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 Chapter 1
1:1 The word of God which came to
Jeremias the son of Chelcias, of the priests, who dwelt in Anathoth in
the land of Benjamin: 2
accordingly as the word of God came to him in the days of Josias son of Amos
king of Juda, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3
And it was in the days of Joakim, son of Josias king of
Juda, until the eleventh year of Sedekias king of Juda, even until the
captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
4 And the word of the Lord came to him,
saying, 5 Before I formed
thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth from the womb, I
sanctified thee; I appointed thee a prophet to the nations.
6 And I said, O Lord, thou that art
supreme Lord, behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a child.
7 And the Lord said to me, Say not, I am a
child: for thou shalt go to all to whomsoever I shall send thee, and according
to all the words that I shall command thee, thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid before them: for I am with
thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. 9
And the Lord stretched forth his hand to me, and touched my
mouth: and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words into thy mouth.
10 Behold, I have appointed thee this
day over nations and over kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to
destroy, and to rebuild, and to plant.
11 And the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, What seest thou? And I said, A rod of an almond tree.
12 And the Lord said to me, Thou hast well
seen: for I have watched over my words to perform them. 13
And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying,
What seest thou? And I said, A caldron on the fire; and the face of it is toward
the north. 14 And the Lord said to
me, From the north shall flame forth evils upon all the inhabitants of the land.
15 For, behold, I call together all
the kingdoms of the earth from the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come,
and shall set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and
against all the walls round about her, and against all the cities of Juda.
16 And I will speak to them in
judgment, concerning all their iniquity, forasmuch as they have forsaken
me, and sacrificed to strange gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 And do thou gird up thy loins, and
stand up, and speak all the words that I shall command thee: be not
afraid of their face, neither be thou alarmed before them; for I am with thee to
deliver thee, saith the Lord. 18
Behold, I have made thee this day as a strong city, and as a brazen wall, strong
against all the kings of Juda, and the princes thereof, and the people of
the land. 19 And they shall fight
against thee; but they shall by no means prevail against thee; because I am with
thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
Chapter 2
2:1 And he said, Thus saith the Lord,
2 I remember the kindness of thy
youth, and the love of thine espousals, 3
in following the Holy One of Israel, saith the Lord, Israel was
the holy people to the Lord, and the first-fruits of his increase:
all that devoured him shall offend; evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of
Jacob, and every family of the house of Israel. 5
Thus saith the Lord, What trespass have your fathers found in me,
that they have revolted far from me, and gone after vanities, and become vain?
6 And they said not, Where is the
Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who guided us in the
wilderness, in an untried and trackless land, in a land which no man at all went
through, and no man dwelt there? 7
And I brought you to Carmel, that ye should eat the fruits thereof, and the good
thereof; and ye went in, and defiled my land, and made mine heritage an
abomination. 8 The priests said not,
Where is the Lord? and they that held by the law knew me not: the shepherds also
sinned against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after that
which profited not.
9 Therefore I will yet plead with you,
and will plead with your children’s children. 10
For go to the isles of the Chettians, and se; and send to Kedar,
and observe accurately, and see if such things have been done;
11 if the nations will change their gods,
though they are not gods: but my people have changed their glory, for that
from which they shall not be profited. 12
The heaven is amazed at this, and is very exceedingly
horror-struck, saith the Lord. 13
For my people has committed two faults, and evil ones: they have forsaken
me, the fountain of water of life, and hewn out for themselves broken cisterns,
which will not be able to hold water.
14 Is Israel a servant, or a home-born
slave? why has he become a spoil? 15
The lions roared upon him, and uttered their voice, which have
made his land a wilderness: and his cities are broken down, that they should not
be inhabited. 16 Also the children
of Memphis and Taphnas have known thee, and mocked thee.
17 Has not thy forsaking me brought these things upon
thee? saith the Lord thy God.
18 And now what hast thou to do with the
way of Egypt, to drink the water of Geon? and what hast thou to do with the way
of the Assyrians, to drink the water of rivers? 19
Thine apostasy shall correct thee, and thy wickedness shall
reprove thee: know then, and see, that thy forsaking me has been bitter
to thee, saith the Lord thy God; and I have taken no pleasure in thee, saith the
Lord thy God.
20 For of old thou hast broken thy yoke,
and plucked asunder thy bands; and thou has said, I will not serve thee, but
will go upon every high hill, and under every shady tree, there will I indulge
in my fornication. 21 Yet I planted
thee a fruitful vine, entirely of the right sort: how art thou a strange vine
turned to bitterness! 22 Though thou
shouldest wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself soap, still
thou art stained by thine iniquities before me, saith the Lord.
23 How wilt thou say, I am not polluted,
and have not gone after Baal? behold thy ways in the burial-ground, and know
what thou hast done: her voice has howled in the evening:
24 she has extended her ways over the waters of the
desert; she was hurried along by the lusts of her soul; she is given up to
them, who will turn her back? none that seek her shall be weary; at the
time of her humiliation they shall find her. 25
Withdraw thy foot from a rough way, and thy throat from thirst:
but she said I will strengthen myself: for she loved strangers, and went after
them.
26 As is the shame of a thief when he is
caught, so shall the children of Israel be ashamed; they, and their kings, and
their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. 27
They said to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone,
Thou has begotten me: and they have turned their backs to me, and not
their faces: yet in the time of their afflictions they will say, Arise, and save
us. 28 And where are thy gods, which
thou madest for thyself? will they arise and save in the time of thine
affliction? for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda; and
according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal.
29 Wherefore do ye speak unto me? ye
all have been ungodly, and ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
30 In vain have I smitten your
children; ye have not received correction: a sword has devoured your prophets as
a destroying lion; yet ye feared not.
31 Hear ye the word of the Lord: thus
saith the Lord, Have I been a wilderness or a dry land to Israel? wherefore has
my people said, We will not be ruled over, and will not come to thee any more?
32 Will a bride forget her
ornaments, or a virgin her girdle? but my people has forgotten me days without
number. 33 What fair device wilt
thou yet employ in thy ways, so as to seek love? it shall not be
so; moreover thou has done wickedly in corrupting thy ways;
34 and in thine hands has been found the
blood of innocent souls; I have not found them in holes, but on every oak.
35 Yet thou saidst, I am innocent:
only let his wrath be turned away from me.
Behold, I will plead with thee, whereas thou sayest, I
have not sinned. 36 For thou has
been so exceedingly contemptuous as to repeat thy ways; but thou shalt be
ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assur. 37
For thou shalt go forth thence also with thine hands upon thine
head; for the Lord has rejected thine hope, and thou shalt not prosper in it.
Chapter 3
3:1 If a man put away his wife, and she
depart from him, and become another man’s, shall she return to him any more at
all? shall not that woman be utterly defiled? ye thou hast gone a-whoring with
many shepherds, and hast returned to me, saith the Lord. 2
Lift up thine eyes to look straight forward, and
see where thou hast not been utterly defiled. Thou hast sat for them by the
wayside as a deserted crow, and hast defiled the land with thy fornications and
thy wickedness. 3 And thou didst
retain many shepherds for a stumbling-block to thyself: thou hadst a whore’s
face, thou didst become shameless toward all.
4 Hast thou not called me as it were a
home, and the father and guide of thy virgin-time? 5
Will God’s anger continue for ever, or be preserved
to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done these bad things, and hadst power
to do them.
6 And the Lord said to me in the days of
Josias the king, Hast thou seen what things the house of Israel has done to me?
they have gone on every high mountain, and under every shady tree, and have
committed fornication there. 7 And I
said after she had committed all these acts of fornication, Turn again to me.
Yet she returned not. And faithless Juda saw her faithlessness.
8 And I saw that (for all the sins of which
she was convicted, wherein the house of Israel committed adultery, and I put her
away, and gave into her hands a bill of divorcement,) yet faithless Juda feared
not, but went and herself also committed fornication. 9
And her fornication was nothing accounted of; and she
committed adultery with wood and stone. 10
And for all these things faithless Juda turned not to me with all
her heart, but falsely.
11 And the Lord said to me, Israel has
justified himself more than faithless Juda. 12
Go and read these words toward the north, and thou shalt say,
Return to me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not set my face
against you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not be angry with you
for ever. 13 Nevertheless, know
thine iniquity, that thou hast sinned against the Lord thy God, and hast
scattered thy ways to strangers under every shady tree, but thou didst not
hearken to my voice, saith the Lord. 14
Turn, ye children that have revolted, saith the Lord; for I will
rule over you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I
will bring you in to Sion: 15 and I
will give you shepherds after my heart, and they shall certainly tend you with
knowledge.
