The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that
were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the
son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his
reign.
It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king
of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the
son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of
Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou
camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a
child.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou
shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I
command thee thou shalt speak.
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver
thee, saith the LORD.
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And
the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy
mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the
kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and
to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah,
what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will
hasten my word to perform it.
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the
face thereof is toward the north.
Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall
break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the
north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set
every one his throne at the entering of the gates of
Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and
against all the cities of Judah.
And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their
wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto
other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto
them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces,
lest I confound thee before them.
For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an
iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against
the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the
priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail
against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver
thee.
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the
LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of
thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.
Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his
increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come
upon them, saith the LORD.
Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the
families of the house of Israel:
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in
me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after
vanity, and are become vain?
Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through
a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and
of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed
through, and where no man dwelt?
And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit
thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye
defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle
the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things
that do not profit.
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with
your children's children will I plead.
For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto
Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a
thing.
Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but
my people have changed their glory for that which doth not
profit.
Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid,
be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me
the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he
spoiled?
The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his
land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown
of thy head.
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast
forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the
waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of
Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings
shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil
thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God,
and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands;
and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high
hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the
harlot.
Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how
then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange
vine unto me?
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap,
yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after
Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done:
thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind
at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all
they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month
they shall find her.
Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from
thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have
loved strangers, and after them will I go.
As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of
Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their
priests, and their prophets.
Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou
hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto
me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they
will say, Arise, and save us.
But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them
arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for
according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed
against me, saith the LORD.
In vain have I smitten your children; they received no
correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a
destroying lion.
O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a
wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my
people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my
people have forgotten me days without number.
Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou
also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor
innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all
these.
Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall
turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou
sayest, I have not sinned.
Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also
shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine
head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou
shalt not prosper in them.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and
become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall
not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the
harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the
LORD.
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou
hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them,
as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the
land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath
been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou
refusedst to be ashamed.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art
the guide of my youth?
Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the
end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou
couldest.
The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king,
Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is
gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree,
and there hath played the harlot.
And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto
me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw
it.
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel
committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of
divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went
and played the harlot also.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom,
that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones
and with stocks.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not
turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the
LORD.
And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath
justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return,
thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause
mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the
LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed
against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the
strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my
voice, saith the LORD.
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married
unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased
in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no
more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it
come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall
they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD;
and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of
the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after
the imagination of their evil heart.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of
Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the
north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto
your fathers.
But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give
thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of
nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt
not turn away from me.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so
have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith
the LORD.
A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and
supplications of the children of Israel: for they have
perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their
God.
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your
backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD
our God.
Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from
the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the
salvation of Israel.
For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our
youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their
daughters.
We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for
we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers,
from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the
voice of the LORD our God.
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me:
and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,
then shalt thou not remove.
And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment,
and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves
in him, and in him shall they glory.
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins
of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem:
lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can
quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow
ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will
bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the
Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to
make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste,
without an inhabitant.
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the
fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that
the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the
princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets
shall wonder.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived
this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace;
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the
daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now
also will I give sentence against them.
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be
as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto
us! for we are spoiled.
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou
mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within
thee?
For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from
mount Ephraim.
Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against
Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out
their voice against the cities of Judah.
As keepers of a field, are they against her round about;
because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee;
this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it
reacheth unto thine heart.
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart
maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou
hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of
war.
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is
spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a
moment.
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the
trumpet?
For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are
sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are
wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void;
and the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the
hills moved lightly.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the
heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and
all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the
LORD, and by his fierce anger.
For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate;
yet will I not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be
black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will
not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and
bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the
rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell
therein.
And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou
clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with
ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting,
in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise
thee, they will seek thy life.
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the
anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the
voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that
spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is
wearied because of murderers.
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see
now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can
find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that
seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear
falsely.
O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken
them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but
they have refused to receive correction: they have made their
faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for
they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their
God.
I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them;
for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of
their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and
burst the bonds.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf
of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over
their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in
pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their
backslidings are increased.
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken
me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to
the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled
themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed
after his neighbour's wife.
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end:
take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very
treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither
shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor
famine:
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in
them: thus shall it be done unto them.
Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak
this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and
this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of
Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an
ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not,
neither understandest what they say.
Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy
sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy
flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy
fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein
thou trustedst, with the sword.
Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a
full end with you.
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth
the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou
answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange
gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that
is not your's.
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah,
saying,
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding;
which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my
presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea
by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the
waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail;
though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they
are revolted and gone.
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our
God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his
season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the
harvest.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins
have withholden good things from you.
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he
that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of
deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds
of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the
fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do
they not judge.
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not
my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will
ye do in the end thereof?
O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of
the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set
up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of
the north, and great destruction.
I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate
woman.
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they
shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall
feed every one in his place.
Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon.
Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the
evening are stretched out.
Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and
cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be
visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her
wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me
continually is grief and wounds.
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from
thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the
remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a
grapegatherer into the baskets.
To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?
behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken:
behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they
have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with
holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and
upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband
with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full
of days.
And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their
fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon
the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them
every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even
unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay,
they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:
therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time
that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask
for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will
not walk therein.
Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of
the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is
among them.
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people,
even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not
hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the
sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not
acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay
stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the
sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his
friend shall perish.
Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north
country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of
the earth.
They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have
no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon
horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter
of Zion.
We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish
hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the
sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow
thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most
bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon
us.
I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people,
that thou mayest know and try their way.
They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they
are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the
founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath
rejected them.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this
word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah,
that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your
ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this
place.
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD,
The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye
throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,
and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after
other gods to your hurt:
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that
I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely,
and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye
know not;
And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by
my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these
abominations?
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of
robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the
LORD.
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set
my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the
wickedness of my people Israel.
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD,
and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye
heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my
name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you
and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all
your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry
nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I
will not hear thee.
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that
they may provoke me to anger.
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not
provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my
fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon
beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of
the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your
burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning
burnt offerings or sacrifices:
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I
will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in
all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well
unto you.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in
the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and
went backward, and not forward.
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of
Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants
the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but
hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they
will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but
they will not answer thee.
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth
not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction:
truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up
a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and
forsaken the generation of his wrath.
For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith
the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which
is called by my name, to pollute it.
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the
valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their
daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither
came it into my heart.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it
shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of
Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in
Tophet, till there be no place.
And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of
the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall
fray them away.
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from
the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the
bride: for the land shall be desolate.
At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones
of the kings of Judah, 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:
And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and
all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they
have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they
have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be
gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face
of the earth.
And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue
of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all
the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of
hosts.
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall
they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a
perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to
return.
I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man
repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?
every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the
battle.
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and
the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of
their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with
us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes
is in vain.
The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo,
they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in
them?
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their
fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the
least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from
the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay,
they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:
therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of
their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no
grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf
shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass
away from them.
Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter
into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the
LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of
gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of
health, and behold trouble!
The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land
trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for
they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in
it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you,
which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the
LORD.
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint
in me.
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people
because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD
in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to
anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am
black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why
then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of
tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the
daughter of my people!
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring
men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they
be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they
are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed
from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in
any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and
every neighbour will walk with slanders.
And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not
speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies,
and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit
they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt
them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my
people?
Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one
speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in
heart he layeth his wait.
Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and
for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because
they are burned up, so that none can pass through them;
neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of
the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I
will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he
to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare
it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a
wilderness, that none passeth through?
And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I
set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked
therein;
But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and
after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and
give them water of gall to drink.
I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they
nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after
them, till I have consumed them.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the
mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning
women, that they may come:
And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that
our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out
with waters.
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we
spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken
the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear
receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters
wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our
palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young
men from the streets.
Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall
fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the
harvestman, and none shall gather them.
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the
rich man glory in his riches:
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for
in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all
them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and
Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in
the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and
all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of
Israel:
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be
not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are
dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree
out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with
the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must
needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them;
for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do
good.
Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art
great, and thy name is great in might.
Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth
it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the
nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto
thee.
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a
doctrine of vanities.
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold
from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the
founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the
work of cunning men.
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an
everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and
the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the
heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth,
and from under these heavens.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the
world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his
discretion.
When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in
the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the
ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is
confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is
falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.
The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of
all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD
of hosts is his name.
Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the
fortress.
For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the
inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them,
that they may find it so.
Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly
this is a grief, and I must bear it.
My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my
children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none
to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the
LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks
shall be scattered.
Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion
out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah
desolate, and a den of dragons.
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is
not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger,
lest thou bring me to nothing.
Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and
upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have
eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have
made his habitation desolate.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,
Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of
Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel;
Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying,
Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command
you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:
That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as
it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.
Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the
cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear
ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I
brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day,
rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every
one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will
bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I
commanded them to do: but they did them not.
And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men
of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers,
which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods
to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have
broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon
them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they
shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem
go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but
they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O
Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem
have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to
burn incense unto Baal.
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry
or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that
they cry unto me for their trouble.
What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath
wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from
thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of
goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled
fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil
against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the
house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to
provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it:
then thou shewedst me their doings.
But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the
slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices
against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit
thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name may be no more remembered.
But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest
the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for
unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that
seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD,
that thou die not by our hand:
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish
them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and
their daughters shall die by famine:
And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil
upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me
talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the
wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very
treacherously?
Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow,
yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and
far from their reins.
But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried
mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the
slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field
wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the
beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He
shall not see our last end.
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,
then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of
peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how
wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they
have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a
multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair
words unto thee.
I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have
given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her
enemies.
Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth
out against me: therefore have I hated it.
Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round
about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the
field, come to devour.
Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my
portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a
desolate wilderness.
They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth
unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man
layeth it to heart.
The spoilers are come upon all high places through the
wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the
one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no
flesh shall have peace.
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put
themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be
ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the
LORD.
Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that
touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to
inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and
pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out
I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring
them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his
land.
And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the
ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as
they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be
built in the midst of my people.
But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy
that nation, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle,
and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put
it on my loins.
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins,
and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the
rock.
So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto
me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence,
which I commanded thee to hide there.
Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from
the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was
marred, it was profitable for nothing.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of
Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in
the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to
serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle,
which is good for nothing.
For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I
caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the
whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto
me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a
glory: but they would not hear.
Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine:
and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that
every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I
will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings
that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the
prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with
drunkenness.
And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and
the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare,
nor have mercy, but destroy them.
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and
before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while
ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and
make it gross darkness.
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret
places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run
down with tears, because the LORD's flock is carried away
captive.
Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit
down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown
of your glory.
The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open
them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall
be wholly carried away captive.
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north:
where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast
taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not
sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things
upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts
discovered, and thy heels made bare.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away
by the wind of the wilderness.
This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith
the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in
falsehood.
Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy
shame may appear.
I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness
of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the
fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made
clean? when shall it once be?
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the
dearth.
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black
unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters:
they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with
their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and
covered their heads.
Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the
earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it,
because there was no grass.
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed
up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there
was no grass.
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it
for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have
sinned against thee.
O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble,
why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a
wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that
cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we
are called by thy name; leave us not.
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to
wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD
doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and
visit their sins.
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their
good.
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer
burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I
will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the
pestilence.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them,
Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but
I will give you assured peace in this place.
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my
name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither
spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and
divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their
heart.
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that
prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword
and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine
shall those prophets be consumed.
And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the
streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and
they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor
their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their
wickedness upon them.
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes
run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for
the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great
breach, with a very grievous blow.
If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the
sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are
sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go
about into a land that they know not.
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion?
why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we
looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of
healing, and behold trouble!
We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of
our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the
throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can
cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he,
O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou
hast made all these things.
Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood
before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast
them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither
shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the
LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the
sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the
famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the
sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the
heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the
earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah,
for that which he did in Jerusalem.
For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall
bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward:
therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy
thee; I am weary with repenting.
And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I
will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people since
they return not from their ways.
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I
have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a
spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it
suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the
ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath
been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I
deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife
and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither
lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one
of them doth curse me.
The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant;
verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time
of evil and in the time of affliction.
Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil
without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy
borders.
And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land
which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger,
which shall burn upon you.
O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge
me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering:
know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was
unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called
by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat
alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with
indignation.
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which
refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a
liar, and as waters that fail?
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I
bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou
take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my
mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto
them.
And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall:
and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail
against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver
thee, saith the LORD.
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I
will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons
or daughters in this place.
