But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a child;' for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."

The word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north."

Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?'

The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

"Therefore I will yet contend with you," says the LORD, "and I will contend with your children's children.

For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.

"Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, GOD of Hosts.

"How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets;

who tell wood, 'You are my father;' and a stone, 'You have brought me out:' for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and save us.'

Generation, consider the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?'

"Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

"They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says the LORD.

"Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see. Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she did not return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, you backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,' says the LORD. 'I will not keep anger forever.

It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says the LORD, "they shall say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.

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

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land.' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves. Let us go into the fortified cities.'

How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, before his fierce anger.

"Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.

Though they say, 'As the LORD lives;' surely they swear falsely."

They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

"Go up on her walls, and destroy; but do not make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not the LORD's.

They have denied the LORD, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine.

Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand what they say.

It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

'Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:

Do you not fear me?' says the LORD 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? And though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.'

Neither do they say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.

Thus says the LORD, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, 'Where is the good way?' and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not walk in it."

They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.'"

"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Do not trust in lying words, saying, "The LORD's temple, The LORD's temple, The LORD's temple, are these."

and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered"; that you may do all these abominations?

But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the LORD's law.

How can you say, "We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us?" But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

"For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone."

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?"

You shall say this to them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.'

and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Cursed is the man who doesn't hear the words of this covenant,

which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, "Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so you shall be my people, and I will be your God;

"But, the LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I shall see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause."

But you, LORD, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, "He shall not see our latter end."

So I bought a belt according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my waist.

So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,' says the LORD; 'that they might be my people, for a name, for praise, and for glory. But they would not listen.

Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is taken captive."

"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses have come down, even the crown of your glory.

"Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?

What will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

If you say in your heart, 'Why are these things come on me?' for the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels suffer violence.

"Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name's sake, LORD; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.

Thus says the LORD to this people, "Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD. Behold, the prophets tell them, 'You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"

Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land:' 'By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.'

"You shall say this word to them, 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

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.

and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you do not listen to me:

"LORD, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, 'Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.

As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool."

"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 making a work on the wheels.

"'House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the LORD. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.'

But they say, 'It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"

Thus said the LORD, "Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.

and shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house, and said to all the people:

For thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.

If I say, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name," then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't contain it.

For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. "Denounce, and we will denounce him," say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; "perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him."

But, the LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause.

because he did not kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

To this people you shall say, "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

'House of David, thus says the LORD, "Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain," says the LORD; "you that say, 'Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our habitations?'

Say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this great city?'

Do not weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country."

But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more."