16 And it shall come to pass that when
ye are multiplied and increased upon the land, saith the Lord, in those days
they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel: it
shall not come to mind; it shall not be named; neither shall it be visited; nor
shall this be done any more. 17
In those days and at that time they shall call Jerusalem the
throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered to it: and they shall
not walk any more after the imaginations of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Juda,
shall come together to the house of Israel, and they shall come, together, from
the land of the north, and from all the countries, to the land, which I caused
their fathers to inherit. 19 And I
said, So be it, Lord, for thou saidst I will set thee among children, and
will give thee a choice land, the inheritance of the Almighty God of the
Gentiles: and I said, Ye shall call me Father; and ye shall not turn away from
me. 20 But as a wife acts
treacherously against her husband, so has the house of Israel dealt
treacherously against me, saith the Lord.
21 A voice from the lips was heard,
even of weeping and supplication of the children of Israel: for they have
dealt unrighteously in their ways, they have forgotten God their Holy One.
22 Turn, ye children that are given
to turning, and I will heal your bruises.
Behold, we will be thy servants; for thou art the Lord our
God. 23 Truly the hills and the
strength of the mountains were a lying refuge: but by the Lord our God is the
salvation of Israel. 24 But shame
has consumed the labours of our fathers from our youth; their sheep and their
calves, and their sons and their daughters. 25
We have lain down in our shame, and our disgrace has covered us:
because we and our fathers have sinned before our God, from our youth until this
day; and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God.
Chapter 4
4:1 If Israel will return to me, saith
the Lord, he shall return: and if he will remove his abominations out of his
mouth, and fear before me, and swear, 2
The Lord lives, with truth, in judgment and righteousness, then
shall nations bless by him, and by him they shall praise God in Jerusalem.
3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of
Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Break up fresh ground for yourselves,
and sow not among thorns. 4
Circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise your hardness of heart, ye men
of Juda, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my wrath go forth as fire, and burn,
and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your devices.
5 Declare ye in Juda, and let it be
heard in Jerusalem: say ye, Sound the trumpet in the land; cry ye aloud: say ye,
Gather yourselves together, and let us enter into the fortified cities.
6 Gather up your wares and flee to
Sion: hasten, stay not: for I will bring evils from the north, and great
destruction. 7 The lion is gone up
from his lair, he has roused himself to the destruction of the nations,
and has gone forth out of his place, to make the land desolate; and the cities
shall be destroyed, so as to be without inhabitant. 8
For these things gird yourselves with sackclothes, and
lament, and howl: for the anger of the Lord is not turned away from you.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day,
saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the
princes; and the priests shall be amazed, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 And I said, O sovereign Lord, verily
thou hast deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, There shall be peace;
whereas behold, the sword has reached even to their soul.
11 At that time they shall say to this
people and to Jerusalem, There is a spirit of error in the wilderness:
the way of the daughter of my people is not to purity, nor to holiness.
12 But a spirit of full vengeance
shall come upon me; and now I declare my judgments against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as a cloud, and
his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for
we are in misery.
14 Cleanse thine heart from wickedness,
O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved: how long will thy grievous thoughts be
within thee? 15 For a voice of one
publishing from Dan shall come, and trouble out of mount Ephraim shall be heard
of. 16 Remind ye the nations;
behold, they are come: proclaim it in Jerusalem, that bands are
approaching from a land afar off, and have uttered their voice against the
cities of Juda. 17 As keepers of a
field, they have surrounded her; because thou, saith the Lord, has neglected me.
18 Thy ways and thy devices have
brought these things upon thee; this is thy wickedness, for it is bitter,
for it has reached to thy heart.
19 I am pained in my bowels, my bowels,
and the sensitive powers of my heart; my soul is in great commotion, my heart is
torn: I will not be silent, for my soul has heard the sound of a trumpet, the
cry of war, and of distress: it calls on destruction; 20
for all the land is distressed: suddenly my
tabernacle is distressed, my curtains have been rent asunder.
21 How long shall I see fugitives, and hear
the sound of the trumpet?
22 For the princes of my people have not
known me, they are foolish and unwise children: they are wise to do evil, but
how to do good they have not known.
23 I looked upon the earth, and, behold,
it was not; and to the sky, an there was no light in it.
24 I beheld the mountains, and they
trembled, and I saw all the hills in commotion. 25
I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds
of the sky were scared. 26 I saw,
and, behold, Carmel was desert, and all the cities were burnt with fire at the
presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his fierce anger they were utterly
destroyed.
27 Thus saith the Lord, The whole land
shall be desolate; but I will not make a full end. 28
For these things let the earth mourn, and let the sky be
dark above: for I have spoken, and I will not repent; I have purposed, and I
will not turn back from it. 29 The
whole land has recoiled from the noise of the horseman and the bent bow; they
have gone into the caves, and have hidden themselves in the groves, and have
gone up upon the rocks: every city was abandoned, no man dwelt in them.
30 And what wilt thou do? Though thou
clothe thyself with scarlet, and adorn thyself with golden ornaments; though
thou adorn thine eyes with stibium, thy beauty will be in vain: thy
lovers have rejected thee, they seek thy life.
31 For I have heard thy groaning as the
voice of a woman in travail, as of her that brings forth her first child; the
voice of the daughter of Zion shall fail through weakness, and she shall lose
the strength of her hands, saying, Woe is me! for my soul faints because
of the slain.
Chapter 5
5:1 Run ye about in the streets of
Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye can find
one, if there is any one that does judgment, and seeks faithfulness; and I
will pardon them, saith the Lord. 2
The Lord lives, they say; do they not therefore swear falsely?
3 O Lord, thine eyes are upon faithfulness:
thou hast scourged them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them; but
they would not receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a
rock; and they would not return. 4
Then I said, It may be they are poor; for they are weak, for they know not the
way of the Lord, or the judgment of God. 5
I will go to the rich men, and will speak to them; for they have
known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of God: but, behold, with one
consent they have broken the yoke, they have burst the bonds.
6 Therefore has a lion out of the forest
smitten them, and a wolf has destroyed them even to their houses, and a
leopard has watched against their cities: all that go forth from them shall be
hunted: for they have multiplied their ungodliness, they have strengthened
themselves in their revoltings. 7 In
what way shall I forgive thee for these things? Thy sons have forsaken
me, and sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they
committed adultery, and lodged in harlots’ houses. 8
They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after
his neighbour’s wife. 9 Shall I not
visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such
a nation as this.
10 Go up upon her battlements, and break
them down; but make not a full end: leave her buttresses: for they are
the Lord’s. 11 For the house of
Israel have indeed dealt treacherously against me, saith the Lord: the house of
Juda also 12 have lied to their
Lord, and they have said, These things are not so; no evils shall come upon us;
and we shall not see sword or famine. 13
Our prophets became wind, and the word of the Lord was not in
them.
14 Therefore thus saith the Lord
Almighty, Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I have made my words in thy
mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Behold, I will bring upon you a
nation from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; a nation the sound of whose
language one shall not understand. 16
They are all mighty men: 17
and they shall devour your harvest, and your bread; and shall
devour your sons, and your daughters; and they shall devour your sheep, and your
calves, and devour your vineyards, and your fig-plantations, and your olive
yards: and they shall utterly destroy your strong cities, wherein ye trusted,
with the sword. 18 And it shall come
to pass in those days, saith the Lord thy God, that I will not utterly destroy
you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye
shall say, Wherefore has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that thou
shalt say to them, Because ye served strange gods in your land, so shall ye
serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Proclaim these things to the house of
Jacob, and let them be heard in the house of Juda. 21
Hear ye now these things, O foolish and senseless people;
who have eyes, and see not; and have ears, and hear not:
22 will ye not be afraid of me? saith the Lord; and will
ye not fear before me, who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, as a
perpetual ordinance, and it shall not pass it: yea, it shall rage, but not
prevail; and its waves shall roar, but not pass over it.
23 But this people has a disobedient and
rebellious heart; and they have turned aside and gone back:
24 and they have not said in their heart,
Let us fear now the Lord our God, who gives us the early and latter rain,
according to the season of the fulfillment of the ordinance of harvest, and has
preserved it for us. 25 Your
transgressions have turned away these things, and your sins have removed good
things from you. 26 For among my
people were found ungodly men; and they have set snares to destroy men, and have
caught them.
27 As a snare which has been set is full
of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore have they grown great,
and become rich: 28 and they have
transgressed the rule of judgment; they have not judged the cause of the
orphan, nor have they judged the cause of the widow. 29
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and
shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 Shocking and horrible deeds have been
done on the land; 31 the prophets
utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands: and my
people has loved to have it thus: and what will ye do for the future.
Chapter 6
6:1 Strengthen yourselves, ye children
of Benjamin, to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound an alarm
with the trumpet in Thecue, and set up a signal over Baethacharma: for evil
threatens from the north, and a great destruction is coming.
2 And thy pride, O daughter of Sion,
shall be taken away. 3 The shepherds
and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch their tents
against her round about, and shall feed their flocks each with his hand.