For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the
daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their
mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that
begat them in this land;
They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented;
neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon
the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the
sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the
fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning,
neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my
peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness
and mercies.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they
shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor
cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to
comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup
of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with
them to eat and to drink.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I
will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in
your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the
voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people
all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath
the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is
our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed
against the LORD our God?
Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have
forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods,
and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have
forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk
every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they
may not hearken unto me:
Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye
know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye
serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you
favour.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it
shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel
from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he
had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land
that I gave unto their fathers.
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they
shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and
they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill,
and out of the holes of the rocks.
For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from
my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin
double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled
mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and
abominable things.
O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day
of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends
of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited
lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will
cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know
that my name is The LORD.
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the
point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their
heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves
by the green trees upon the high hills.
O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all
thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin,
throughout all thy borders.
And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage
that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies
in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire
in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,
and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the
LORD.
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not
see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in
the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope
the LORD is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that
spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when
heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be
careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from
yielding fruit.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give
every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of
his doings.
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he
that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the
midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our
sanctuary.
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be
ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the
earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of
living waters.
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall
be saved: for thou art my praise.
Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let
it come now.
As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow
thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest:
that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be
confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed:
bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double
destruction.
Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the
children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in,
and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of
Jerusalem;
And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of
Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
that enter in by these gates:
Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no
burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of
Jerusalem;
Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath
day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as
I commanded your fathers.
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made
their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive
instruction.
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me,
saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of
this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to
do no work therein;
Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and
princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots
and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for
ever.
And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the
places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and
from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south,
bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings,
and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house
of the LORD.
But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day,
and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of
Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the
gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem,
and it shall not be quenched.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will
cause thee to hear my words.
Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good
to the potter to make it.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith
the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are
ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to
destroy it;
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from
their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do
unto them.
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I
will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit
them.
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold,
I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you:
return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways
and your doings good.
And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our
own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his
evil heart.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen,
who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a
very horrible thing.
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the
rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come
from another place be forsaken?
Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense
to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways
from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast
up;
To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every
one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his
head.
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I
will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity.
Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against
Jeremiah; 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 let us not give heed
to any of his words.
Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that
contend with me.
Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit
for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good
for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour
out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives
be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their
men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword
in battle.
Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a
troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take
me, and hid snares for my feet.
Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay
me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin
from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal
thus with them in the time of thine anger.
Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and
take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the
priests;
And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by
the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that
I shall tell thee,
And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and
inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the
which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place,
and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither
they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and
have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their
sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I
commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this
place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the
son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in
this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before
their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives:
and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one
that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of
all the plagues thereof.
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the
flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the
flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith
their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten
them.
Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that
go with thee,
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so
will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a
potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they
shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the
inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of
Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all
the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all
the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto
other gods.
Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, 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 of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I
will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil
that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened
their necks, that they might not hear my words.
Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief
governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah
prophesied these things.
Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the
stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by
the house of the LORD.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth
Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The
LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to
thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the
sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I
will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and
he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them
with the sword.
Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all
the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and
all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the
hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them,
and carry them to Babylon.
And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go
into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou
shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy
friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art
stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily,
every one mocketh me.
For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil;
because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and
a derision, daily.
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any
more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning
fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and
I could not stay.
For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report,
say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for
my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we
shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on
him.
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my
persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they
shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their
everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the
reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for
unto thee have I opened my cause.
Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered
the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein
my mother bare me be blessed.
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A
man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew,
and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and
the shouting at noontide;
Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might
have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and
sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king
Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and
Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD
will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he
may go up from us.
Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back
the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight
against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which
besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into
the midst of this city.
And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand
and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in
great wrath.
And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and
beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of
Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left
in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the
famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and
into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those
that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of
the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor
have mercy.
And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of
death.
He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by
the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and
falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and
his life shall be unto him for a prey.
For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for
good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the
king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the
word of the LORD;
O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the
morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of
the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that
none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and
rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come
down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,
saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest
thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of
Judah, and speak there this word,
And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that
sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and
thy people that enter in by these gates:
Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness,
and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and
do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless,
nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by
the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of
David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants,
and his people.
But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith
the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou
art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will
make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his
weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast
them into the fire.
