This message from the LORD came to him during the thirteenth year of the reign of Ammon's son Josiah, the king of Judah,

This message from the LORD came to me:

This message from the LORD came to me, asking, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I replied, "I see an almond branch."

This message from the LORD came to me a second time: "What do you see?" I replied, "I see a boiling pot, and its mouth is tilted away from the north."

This message from the LORD came to me:

"Go and announce to Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: "I remember the loyal devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. You followed me in the desert, in a land that was not planted.

Listen to this message from the LORD, you descendants of Jacob and all the families of the descendants of Israel.

This is what the LORD says: "What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless?

"Indeed, go over to the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar and pay very close attention. See if there has ever been such a thing as this!

Heavens, be appalled at this, be shocked, be utterly devastated," declares the LORD.

You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way?

"You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, "We're free to roam? We won't come to you anymore.'

You will also go out from this place with your hands over your heads. For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won't prosper through them."

This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot's look and you refuse to be ashamed.

I thought, "After she has done all these things, she will return to me.' But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this.

Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively," declares the LORD.

"Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us, because both we and our ancestors have sinned against the LORD our God from our youth until this present time. We haven't obeyed the LORD our God."

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, "Break up your unplowed ground, and don't sow among thorns.

Then I replied, "Ah, Lord GOD, you have completely deceived this people and Jerusalem when you said, "You will have peace,' while the sword is at their throat!"

At that time, it will be told this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert is coming toward my people, and it's not for winnowing or cleansing.

"Your lifestyles and your actions have brought these things on you. This is your calamity it is indeed bitter, for it has reached your heart!"

For this is what the LORD says: "The entire land will be devastated, but I won't completely destroy it.

Because of this, the land will mourn, and the heavens above will be dark. Because I have spoken and decided, I won't turn back from doing it."

"Should I not punish them for these things?" asks the LORD, "And on a nation like this, should I not seek retribution?"

Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says: "Because you people have said this, my words in your mouth will become a fire and these people the wood. The fire will destroy them.

When the people ask, "Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you are to say to them, "Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'"

"Declare this to the descendants of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah:

"Hear this, you foolish and stupid people: They have eyes, but don't see; they have ears, but don't hear.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are filled with treachery. This is how they have become prominent and rich,

"Should I not punish them for this?' asks the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?'

The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?"

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Cut down trees and set up siege works against Jerusalem. It is the city to be judged, and there is oppression throughout the entire city.

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as they would the vine. Pass your hand over them like grape gatherers over the branches.

To whom will I speak and give a warning so they'll listen? Look, their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. Look, this message from the LORD is contemptible to them; they don't delight in it.

This is what the LORD says: "Stand beside the roads and watch. Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it and find rest for yourselves. But they said, "We won't walk in it!'

Listen, earth! I'm about to bring calamity on this people, on the fruit of their plans, because they didn't listen to my words and they rejected my instruction.

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to put stumbling blocks in front of this people, and fathers and sons will stumble over them together. The neighbor and his friends will perish."

This is what the LORD says: "Look, people are coming from a northern country. A great nation is stirring from the ends of the earth.

"Stand at the gate of the LORD's Temple and proclaim this message there. Say, "Listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.'"

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says:

"Change your ways and your deeds, and I'll let you live in this place. Don't trust deceptive words like these, and say, "The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,'

and if you don't oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don't shed an innocent person's blood in this place, and if you don't follow other gods to your own harm,

then I'll let you dwell in this land, the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.

and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, "We're delivered' so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God?

Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I'm watching," declares the LORD.

"As for you, don't pray on behalf of this people, don't cry or offer a petition for them, and don't plead with me, for I won't listen to you.

Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm about to pour out my anger and my wrath on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn, and it won't be put out."

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says:

but I did give them this command: "Obey me and I'll be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you so it will go well for you.'

From the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this present time, I've sent all my servants, the prophets, to you, again and again.

You will say to them, "This is the nation that wouldn't listen to the voice of the LORD its God and wouldn't accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.'

They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn't command this, and it never entered my mind!

"In all the places where the people remain, where I've banished them, death will be chosen over life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

"You are to say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "Will a person fall down and then not get up? Will someone turn away and then not turn back again?

Why has this people turned away? Why does Jerusalem continue in apostasy? They hold on to deceit and refuse to repent.

Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Look, I'm about to refine and test them. Because they're my people, what else can I do?

Should I not punish them for these things?" asks the LORD, "and should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?"