4 Prepare yourselves for war against
her; rise up, and let us go up against her at noon. Woe to us! for the day has
gone down, for the shadows of the day fail. 5
Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her
foundations.
6 For thus saith the Lord, Hew down her
trees, array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city; there is
all oppression in her. 7 As a
cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall
be heard in her, as continually before her.
8 Thou shalt be chastened, O Jerusalem,
with pain and the scourge, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee a
desert land, which shall not be inhabited.
9 For thus saith the Lord, Glean, glean
thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back your hands as a
grape-gatherer to his basket. 10 To
whom shall I speak, and testify, that he may hearken? behold, thine ears are
uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hear: behold, the word of the Lord
is become to them a reproach, they will not at all desire it.
11 And I allowed my wrath to come to
full, yet I kept it in, and did not utterly destroy them: I will pour it
out on the children without, and on the assembly of young men together: for man
and woman shall be taken together, the old man with him that is full of days.
12 And their houses shall be turned
to others, with their fields and their wives together: for I will stretch
out my hand upon the inhabitants of this land, saith the Lord.
13 For from the least of them even to
the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false
prophet they have all wrought falsely. 14
And they healed the breach of my people imperfectly,
making light of it, and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace?
15 They were ashamed because they failed;
yet they were not ashamed as those who are truly ashamed, and they knew
not their own disgrace: therefore shall they utterly fall when they do
fall, and in the time of visitation shall they perish, said the Lord.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the
ways, and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good
way, and walk in it, and ye shall find purification for your souls. But they
said, We will not walk in them. 17
I have set watchmen over you, saying, Hear ye the sound of
the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear it.
18 Therefore have the nations heard, and
they that feed their flocks. 19
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evils upon this people, even the
fruit of their rebellions; for they have not heeded my words, and they have
rejected my law. 20 Wherefore do ye
bring me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a land afar off? your
whole-burnt-offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been
pleasant to me. 21 Therefore thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring weakness upon this people, and the
fathers and sons shall be weak together; the neighbour and his friend shall
perish.
22 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people
comes from the north, and nations shall be stirred up from the end of the earth.
23 They shall lay hold on bow and
spear; the people is fierce, and will have no mercy; their voice is as
the roaring sea; they shall array themselves for war against thee as fire on
horses and chariots, O daughter of Sion.
24 We have heard the report of them: our
hands are weakened: anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail.
25 Go not forth into the field, and
walk not in the ways; for the sword of the enemy lingers round about.
26 O daughter of my people, gird thyself
with sackcloth: sprinkle thyself with ashes; make for thyself pitiable
lamentation, as the mourning for a beloved son: for misery will
come suddenly upon you.
27 I have caused thee to be tried among
tried nations, and thou shalt know me when I have tried their way.
28 They are all disobedient, walking
perversely: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupted.
29 The bellows have failed from the fire,
the lead has failed: the silversmith works at his trade in vain; their
wickedness is not consumed. 30 Call
ye them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.
Chapter 7
7:1 2 Hear ye the word of the Lord, all
Judea. 3 Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, Correct your ways and your devices, and I will cause you to dwell in
this place. 4 Trust not in
yourselves with lying words, for they shall not profit you at all, saying, It is
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
5 For if ye thoroughly correct your ways
and your practices, and do indeed execute judgment between a man and his
neighbour; 6 and oppress not the
stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this
place, and go not after strange gods to your hurt: 7
then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land
which I gave to your fathers of old and for ever.
8 But whereas ye have trusted in lying
words, whereby ye shall not be profited; 9
and ye murder, and commit adultery, and steal, and swear falsely,
and burn incense to Baal, and are gone after strange gods whom ye know not,
10 so that it is evil with you; yet
have ye come, and stood before me in the house, whereon my name is called, and
ye have said, We have refrained from doing all these abominations.
11 Is my house, whereon my name is called,
a den of robbers in your eyes? And, behold, I have seen it, saith the
Lord. 12 For go ye to my place with
is in Selo, where I caused my name to dwell before, and see what I did to it
because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now, because ye have done all
these deeds, and I spoke to you, but ye hearkened not to me; and I called you,
but ye answered not; 14 therefore I
also will do to the house whereon my name is called, wherein ye trust, and to
the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Selo.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as
I cast away your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this
people, and intercede not for them to be pitied, yea, pray not, and approach me
not for them: for I will not hearken unto thee. 17
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in
the streets of Jerusalem? 18 Their
children gather wood, and their fathers kindle a fire, and their women knead
dough, to make cakes to the host of heaven; and they have poured out
drink-offerings to strange gods, that they might provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the
Lord: do they not provoke themselves, that their faces may be ashamed?
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord;
Behold, my anger and wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and upon the
men, and upon the cattle, and upon every tree of their field, and upon the
fruits of the land; and it shall burn, and not be quenched.
21 Thus saith the Lord, Gather your
whole-burnt-offerings with your meat-offerings, and eat flesh.
22 For I spoke not to your fathers, and
commanded them not in the day wherein I brought them up out of the land of
Egypt, concerning whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifice: 23
but I commanded them this thing, saying, Hear ye my voice,
and I will be to you a God, and ye shall be to me a people: and walk ye in all
my ways which I shall command you, that it may be well with you.
24 But they hearkened not to me, and their
ear gave no heed, but they walked in the imaginations of their evil heart, and
went backward, and not forward; 25
from the day that their fathers went forth out of the land of Egypt, even until
this day. And I sent to you all my servants, the prophets, by day and early in
the morning: yea, I sent them, 26
but they hearkened not to me, and their ear gave no heed; and
they made their neck harder than their fathers.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak this word
to them; 28 This is the nation which
has not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, nor received correction: truth has
failed from their mouth.
29 Cut off thine hair, and cast it away,
and take up a lamentation on thy lips; for the Lord has reprobated and rejected
the generation that does these things. 30
For the children of Juda have wrought evil before me, saith the
Lord; they have set their abominations in the house on which my name is called,
to defile it. 31 And they have built
the altar of Tapheth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their
sons and their daughters with fire; which I did not command them to do,
neither did I design it in my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when they shall no more say, The altar of Tapheth, and the
valley of the son of Ennom, but, The valley of the slain; and they shall bury in
Tapheth, for want of room. 33 And
the dead bodies of this people shall be for food to the birds of the sky, and to
the wild beasts of the earth; and there shall be none to drive them away.
34 And I will destroy out of the
cities of Juda, and the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of them that make merry,
and the voice of them that rejoice, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice
of the bride; for the whole land shall become a desolation.
Chapter 8
8:1 At that time, saith the Lord, they
shall bring out the bones of the kings of Juda, and the bones of his princes,
and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves; 2
and they shall spread them out to the sun, and the moon,
and to all the stars, and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and
which they have served, and after which they have walked, and to which they have
held, and which they have worshipped; they shall not be mourned for, neither
shall they be buried; but they shall be for an example on the face of the earth,
3 because they chose death rather
than life, even to all the remnant that are left of that family, in every place
whither I shall drive them out.
4 For thus saith the Lord, Shall not he
that falls arise? or he that turns away, shall he not turn back again?
5 Wherefore has this my people turned away
with a shameless revolting, and strengthened themselves in their willfulness,
and refused to return? 6 Hearken, I
pray you, and hear: will they not speak thus, There is no man that repents of
his wickedness, saying, What have I done? the runner has failed from his course,
as a tired horse in his neighing. 7
Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her time, also the turtle-dove and
wild swallow; the sparrows observe the times of their coming in; but this my
people knows not the judgments of the Lord.
8 How will ye say, We are wise, and the
law of the Lord is with us? In vain have the scribes used a false pen.
9 The wise men are ashamed, and alarmed,
and taken; because they have rejected the word of the Lord; what wisdom is there
in them? 10 Therefore will I give
their wives to others, and their fields to new inheritors; and they shall
gather their fruits, saith the Lord. 11 12 13
There are no grapes on the vines, and there are no figs on the
fig-trees, and the leaves have fallen off.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble
yourselves, and let us enter into the strong cities, and let us be cast out
there: for God has cast us out, and made us drink water of gall, because we have
sinned before him. 15 We assembled
for peace, but there was no prosperity; for a time of healing, but behold
anxiety.
16 We shall hear the neighing of his
swift horses out of Dan: the whole land quaked at the sound of the neighing of
his horses; and he shall come, and devour the land and the fullness of it; the
city, and them that dwell in it. 17
For, behold, I send forth against you deadly serpents, which cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you 18 mortally
with the pain of your distressed heart.
19 Behold, there is a sound of
the cry of the daughter of my people from a land afar off: Is not the Lord in
Sion? is there not a king there? because they have provoked me with their graven
images, and with strange vanities. 20
The summer is gone, the harvest is past, and we are not saved.
