning away? they laid hold upon deceit; they refused to turn back.

Moreover, I will gather them in, sayeth the LORD, so that there shall not be one grape upon the vine, neither one fig upon the fig tree, and the leaves shall be plucked off. And the thing that I have given to them shall be taken from them."

Sorrow is come upon me, and heaviness vexeth my heart:

And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

And they will mock, a man upon his neighbor, and they will not speak the truth: they taught their tongue to speak falsehood, they wearied themselves to sin.

“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit];
Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the Lord.

For these things, shall I not review upon them? says Jehovah; or shall not my soul be avenged upon a nation such as this?

"Upon the mountains will I take up a lamentation and sorrowful cry, and a mourning upon the fair plains of the wilderness: Namely, how they are so burnt up, that no man goeth there any more. Yea, a man shall not hear one beast cry there. Birds and cattle are all gone from thence.

But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.

Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

But who so will rejoice, let him rejoice in this: that he understandeth, and knoweth me. For I am the LORD, which do mercy, equity and righteousness upon the earth. Therefore have I pleasure in such things, sayeth the LORD."

Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, - When I will bring punishment upon every one circumcised, With him that is uncircumcised:

Upon Egypt and upon Judah, And upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, And upon Moab, And upon all the clipped beards, The dwellers in the desert, - For, all the nations, are uncircumcised, And, all the house of Israel, are uncircumcised in heart.

For thus said Jehovah: Behold me slinging out those inhabiting the land at this once, and I pressed upon them so that they shall find.

Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

Then shall the towns of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem go, and call upon their gods, unto whom they made their oblations: but they are not able to help them in time of their trouble.

For as many cities as thou hast, O Judah, so many gods hast thou also: And look how many streets there be in thee, O Jerusalem: so many shameful altars have ye set up, to offer upon them unto Baal.

The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

But I, as a meek lamb, was carried away to be slain: not knowing, that they had devised such a counsel against me saying, "We will destroy his meat with wood, and drive him out of the land of the living: that his name shall never be thought upon."

But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
Who tests the feelings and the heart (mind),
Let me see Your vengeance on them,
For to You I have committed my cause.

Therefore, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, - Behold me! bringing punishment upon them, The young men, shall die by the sword, Their sons and their daughters, shall die by famine;

And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

The Lord answered, "If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only in safe and open country, how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?

For thy brethren and thy kindred have altogether despised thee, and cried out upon thee in thine absence. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.

Mine heritage is become unto me, as a Lion in the wood. It cried out upon me, therefore have I forsaken it.

Mine heritage is unto me, as a speckled bird; a bird of divers colors is upon it. Go hence, and gather all the beasts of the field together, that they may eat it up.