Who is the wise person who understands this, and to whom has the LORD spoken so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, ruined like the desert, without anyone passing through it?

Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I'll make these people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water.

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Think about what I'm saying! Indeed, call out the professional mourners! Send for the best of them to come.

Speak! "This is what the LORD says: "The corpses of people will fall like dung on the surface of the field, and like a row of cut grain behind the harvester when there is no one to gather it."'"

This is what the LORD says: "The wise man is not to boast in his wisdom; the strong man is not to boast in his strength; and the rich man is not to boast in his riches.

Rather, let the one who boasts, boast in this: that he understands and knows me, for I am the LORD who acts with gracious love, justice, and righteousness in the land. I delight in these things," declares the LORD.

This is what the LORD says: "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified of them.

Who wouldn't fear you, king of the nations? This is what you deserve! Indeed, among all the wise men of the nations, and throughout all their kingdoms, there is no one like you!

Tell this to them: "The gods who didn't make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens."

For this is what the LORD says: "I'm going to throw out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I'll bring distress on them so they'll experience it."

Woe is me because of my injury. My wound is severe. I said, "Truly this is my sickness, and I must bear it.

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

"Listen to the words of this covenant, and convey them to the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

You are to say to them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Cursed is the person who does not listen to the words of this covenant

The LORD told me, "Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You are to say, "Listen to the words of this covenant and do them.

But they would not listen or turn their ear, and each of them stubbornly followed his own evil desires. So I brought on them all the consequences of this covenant that I commanded them to fulfill, but they did not.'"

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to bring disaster on them from which they won't be able to escape. They'll cry out to me, but I won't listen to them.

"Jeremiah, don't pray for this people and don't cry or pray for them. I won't listen when they cry out to me because of their disaster.

Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who seek to kill you, all the while threatening you, "Don't prophesy in the name of the LORD so you won't die by our hand!"

Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "I'm about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and daughters will die by famine.

This is what the LORD says about all the wicked neighbors who strike out against the land I've given to my people Israel as their inheritance: "I'm about to uproot them from their land, and I'll uproot the house of Judah from among them.

This is what the LORD told me: "Go and buy a linen belt for yourself, and put it around your waist. But don't let it get wet."

Then this message from the LORD came to me a second time:

Then this message from the LORD came to me:

"This is what the LORD says: "In the same way I'll ruin the pride of Judah and the pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people that refuses to listen to my words, that stubbornly pursues their own desires, and that follows other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt that is not good for anything.

For just as the belt clings tightly to a person's waist, so I've made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah cling tightly to me,' declares the LORD. "I did this so that they would be my people, name, praise, and glory. But they wouldn't listen.'

"This is what you're to tell them: "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Every wineskin is to be filled with wine."' When they say to you, "Don't we know very well that every wineskin is to be filled with wine?',

then say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "I'm about to make all the inhabitants of this land drunk the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem.

"This is your fate, the portion I've measured out for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

I've seen your detestable behavior: your adulteries, your passionate neighing, your lewd immorality on the hills in the field. How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem! You are unclean. How much longer will this go on?"

This is this message from the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

This is what the LORD says to these people: "Yes, they do love to wander, and they haven't restrained their feet. So the LORD won't accept them now. He will remember their iniquity and punish their sin."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, look! The prophets are saying to them, "You won't see the sword and you won't experience famine. Rather, I'll give you lasting peace in this place.'"

Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the false prophets who prophesy in my name, "There will be no sword and famine in this land' (though I haven't sent them): "By the sword and by famine these prophets will be finished off!

"And deliver this message to them: "Let tears run down my face, night and day, and don't let them stop, because my virgin daughter my people will be broken with a powerful blow, with a severe wound.

Can any of the worthless gods of the nations make it rain? Can the heavens themselves bring forth showers? Aren't you the one who does this, LORD our God? So we hope in you, for you are the one who does all these things.

Then the LORD told me, "Even if Moses and Samuel were standing before me, I wouldn't be favorably disposed toward this people. Send them out of my presence! Let them go!

"When they say to you, "Where can we go?', say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "Those destined for death, to death will go; those destined for the sword, to the sword will go; and those destined for captivity, to captivity will go.

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I'll take you back and you will stand before me. If you speak what is worthwhile, instead of what is worthless, then you will be my spokesman. People will turn to you, but you aren't to turn to them.

I'll make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They'll fight against you, but they won't prevail against you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you,"

This message from the LORD came to me:

"You are not to take a wife, nor are you to have sons or daughters in this place."