21 For the breach of the daughter of my
people I have been saddened: in my perplexity pangs have seized upon me as of a
woman in travail. 22 And is there no
balm in Galaad, or is there no physician there? why has not the healing of the
daughter of my people taken place?
Chapter 9
9:1 Who will give water to my head, and
a fountain of tears to my eyes? then would I weep for this my people day and
night, even for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 Who would give me a most distant lodge
in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, and depart from them? for they
all commit adultery, an assembly of treacherous men. 3
And they have bent their tongue like a bow: falsehood and
not faithfulness has prevailed upon the earth; for they have gone on from evil
to evil, and have not known me, saith the Lord. 4
Beware ye each of his neighbour, and trust ye not in your
brethren: for every one will surely supplant, and every friend will walk
craftily. 5 Every one will mock his
friend; they will not speak truth: their tongue has learned to speak falsehoods;
they have committed iniquity, they ceased not, so as to return.
6 There is usury upon usury, and
deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, saith the Lord.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will try them with fire, and prove them; for I will do thus because of
the wickedness of the daughter of my people. 8
Their tongue is a wounding arrow; the words of their mouth are
deceitful: one speaks peaceably to his neighbour, but in himself retains
enmity. 9 Shall I not visit for
these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a people
as this? 10 Take up a lamentation
for the mountains, and a mournful dirge for the paths of the wilderness, for
they are desolate for want of men; they heard not the sound of life from the
birds of the sky, nor the cattle: they were amazed, they are gone.
11 And I will remove the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and make it a dwelling-place of dragons; and I will utterly waste the
cities of Juda, so that they shall not be inhabited.
12 Who is the wise man, that he may
understand this? and he that has the word of the mouth of the Lord addressed
to him, let him tell you wherefore the land has been destroyed, has been ravaged
by fire like a desert, so that no one passes through it.
13 And the Lord said to me, Because they have forsaken my
law, which I set before them, and have not hearkened to my voice;
14 but went after the lusts of their evil
heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them to worship:
15 therefore thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink
water of gall: 16 and I will scatter
them among the nations, to them whom neither they nor their fathers knew; and I
will send a sword upon them, until I have consumed them with it.
17 Thus saith the Lord, Call ye the
mourning women, and let them come; and send to the wise women, and let them
utter their voice; 18 and let them
take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your
eyelids drop water. 19 For a voice
of lamentation has been heard in Sion, How are we become wretched! we are
greatly ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, and have abandoned our
tabernacles! 20 Hear now, ye women,
the word of God, and let your ears receive the words of his mouth, and teach
your daughters lamentation, and every woman her neighbour a dirge.
21 For death has come up through your
windows, it has entered into our land, to destroy the infants without, and the
young men from the streets. 22 And
the carcases of the men shall be for an example on the face of the field of your
land, like grass after the mower, and there shall be none to gather them.
23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise
man boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his strength, and
let not the rich man boast in his wealth; 24
but let him that boasts boast in this, the understanding and
knowing that I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and righteousness,
upon the earth; for in these things is my pleasure, saith the Lord.
25 Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;
26 on Egypt, and on Idumea, and on Edom,
and on the children of Ammon, and on the children of Moab, and on every one that
shaves his face round about, even them that dwell in the wilderness; for
all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in flesh, and all the house of Israel are
uncircumcised in their hearts.
Chapter 10
10:1 Hear ye the word of the Lord, which
he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn ye not the
ways of the heathen, and be not alarmed at the signs of the sky; for they are
alarmed at them, falling on their faces. 3
For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of
the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image.
4 They are beautified with silver and gold, they
fix them with hammers and nails; 5
they will set them up that they may not move; it is wrought silver, they will
not walk, it is forged silver They must certainly be borne, for they cannot ride
of themselves. Fear them not; for they cannot do any evil, and there is
no good in them.
11 Thus shall ye say to them, Let the
gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from
under this sky. 12 It is the Lord
that made the earth by his strength, who set up the world by his wisdom, and by
his understanding stretched out the sky, 13
and set abundance of waters in the sky, and brought up clouds
from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain, and brought forth
light out of his treasures. 14 Every
man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his
graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them.
15 They are vain works, wrought in mockery;
in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16
Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all
things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
17 He has gathered thy substance from
without the lodged in choice vessels. 18
For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will overthrow the
inhabitants of this land with affliction, that thy plague may be discovered.
19 Alas for thy ruin! thy plague is
grievous: and I said, Surely this is thy wound, and it has overtaken thee.
20 Thy tabernacle is in a ruinous
state, it has perished; and all thy curtains have been torn asunder: my children
and my cattle are no more: there is no more any place for my tabernacle, nor
place for my curtains. 21 For the
shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole
pasture has failed, and the sheep have been scattered.
22 Behold, there comes a sound of a noise,
and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Juda a
desolation, and a resting-place for ostriches.
23 I know, O Lord, that man’s way is not
his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going. 24
Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath,
lest thou make us few. 25 Pour out
thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the families that
have not called upon thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him,
and have made his pasture desolate.
Chapter 11
11:1 The word that came to Jeremias from
the Lord, saying,
2 Hear ye the words of this covenant,
and thou shalt speak to the men of Juda, and to the dwellers in Jerusalem;
3 and thou shalt say to them, Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, Cursed is the man, who shall not hearken to the
words of this covenant, 4 which I
commanded your fathers, in the day wherein I brought them up out of the land of
Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Hearken to my voice, and do all things
that I shall command you; so shall ye be to me a people, and I will be to you a
God; 5 that I may confirm mine oath,
which I sware to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and
honey, as it is this day. Then I answered and said, So be it, O Lord.
6 And the Lord said to me, Read
these words in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear
ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 8
But they did them not.
9 And the Lord said to me, A conspiracy
is found among the men of Juda, and among the dwellers in Jerusalem.
10 They are turned aside to the
iniquities of their fathers that were of old, who would not hearken to my words:
and, behold, they go after strange gods, to serve them: and the house of Israel
and the house of Juda have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I bring evils upon this people, out of which they shall not be able to
come forth; and they shall presently cry to me, but I will not hearken to them.
12 And the cities of Juda and the
dwellers in Jerusalem shall go, and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense;
which shall not deliver them in the time of their troubles.
13 For according to the number of thy
cities were thy gods, O Juda; and according to the number of the streets of
Jerusalem have ye set up altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 And thou, pray not for this people,
and intercede not for them in supplication and prayer: for I will not hear in
the day in which they call upon me, in the day of their affliction.
15 Why has my beloved wrought
abomination in my house? will prayers and holy offerings take away thy
wickedness from thee, or shalt thou escape by these things?
16 The Lord called thy name a fair olive
tree, of a goodly shade in appearance, at the noise of its being lopped, fire
was kindled against it; great is the affliction coming upon thee: her
branches are become good for nothing. 17
And the Lord that planted thee has pronounced evils against thee,
because of the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Juda, whatsoever
they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger by burning incense to
Baal.
18 O Lord, teach me, and I shall know:
then I saw their practices. 19 But I
as an innocent lamb led to the slaughter, knew not: against me they devised an
evil device, saying, Come and let us put wood into his bread, and let us utterly
destroy him from off the land of the living, and let his name not be remembered
any more. 20 O Lord, that judgest
righteously, trying the reins and hearts, let me see thy vengeance taken
upon them, for to thee I have declared my cause.
21 Therefore thus saith the Lord
concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek my life, that say, Thou shalt not
prophesy at all in the name of the Lord, but if thou dost, thou shalt die by our
hands: 22 behold, I will visit them:
their young men shall die by the sword; and their sons and their daughters shall
die of famine: 23 and there shall be
no remnant left of them; for I will bring evil upon the dwellers in
Anathoth, in the year of their visitation.
Chapter 12
12:1 Righteous art thou, O Lord, that I
may make my defence to thee, yea, I will speak to thee of judgments. Why
is it that the way of ungodly men prospers? that all that
deal very treacherously are flourishing? 2
Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root; they have
begotten children, and become fruitful; thou art near to their mouth, and far
from their reins. 3 But thou, Lord,
knowest me; thou hast proved my heart before thee; purify them for the day of
their slaughter. 4 How long shall
the land mourn, and the grass of the field wither, for the wickedness of them,
that dwell in it? the beasts and birds are utterly destroyed; because the
people said, God shall not see our ways.
5 Thy feet run, and they cause thee to
faint; how wilt thou prepare to ride upon horses? and thou hast been
confident in the land of thy peace? how wilt thou do in the roaring of Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren and the
house of thy father, even these have dealt treacherously with thee; and they
have cried out, they are gathered together in pursuit of thee; trust not thou in
them, though they shall speak fair words to thee.
7 I have forsaken mine house, I have
left mine heritage; I have given my beloved one into the hands of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me as
a lion in a forest; she has uttered her voice against me; therefore have I hated
her. 9 Is not my inheritance to me a
hyaena’s cave, or a cave round about her? Go ye, gather together all the wild
beasts of the field, and let them come to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my
vineyard, they have defiled my portion, they have made my desirable portion a
trackless wilderness; 11 it is made
a complete ruin: for my sake the whole land has been utterly ruined, because
there is none that lays the matter to heart. 12
The ravagers are come to every passage in the wilderness:
for the sword of the Lord will devour from one end of the land to the other: no
flesh has any peace. 13 Sow wheat,
and reap thorns; their portions shall not profit them: be ashamed of your
boasting, because of reproach before the Lord.
14 For thus saith the Lord, concerning
all the evil neighbours that touch mine inheritance, which I have divided to my
people Israel; Behold, I will draw them away from their land, and I will
cast out Juda from the midst of them.
15 And it shall come to pass, after I
have cast them out, that I will return, and have mercy upon them, and
will cause them to dwell every one in his inheritance, and every one in his
land. 16 And it shall be, if they
will indeed learn the way of my people, to swear by my name, saying, The
Lord lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall that nation
be built in the midst of my people. 17
But if they will not return, then will I cut off that nation with
utter ruin and destruction.
Chapter 13
13:1 Thus saith the Lord, Go and procure
for thyself a linen girdle, and put it about thy loins, and let it not be put in
water. 2 So I procured the girdle
according to the word of the Lord, and put it about my loins.
3 And the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, 4 Take the girdle that is
upon thy loins, and arise, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole
of the rock. 5 So I went, and hid it
by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6
And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me,
Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take thence the girdle, which I commanded thee
to hide there. 7 So I went to the
river Euphrates, and dug, and took the girdle out of the place where I had
buried it: and, behold, it was rotten, utterly good for nothing.
8 And the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, 9 Thus
will I mar the pride of Juda, and the pride of Jerusalem;
10 even this great pride of the men that
will not hearken to my words, and have gone after strange gods, to serve them,
and to worship them: and they shall be as this girdle, which can be used for
nothing. 11 For as a girdle cleaves
about the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave to myself the house of
Israel, and the whole house of Juda; that they might be to me a famous people,
and a praise, and a glory: but they did not hearken to me.
12 And thou shalt say to this people,
Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and it shall come to pass, if they shall
say to thee, Shall we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with
wine? that thou shalt say to them, 13
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will fill the inhabitants
of this land, and their kings the sons of David that sit upon their throne, and
the priests, and the prophets, and Juda and all the dwellers in Jerusalem, with
strong drink. 14 And I will scatter
them a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons together: I will
not have compassion, saith the Lord, and I will not spare, neither will I pity
to save them from destruction.
15 Hear ye, and give ear, and be not
proud: for the Lord has spoken. 16
Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet
stumble on the dark mountains, and ye shall wait for light, and behold the
shadow of death, and they shall be brought into darkness.
17 But if ye will not hearken, your soul shall weep in
secret because of pride, and your eyes shall pour down tears, because the Lord’s
flock is sorely bruised.
18 Say ye to the king and the princes,
Humble yourselves, and sit down; for your crown of glory is removed from your
head. 19 The cities toward the south
were shut, and there was none to open them: Juda is removed into
captivity,they have suffered a complete removal. 20
Lift up thine eyes, O Jerusalem, and behold them that come
from the north; where is the flock that was given thee, the sheep of thy glory?
21 What wilt thou say when they
shall visit thee, for thou didst teach them lessons for rule against thyself;
shall not pangs seize thee as a woman in travail? 22
And if thou shouldest say in thine heart, Wherefore have
these things happened to me? Because of the abundance of thine iniquity have thy
skirts been discovered, that thine heels might be exposed.
23 If the Ethiopian shall change his
skin, or the leopardess her spots, then shall ye be able to do good, having
learnt evil. 24 So I scattered them
as sticks carried by the wind into the wilderness. 25
Thus is thy lot, and the reward of your disobedience to
me, saith the Lord; as thou didst forget me, and trust in lies,
26 I also will expose thy skirts upon thy
face, and thy shame shall be seen; 27
thine adultery also, and thy neighing, and the looseness of thy
fornication: on the hills and in the fields I have seen thine abominations. Woe
to thee, O Jerusalem, for thou hast not been purified so as to follow me; how
long yet shall it be?
Chapter 14
14:1 AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO
JEREMIAS CONCERNING THE DROUGHT.
2 Judea has mourned, and her gates are
emptied, and are darkened upon the earth; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And her nobles have sent their
little ones to the water: they came to the wells, and found no water: and
brought back their vessels empty. 4
And the labours of the land failed, because there was no rain: the husbandmen
were ashamed, they covered their heads. 5
And hinds calved in the field, and forsook it, because
there was no grass. 6 The wild asses
stood by the forests, and snuffed up the wind; their eyes failed, because there
was no grass.
7 Our sins have risen up against us: O
Lord, do thou for us for thine own sake; for our sins are many before thee; for
we have sinned against thee. 8 O
Lord, thou art the hope of Israel, and deliverest us in time of
troubles; why art thou become as a sojourner upon the land, or as one born in
the land, yet turning aside for a resting-place? 9
Wilt thou be as a man asleep, or as a strong man that
cannot save? yet thou art among us, O Lord, and thy name is called upon us;
forget us not.
10 Thus saith the Lord to this people,
They have loved to wander, and they have not spared, therefore God has not
prospered them; now will he remember their iniquity. 11
And the Lord said to me, Pray not for this people for
their good: 12 for though they
fast, I will not hear their supplication; and though they offer
whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices, I will take no pleasure in them: for I
will consume them with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence.
13 And I said, O ever living
Lord! behold, their prophets prophesy, and say, Ye shall not see a sword, nor
shall famine be among you; for I will give truth and peace on the land, and in
this place.
14 Then the Lord said to me, The
prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, and I commanded them not,
and I spoke not to them: for they prophesy to you false visions, and
divinations, and auguries, and devices of their own heart.
15 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning
the prophets that prophesy lies in my name, and I sent them not, who say, Sword
and famine shall not be upon this land; they shall die by a grievous death, and
the prophets shall be consumed by famine. 16
And the people to whom they prophesy, they also shall be cast out
in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the sword and famine; and there shall be
none to bury them: their wives also, and their sons, and their daughters
shall die thus; and I will pour out their wickedness upon them.
17 And thou shalt speak this word to
them; Let your eyes shed tears day and night, and let them not cease: for the
daughter of my people has been sorely bruised, and her plague is very grievous.
18 If I go forth into the plain,
then behold the slain by the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold
the distress of famine! for priest and prophet have gone to a land which they
knew not.
19 Hast thou utterly rejected Juda? and
has thy soul departed from Sion? wherefore has thou smitten us, and there is no
healing for us? we waited for peace, but there was no prosperity; for a time of
healing, and behold trouble! 20 We
know, O Lord, our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers: for we have
sinned before thee. 21 Refrain for
thy name’s sake, destroy not the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy
covenant with us. 22 Is there any
one among the idols of the Gentiles that can give rain? and will the sky yield
his fulness at their bidding? Art not thou he? we will even wait on thee,
O Lord: for thou hast made all these things.
Chapter 15
15:1 And the Lord said to me, Though
Moses and Samuel stood before my face, my soul could not be toward them: dismiss
this people, and let them go forth. 2
And it shall be, if they say to thee, Whither shall we go forth?
then thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord; As many as are for death, to
death; and as many as are for famine, to famine; and as many as are for the
sword, to the sword; and as many as are for captivity, to captivity.
3 And I will punish them with four kinds
of death, saith the Lord, the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the
wild beasts of the earth, and the birds of the sky to devour and destroy.
4 And I will deliver them up for distress
to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasses son of Ezekias king of
Juda, for all that he did in Jerusalem.
5 Who will spare thee, O Jerusalem? and
who will fear for thee? or who will turn back to ask for thy
welfare? 6 Thou hast turned away
from me, saith the Lord, thou wilt go back: therefore I will stretch out my
hand, and will destroy thee, and will no more spare them.
7 And I will completely scatter them; in the gates of my
people they are bereaved of children: they have destroyed my people because of
their iniquities.
8 Their widows have been multiplied more
than the sand of the sea: I have brought young men against the mother, even
distress at noon-day: I have suddenly cast upon her trembling and anxiety.
9 She that bore seven is spent; her
soul has fainted under trouble; her sun is gone down while it is yet noon; she
is ashamed and disgraced: I will give the remnant of them to the sword before
their enemies.
10 Woe is me, my mother! thou
hast born me as some man of strife, and at variance with the whole earth; I have
not helped others, nor has any one helped me; my strength has failed
among them that curse me. 11 Be it
so, Lord, in their prosperity; surely I stood before thee in the time of their
calamities, and in the time of their affliction, for their good against
the enemy. 12 Will iron be known?
whereas thy strength is a brazen covering. 13
Yea, I will give thy treasures for a spoil as a recompence,
because of all thy sins and that in all thy borders.
14 And I will enslave thee to thine enemies
round about, in a land which thou hast not known; for a fire has been kindled
out of my wrath; it shall burn upon you.
15 O Lord, remember me, and visit me,
and vindicate me before them that persecute me; do not bear long with them; know
how I have met with reproach for thy sake, from those who set at nought thy
words; 16 consume them; and thy word
shall be to me for the joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name has been
called upon me, O Lord Almighty. 17
I have not sat in the assembly of them as they mocked, but I feared because of
thy power: I sat alone, for I was filled with bitterness.
18 Why do they that grieve me prevail
against me? my wound is severe; whence shall I be healed? it is indeed become to
me as deceitful water, that has no faithfulness.
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord, If
thou wilt return, then will I restore thee, and thou shalt stand before my face:
and if thou wilt bring forth the precious from the worthless, thou shalt be as
my mouth: and they shall return to thee; but thou shalt not return to them.
20 And I will make thee to this
people as a strong brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they
shall by no means prevail against thee; 21
for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee out of the
hand of wicked men; and I will ransom thee out of the hand of pestilent
men.
Chapter 16
16:1 And thou shalt not take a wife,
saith the Lord God of Israel: 2 and
there shall be no son born to thee, nor daughter in this place.
3 For thus saith the Lord concerning the
sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning
their mothers that have born them, and concerning their fathers that have
begotten them in this land; 4 They
shall die of grievous death; they shall not be lamented, nor buried; they shall
be for an example on the face of the earth; and they shall be for the wild
beasts of the land, and for the birds of the sky: they shall fall by the sword,
and shall be consumed with famine.
5 Thus saith the Lord, Enter not into
their mourning feast, and go not to lament, and mourn not for them: for I have
removed my peace from this people. 6
They shall not bewail them, nor make cuttings for them, and they
shall not shave themselves for them: 7
and there shall be no bread broken in mourning for them for
consolation over the dead: they shall not give one to drink a cup for
consolation over his father or his mother.
8 Thou shalt not enter into the
banquet-house, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will
make to cease out of this place before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of
joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of
the bride.
10 And it shall come to pass, when thou
shalt report to this people all these words, and they shall say to thee,
Wherefore has the Lord pronounced against us all these evils? what is our
unrighteousness? and what is our sin which we have sinned before the Lord our
God? 11 Then thou shalt say to them,
Because your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord, and went after strange gods and
served them, and worshipped them, and forsook me, and kept not my law;
12 (and ye sinned worse than your fathers;
for, behold, ye walk every one after the lusts of your own evil heart, so as not
to hearken to me); 13 therefore I
will cast you off from this good land into a land which neither ye nor your
fathers have known; and ye shall serve their other gods, who shall have no mercy
upon you.
14 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when they shall no more say, The Lord lives, that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15
but, The Lord lives, who brought up the house of Israel from the
land of the north, and from all countries whither they were thrust out: and I
will restore them to their own land, which I gave to their fathers.
16 Behold, I will send many
fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send
many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain, and upon every hill,
and out of the holes of the rocks. 17
For mine eyes are upon all their ways; and their iniquities have
not been hidden from mine eyes. 18
And I will recompense their mischiefs doubly, and their sins, whereby they have
profaned my land with the carcases of their abominations, and with their
iniquities, whereby they have trespassed against mine inheritance.
19 O Lord, thou art my strength, and
mine help, and my refuge in days of evil: to thee the Gentiles shall come from
the end of the earth, and shall say, How vain were the idols which
our fathers procured to themselves, and there is no help in them.
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
whereas these are no gods? 21
Therefore, behold, I will at this time manifest my hand to them, and will make
known to them my power; and they shall know that my name is the Lord.
Chapter 17
17:1 Cursed is the man who
trusts in man, and will lean his arm of flesh upon him, while his heart departs
from the Lord. 6 And he shall be as
the wild tamarisk in the desert: he shall not see when good comes; but he shall
dwell in barren places, and in the wilderness, in a salt land which is
not inhabited. 7 But blessed is the
man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord shall be.
8 And he shall be as a thriving tree by the
waters, and he shall cast forth his root toward a moist place: he shall not fear
when heat comes, and there shall be upon him shady branches: he shall not fear
in a year of drought, and he shall not fail to bear fruit.
9 The heart is
deep beyond all things, and it is the man, and who can know him?
10 I the Lord try the hearts, and prove the
reins, to give to every one according to his ways, and according to the fruits
of his devices.
11 The partridge utters her voice, she
gathers eggs which she did not lay; so is a man gaining his wealth
unjustly; in the midst of his days his riches shall leave him, and at his
latter end he will be a fool.
12 An exalted throne of glory is our
sanctuary. 13 O Lord, the hope of
Israel, let all that have left thee be ashamed, let them that have revolted be
written on the earth, because they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be
healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my boast.
15 Behold, they say to me, Where is the
word of the Lord? let it come. 16
But I have not been weary of following thee, nor have I desired the day of man;
thou knowest; the words that proceed out of my lips are before thy face.
17 Be not to me a stranger, but
spare me in the evil day. 18 Let
them that persecute me be ashamed, but let me not be ashamed: let them be
alarmed, but let me not be alarmed: bring upon them the evil day, crush them
with double destruction.
19 Thus saith the Lord; Go and stand in
the gates of the children of thy people, by which the kings of Juda enter, and
by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem:
20 and thou shalt say to them, Hear the word of the Lord,
ye kings of Juda, and all Judea, and all Jerusalem, all who go in at
these gates:
21 thus saith the Lord; Take heed to
your souls, and take up no burdens on the sabbath-day, and go not forth
through the gates of Jerusalem; 22
and carry forth no burdens out of your houses on the sabbath-day,
and ye shall do no work: sanctify the sabbath-day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they hearkened not, and
inclined not their ear, but stiffened their neck more than their fathers did,
so as not to hear me, and not to receive correction. 24
And it shall come to pass, if ye will hearken to me, saith
the Lord, to carry in no burdens through the gates of this city on the sabbath-day,
and to sanctify the sabbath-day, so as to do no work upon it,
25 that there shall enter through the gates
of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, and riding on
their chariots and horses, they, and their princes, the men of Juda, and the
dwellers in Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.
26 And men shall come out of the
cities of Juda, and from round about Jerusalem, and out of the land of Benjamin,
and out of the plain country, and from the hill country, and from the south
country, bringing whole-burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and incense, and
manna, and frankincense, bringing praise to the house of the Lord.
27 But it shall come to pass, if ye will
not hearken to me to sanctify the sabbath-day, to bear no burdens, nor go in
with them by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath-day; then will I kindle a
fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the streets of Jerusalem, and
shall not be quenched.
Chapter 18
18:1 The word that came from the Lord to
2 Jeremias, saying, Arise, and go
down to the potter’s house, and there thou shalt hear my words.
3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and
behold, he was making a vessel on the stones. 4
And the vessel which he was making with his hands fell: so he
made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to him to make it.
5 And the word of the Lord came to me,
saying,
6 Shall I not be able, O house of
Israel, to do to you as this potter? behold, as the clay of the potter are ye in
my hands. 7 If I shall
pronounce a decree upon a nation, or upon a kingdom, to cut them off, and to
destroy them; 8 and that
nation turn from all their sins, then will I repent of the evils which I
purposed to do to them. 9 And if
I shall pronounce a decree upon a nation and kingdom, to rebuild and to plant
it; 10 and they do evil before
me, so as not to hearken to my voice, then will I repent of the good which I
spoke of, to do it to them.
11 And now say to the men of Juda, and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Behold, I prepare evils against you, and devise
a device against you: let every one turn now from his evil way, and amend your
practices. 12 And they said, We will
quit ourselves like men, for we will pursue our perverse ways, and we will
perform each the lusts of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord;
Enquire now among the nations, who has heard such very horrible things as the
virgin of Israel has done? 14 Will
fertilising streams fail to flow from a rock, or snow fail from
Libanus? will water violently impelled by the wind turn aside?
15 For my people have forgotten me, they
have offered incense in vain, and they fail in their ways, leaving the
ancient tracks, to enter upon impassable paths; 16
to make their land a desolation, and a perpetual hissing; all
that go through it shall be amazed, and shall shake their heads.
17 I will scatter them before their enemies
like an east wind; I will shew them the day of their destruction.
18 Then they said, Come, and let us
devise a device against Jeremias; for the law shall not perish from the priest,
nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite
him with the tongue, and we will hear all his words.
19 Hear me, O Lord, and hear the voice
of my pleading. 20 Forasmuch as evil
is rewarded for good; for they have spoken words against my soul, and they have
hidden the punishment they meant for me; remember that I stood before thy
face, to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 Therefore do thou deliver their sons to
famine, and gather them to the power of the sword: let their women be childless
and widows; and let their men be cut off by death, and their young men fall by
the sword in war. 22 Let there be a
cry in their houses: thou shalt bring upon them robbers suddenly: for they have
formed a plan to take me, and have hidden snares for me.
23 And thou, Lord, knowest all their
deadly counsel against me: account not their iniquities guiltless, and blot not
out their sins from before thee: let their weakness come before thee; deal with
them in the time of thy wrath.
Chapter 19
19:1 Then said the Lord to me, Go and
get an earthen bottle, the work of the potter, and thou shalt bring some
of the elders of the people, and of the priests; 2
and thou shalt go forth to the burial-place of the sons of their
children, which is at the entrance of the gate of Charsith; and do thou read
there all these words which I shall speak to thee: 3
and thou shalt say to them,
Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Juda, and men of
Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and they that enter in by these gates; thus
saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place,
so that the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle.
4 Because they forsook me, and profaned this place, and
burnt incense in it to strange gods, which they and their fathers knew not; and
the kings of Juda have filled this place with innocent blood,
5 and built high places for Baal, to burn
their children in the fire, which things I commanded not, neither did I design
them in my heart:
6 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when this place shall no more be called, The fall and
burial-place of the son of Ennom, but, The burial-place of slaughter.
7 And I will destroy the counsel of Juda
and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place; and I will cast them down with the
sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and
I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the sky and to the wild
beasts of the earth. 8 And I will
bring this city to desolation and make it a hissing; every one that
passes by it shall scowl, and hiss because of all her plague.
9 And they shall eat the flesh of their
sons, and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh
of his neighbour in the blockade, and in the siege wherewith their enemies shall
besiege them.
10 And thou shalt break the bottle in
the sight of the men that go forth with thee, 11
and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Thus will I break in
pieces this people, and this city, even as an earthen vessel is broken in pieces
which cannot be mended again. 12
Thus will I do, saith the Lord, to this place, and to the inhabitants of it,
that this city may be given up, as one that is falling to ruin.
13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the
houses of the kings of Juda shall be as a ruinous place, because of their
uncleannesses in all the houses, wherein they burnt incense upon their roofs to
all the host of heaven, and poured drink-offerings to strange gods.
14 And Jeremias came from the place
of the Fall, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the
court of the Lord’s house: and said to all the people, Thus saith the Lord;
15 Behold I bring upon this city,
and upon all the cities belonging to it, and upon the villages of it, all the
evils which I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their neck,
that they might not hearken to my commands.
Chapter 20
20:1 Now Paschor the son of Emmer, the
priest, who also had been appointed chief of the house of the Lord, heard
Jeremias prophesying these words. 2
And he smote him, and cast him into the dungeon which was by the gate of the
upper house that was set apart, which was by the house of the Lord.
3 And Paschor brought Jeremias out of
the dungeon: and Jeremias said to him, The Lord has not called thy name
Paschor, but Exile. 4 For thus saith
the Lord, Behold, I will give thee up to captivity with all thy friends:
and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall see
it: and I will give thee and all Juda into the hands of the king of Babylon,
and they shall carry them captives, and cut them in pieces with swords.
5 And I will give all the strength of this
city, and all the labours of it, and all the treasures of the king of Juda, into
the hands of his enemies, and they shall bring them to Babylon.
6 And thou and all the dwellers in thine
house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt die in Babylon, and there thou and
all thy friends shall be buried, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
7 Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I
have been deceived: thou hast been strong, and has prevailed: I am become a
laughing-stock, I am continually mocked every day. 8
For I will laugh with my bitter speech, I will call upon
rebellion and misery: for the word of the Lord is become a reproach to me and a
mockery all my days. 9 Then I said,
I will by no means name the name of the Lord, and I will no more at all speak in
his name. But it was a burning fire flaming in my bones, and I am utterly
weakened on all sides, and cannot bear up. 10
For I have heard the reproach of many gathering round,
saying, Conspire ye, and let us conspire together against him, even
all his friends: watch his intentions, if perhaps he shall be deceived, and we
shall prevail against him, and we shall be avenged on him.
11 But the Lord was with me as a mighty
man of war: therefore they persecuted me, but could not perceive
anything against me; they were greatly confounded, for they perceived not
their disgrace, which shall never be forgotten.
12 O Lord, that provest just deeds,
understanding the reins and hearts, let me see thy vengeance upon them: for to
thee I have revealed my cause. 13
Sing ye to the Lord, sing praise to him: for he has rescued the soul of the poor
from the hand of evil-doers.
14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born:
the day wherein my mother brought me forth, let it not be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought the glad
tidings to my father, saying, A male child is born to thee.
16 Let that man rejoice as the cities which
the Lord overthrew in wrath, and repented not: let him hear crying in the
morning, and loud lamentation at noon; 17
because he slew me not in the womb, and my mother became not my
tomb, and her womb always great with me. 18
Why is it that I came forth of the womb to see troubles and
distresses, and my days are spent in shame?
Chapter 21
21:1 THE WORD THAT CAME FROM THE LORD TO
JEREMIAS, WHEN KING SEDEKIAS SENT TO HIM PASCHOR THE SON OF MELCHIAS, AND
SOPHONIAS SON OF BASAEAS, THE PRIEST, SAYING,
2 Enquire of the Lord for us; for the
king of Babylon has risen up against us; if the Lord will do according to all
his wonderful works, and the king shall depart from us.
3 And Jeremias said to them, Thus shall
ye say to Sedekias king of Juda, 4
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war
wherewith ye fight against the Chaldeans that have besieged you from outside the
wall, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.
5 And I will fight against you with an outstretched hand
and with a strong arm, with wrath and great anger. 6
And I will smite all the dwellers in this city, both
men and cattle, with grievous pestilence: and they shall die.
7 And after this, thus saith the Lord; I
will give Sedekias king of Juda, and his servants, and the people that is left
in this city from the pestilence, and from the famine, and from the sword, into
the hands of their enemies, that seek their lives: and they shall cut them in
pieces with the edge of the sword: I will not spare them, and I will not have
compassion upon them.
8 And thou shalt say to this people,
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I have set before you the way of life, and the way
of death. 9 He that remains in this
city shall die by the sword, and by famine: but he that goes forth to advance to
the Chaldeans that have besieged you, shall live, and his life shall be to him
for a spoil, and he shall live. 10
For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good: it shall be
delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall consume it with
fire.
11 O house of the king of Juda, hear ye
the word of the Lord. 12 O house of
David, thus saith the Lord; Judge judgment in the morning, and act rightly, and
rescue the spoiled one from the hand of him that wrongs him, lest mine anger be
kindled like fire, and it burn, and there be none to quench it.
13 Behold, I am against thee that dwellest
in the valley of Sor; in the plain country, even against them that say,
Who shall alarm us? or who shall enter into our habitation?
14 And I will kindle a fire in the forest
thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
Chapter 22
22:1 Thus saith the Lord; Go thou, and
go down to the house of the king of Juda, and thou shalt speak there this word,
2 and thou shalt say,
Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest on the
throne of David, thou, and thy house, and thy people, and they that go in at
these gates: 3 thus saith the Lord;
Execute ye judgment and justice, and rescue the spoiled out of the hand of him
that wrongs him: and oppress not the stranger, and orphan, and widow, and sin
not, and shed no innocent blood in this place. 4
For if ye will indeed perform this word, then shall there enter
in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, and riding
on chariots and horses, they, and their servants, and their people.
5 But if ye will not perform these words,
by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that this house shall be brought
to desolation.
6 For thus saith the Lord concerning the
house of the king of Juda; Thou art Galaad to me, and the head of
Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a desert, even cities that
shall not be inhabited: 7 and I will
bring upon thee a destroying man, and his axe: and they shall cut down thy
choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8
And nations shall pass through this city, and each shall
say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?
9 And they shall say, Because they forsook
the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped strange gods, and served
them.
10 Weep not for the dead, nor lament for
him: weep bitterly for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see
his native land. 11 For thus saith
the Lord concerning Sellem the son of Josias, who reigns in the place of Josias
his father, who has gone forth out of this place; He shall not return thither
any more: 12 but in that place
whither I have carried him captive, there shall he die, and shall see this land
no more.
13 He that builds his house not with
justice, and his upper chambers not with judgment, who works by means of his
neighbour for nothing, and will by no means give him his reward.
14 Thou hast built for thyself a
well-proportioned house, airy chambers, fitted with windows, and wainscoted with
cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15
Shalt thou reign, because thou art provoked with thy father
Achaz? they shall not eat, and they shall not drink: it is better for thee to
execute judgment and justice. 16
They understood not, they judged not the cause of the afflicted, nor the cause
of the poor: is not this thy not knowing me? saith the Lord.
17 Behold, thine eyes are not good, nor
thine heart, but they go after thy covetousness, and after the innocent
blood to shed it, and after acts of injustice and slaughter, to commit them.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord
concerning Joakim son of Josias, king of Juda, even concerning this man; they
shall not bewail him, saying, Ah brother! neither shall they at all weep
for him, saying, Alas Lord. 19
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass; he shall be dragged
roughly along and cast outside the gate of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Libanus, and cry; and utter
thy voice to Basan, and cry aloud to the extremity of the sea: for all thy
lovers are destroyed. 21 I spoke to
thee on occasion of thy trespass, but thou saidst, I will not hearken.
This has been thy way from thy youth, thou hast not hearkened to my
voice. 22 The wind shall tend all
thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; for then shalt thou be
ashamed and disgraced because of all thy lovers. 23
O thou that dwellest in Libanus, making thy nest in the cedars,
thou shalt groan heavily, when pangs as of a travailing woman are come upon
thee.
24 As I live, saith the Lord,
though Jechonias son of Joakim king of Juda were indeed the seal upon my right
hand, thence would I pluck thee; 25
and I will deliver thee into the hands of them that seek thy life, before whom
thou art afraid, into the hands of the Chaldeans. 26
And I will cast forth thee, and thy mother that bore thee,
into a land where thou wast not born; and there ye shall die.
27 But they shall by no means return to the
land which they long for in their souls. 28
Jechonias is dishonoured as a good-for-nothing vessel; for he is
thrown out and cast forth into a land which he knew not.
29 Land, land, hear the word of the
Lord. 30 Write ye this man an
outcast: for there shall none of his seed at all grow up to sit on the throne of
David, or as a prince yet in Juda.
Chapter 23
23:1 Woe to the shepherds that destroy
and scatter the sheep of their pasture! 2
Therefore thus saith the Lord against them that tend my people;
Ye have scattered my sheep, and driven them out, and ye have not visited them:
behold, I will take vengeance upon you according to your evil practices.
3 And I will gather in the remnant
of my people in every land, whither I have driven them out, and will set them in
their pasture; and they shall increase and be multiplied.
4 And I will raise up shepherds to them, who shall feed
them: and they shall fear no more, nor be alarmed, saith the Lord.
5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and
understand, and shall execute judgment and righteousness on the earth.
6 In his days both Juda shall be saved, and
Israel shall dwell securely: and this is his name, which the Lord shall call
him, Josedec among the prophets. 7
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when they shall no more say,
The Lord lives, who brought up the house of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 but The Lord lives, who has
gathered the whole seed of Israel from the north land, and from all the
countries whither he had driven them out, and has restored them into
their own land.
9 My heart is broken within me; all my
bones are shaken: I am become as a broken-down man, and as a man overcome with
wine, because of the Lord, and because of the excellence of his glory.
10 For because of these things the land
mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is become
evil, and so also their strength. 11
For priest and prophet are defiled; and I have seen their
iniquities in my house. 12 Therefore
let their way be to them slippery and dark: and they shall be tripped up and
fall in it: for I will bring evils upon them, in the year of their visitation.
13 And in the prophets of Samaria I have
seen lawless deeds; they prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray.
14 Also in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen horrible things: as they committed adultery, and walked in lies, and
strengthened the hands of many, that they should not return each from his evil
way: they are all become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as
Gomorrha.
15 Therefore thus saith the Lord;
Behold, I will feed them with pain, and give them bitter water to drink: for
from the prophets of Jerusalem has defilement gone forth into all the
land.
16 Thus saith the Lord Almighty, Hearken
not to the words of the prophets: for they frame a vain vision for themselves;
they speak from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They say to them that reject the word of
the Lord, There shall be peace to you; and to all that walk after their own
lusts, and to everyone that walks in the error of his heart, they have said, No
evil shall come upon thee. 18 For
who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and seen his word? who has hearkened,
and heard? 19 Behold, there is
an earthquake from the Lord, and anger proceeds to a convulsion, it shall come
violently upon the ungodly. 20 And
the Lord’s wrath shall return no more, until he have accomplished it, and until
he have established it, according to the purpose of his heart: at the end of the
days they shall understand it.
21 I sent not the prophets, yet they
ran: neither spoke I to them, yet they prophesied. 22
But if they had stood in my counsel, and if they had
hearkened to my words, then would they have turned my people from their evil
practices.
23 I am a God nigh at hand, saith the
Lord, and not a God afar off. 24
Shall any one hide himself in secret places, and I not see him? Do I not fill
heaven and earth? saith the Lord.
25 I have heard what the prophets say,
what they prophesy in my name, saying falsely, I have seen a night vision.
26 How long shall these things
be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, when they prophesy the
purposes of their own heart? 27 who
devise that men may forget my law by their dreams, which they have told
every one to his neighbour, as their fathers forgot my name in the worship of
Baal. 28 The prophet who has a
dream, let him tell his dream; and he in whom is my word spoken to
him, let him tell my word truly: what is the chaff to the corn? so are my words,
saith the Lord. 29 Behold, are not
my words as fire? saith the Lord; and as an axe cutting the rock?
30 Behold, I am therefore against the
prophets, saith the Lord God, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets
that put forth prophecies of mere words, and slumber their sleep.
32 Therefore, behold, I am against the
prophets that prophesy false dreams, and have not told them truly, and
have caused my people to err by their lies, and by their errors; yet I sent them
not, and commanded them not; therefore, they shall not profit this people at
all.
33 And if this people, or the priest, or
the prophet, should ask, What is the burden of the Lord? then thou shalt say to
them, Ye are the burden, and I will dash you down, saith the Lord.
34 As for the prophet, and the
priests, and the people, who shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will even take
vengeance on that man, and on his house. 35
Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to
his brother, What has the Lord answered? and, what has the Lord said?
36 And do ye name no more the burden of the
Lord; for his own word shall be a man’s burden. 37
But wherefore, say ye, has the Lord our God spoken?
38 Therefore thus saith the Lord our God;
Because ye have spoken this word, The burden of the Lord, and I sent to you,
saying, ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord; 39
therefore, behold, I will seize, and dash down you
and the city which I gave to you and your fathers. 40
And I will bring upon you an everlasting reproach, and
everlasting disgrace, which shall not be forgotten.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when they shall no more say, The Lord lives, who brought up the
house of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8
but The Lord lives, who has gathered the whole seed of Israel
from the north land, and from all the countries whither he had driven
them out, and has restored them into their own land.
Chapter 24
24:1 The Lord shewed me two baskets of
figs, lying in front of the temple of the Lord, after Nabuchodonosor king of
Babylon had carried captive Jechonias son of Joakim king of Juda, and the
princes, and the artificers, and the prisoners, and the rich men out of
Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2
The one basket was full of very good figs, as the early
figs; and the other basket was full of very bad figs, which could not be
eaten, for their badness. 3 And the
Lord said to me, What seest thou, Jeremias? and I said, Figs; the good figs,
very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, for their badness.
4 And the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, 5 Thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel; As these good figs, so will I acknowledge the Jews that have been
carried away captive, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of
the Chaldeans for good. 6 And I will
fix mine eyes upon them for good, and I will restore them into this land for
good: and I will build them up, and not pull them down; and I will plant them,
and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them a heart to know
me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them
a God: for they shall turn to me with all their heart.
8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be
eaten, for their badness; thus saith the Lord, So will I deliver Sedekias king
of Juda, and his nobles, and the remnant of Jerusalem, them that are left in
this land, and the dwellers in Egypt. 9
And I will cause them to be dispersed into all the kingdoms of
the earth, and they shall be for a reproach, and a proverb, and an object of
hatred, and a curse, in every place whither I have driven them out.
10 And I will send against them famine, and
pestilence, and the sword, until they are consumed from off the land which I
gave them.
Chapter 25
25:1 THE WORD THAT CAME TO JEREMIAS
concerning all the people of Juda in the fourth year of Joakim, son of Josias,
king of Juda; 2 which he spoke to
all the people of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
3 In the thirteenth year of Josias, son
of Amos, king of Juda, even until this day for three and twenty years, I have
both spoken to you, rising early and speaking, 4
and I sent to you my servants the prophets, sending them early;
(but ye hearkened not, and listened not with your ears;) saying,
5 Turn ye every one from his evil way, and
from your evil practices, and ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to you and
your fathers, of old and for ever. 6
Go ye not after strange gods, to serve them, and to worship them,
that ye provoke me not by the works of your hands, to do you hurt.
7 But ye hearkened not to me.
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Since
ye believed not my words, 9 behold I
will send and take a family from the north, and will bring them against
this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all the nations round
about it, and I will make them utterly waste, and make th |