And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say
every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus
unto this great city?
Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the
covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and
served them.
Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore
for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see
his native country.
For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah
king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father,
which went forth out of this place; He shall not return
thither any more:
But he shall die in the place whither they have led him
captive, and shall see this land no more.
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and
his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service
without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers,
and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and
painted with vermilion.
Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did
not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and
then it was well with him?
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well
with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.
But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy
covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for
oppression, and for violence, to do it.
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying,
Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him,
saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast
forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan,
and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will
not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou
obeyedst not my voice.
The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go
into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and
confounded for all thy wickedness.
O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars,
how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain
as of a woman in travail!
As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I
pluck thee thence;
And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life,
and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into
the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand
of the Chaldeans.
And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into
another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye
die.
But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall
they not return.
Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel
wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and
his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that
shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall
prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more
in Judah.
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of
my pasture! saith the LORD.
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the
pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and
driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will
visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them:
and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall
they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto
David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed
of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all
countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in
their own land.
Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my
bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine
hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words
of his holiness.
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing
the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are
dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not
right.
For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have
I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I
will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation,
saith the LORD.
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they
prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible
thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen
also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the
inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the
prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make
them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of
Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of
the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they
speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of
the LORD.
They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said,
Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh
after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come
upon you.
For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath
perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and
heard it?
Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a
grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of
the wicked.
The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have
executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his
heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not
spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people
to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
LORD.
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my
name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that
prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their
own heart;
Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their
dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their
fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is
the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD,
that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use
their tongues, and say, He saith.
Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith
the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by
their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor
commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at
all, saith the LORD.
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask
thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then
say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the
LORD.
And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that
shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man
and his house.
Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to
his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the
LORD spoken?
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every
man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the
words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD
answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith
the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD,
and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden
of the LORD;
Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I
will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your
fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set
before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the
carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to
Babylon.
One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are
first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which
could not be eaten, they were so bad.
Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I
said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs,
so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of
Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the
Chaldeans for their good.
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring
them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull
them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD:
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they
shall return unto me with their whole heart.
And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil;
surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king
of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that
remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of
the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a
taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I
gave unto them and to their fathers.
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of
Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king
of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon;
The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of
Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of
Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth
year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have
spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not
hearkened.
And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets,
rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor
inclined your ear to hear.
They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and
from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the
LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and
ever:
And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship
them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your
hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye
might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your
own hurt.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not
heard my words,
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,
saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my
servant, and will bring them against this land, and against
the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round
about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice
of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of
the candle.
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years.
And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are
accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that
nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of
the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have
pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book,
which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of
them also: and I will recompense them according to their
deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine
cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to
whom I send thee, to drink it.
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the
sword that I will send among them.
Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the
nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings
thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation,
an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and
all his people;
And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of
Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and
Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and
the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost
corners,
And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled
people that dwell in the desert,
And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all
the kings of the Medes,
And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with
another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the
face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after
them.
Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue,
and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will
send among you.
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand
to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD
of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by
my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be
unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the
inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say
unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his
voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon
his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the
grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD
hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all
flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith
the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from
nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up
from the coasts of the earth.
And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of
the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not
be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung
upon the ground.
Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the
ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your
slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye
shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal
of the flock to escape.
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the
principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath
spoiled their pasture.
And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the
fierce anger of the LORD.
He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is
desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and
because of his fierce anger.
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD's house,
and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship
in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to
speak unto them; diminish not a word:
If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil
way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do
unto them because of the evil of their doings.
And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will
not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before
you,
To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I
sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye
have not hearkened;
Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this
city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard
Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking
all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the
people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people
took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This
house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate
without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered
against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came
up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat
down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house.
Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and
to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he
hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your
ears.
Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the
people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this
house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the
voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of
the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth
good and meet unto you.
But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall
surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this
city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the
LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your
ears.
Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and
to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath
spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to
all the assembly of the people, saying,
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king
of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus
saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field,
and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the
house as the high places of a forest.
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to
death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and
the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced
against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our
souls.
And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the
LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who
prophesied against this city and against this land according
to all the words of Jeremiah.
And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all
the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to
death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and
went into Egypt;
And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan
the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him
unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast
his dead body into the graves of the common people.
Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with
Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the
people to put him to death.
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put
them upon thy neck,
And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab,
and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus,
and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which
come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;
And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your
masters;
I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the
ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have
given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.
And now have I given all these lands into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts
of the field have I given him also to serve him.
And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's
son, until the very time of his land come: and then many
nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which
will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,
and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the
sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I
have consumed them by his hand.
Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your
diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to
your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not
serve the king of Babylon:
For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your
land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the
king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still
in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and
dwell therein.
I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these
words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against
the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of
Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a
lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might
perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets
that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the
LORD's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon:
for they prophesy a lie unto you.
Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live:
wherefore should this city be laid waste?
But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with
them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts,
that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and
in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to
Babylon.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and
concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning
the residue of the vessels that remain in this city.
Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried
away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from
Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and
Jerusalem;
Yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,
concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD,
and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;
They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be
until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I
bring them up, and restore them to this place.
And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the
reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in
the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet,
which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD,
in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I
have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two full years will I bring again into this place all
the vessels of the LORD's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to
Babylon:
And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that
went into Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke
of the king of Babylon.
Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in
the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the
people that stood in the house of the LORD,
Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD
perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again
the vessels of the LORD's house, and all that is carried away
captive, from Babylon into this place.
Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine
ears, and in the ears of all the people;
The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old
prophesied both against many countries, and against great
kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.
The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the
prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known,
that the LORD hath truly sent him.
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet
Jeremiah's neck, and brake it.
And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations
within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah
went his way.
Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet,
after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off
the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast
broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes
of iron.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have
put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that
they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall
serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear
now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest
this people to trust in a lie.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from
off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because
thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.
So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh
month.
Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the
prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders
which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to
the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had
carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;
(After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs,
the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and
the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)
By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son
of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that
are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried
away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;
Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat
the fruit of them;
Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives
for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they
may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there,
and not diminished.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be
carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in
the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not
your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you,
deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to
be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent
them, saith the LORD.
For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be
accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good
word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the
LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected end.
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me,
and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me
with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn
away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the
nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you,
saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place
whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in
Babylon;
Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon
the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in
this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with
you into captivity;
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them
the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them
like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and
with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to
all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an
astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the
nations whither I have driven them:
Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD,
which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up
early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.
Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the
captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the
son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which
prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver
them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he
shall slay them before your eyes;
And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of
Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like
Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in
the fire;
Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have
committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have
spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded
them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.
Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying,
Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people
that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah
the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the
priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD,
for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that
thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.
Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth,
which maketh himself a prophet to you?
For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This
captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and
plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of
Jeremiah the prophet.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD
concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath
prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to
trust in a lie:
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah
the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell
among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I
will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught
rebellion against the LORD.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all
the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring
again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the
LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave
to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel
and concerning Judah.
For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling,
of fear, and not of peace.
Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?
wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a
woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is
even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of
it.
For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of
hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will
burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves
of him:
But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king,
whom I will raise up unto them.
Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD;
neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from
afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob
shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none
shall make him afraid.
For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I
make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee,
yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct
thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether
unpunished.
For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy
wound is grievous.
There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound
up: thou hast no healing medicines.
All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I
have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the
chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine
iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable
for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were
increased, I have done these things unto thee.
Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all
thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey
upon thee will I give for a prey.
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of
thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an
Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity
of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and
the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace
shall remain after the manner thereof.
And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of
them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall
not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be
small.
Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their
congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish
all that oppress them.
And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor
shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to
draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that
engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD.
And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a
continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of
the wicked.
The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he hath
done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart:
in the latter days ye shall consider it.
At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the
families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword
found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to
cause him to rest.
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of
Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and
shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the
planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount
Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the
LORD our God.
For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and
shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye,
and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather
them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and
the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with
child together: a great company shall return thither.
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I
lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters
in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a
father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the
isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather
him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the
hand of him that was stronger than he.
Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and
shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat,
and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and
of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and
they shall not sorrow any more at all.
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and
old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and
will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and
my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation,
and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to
be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine
eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the
LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy
children shall come again to their own border.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast
chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art
the LORD my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I
was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea,
even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I
spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still:
therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have
mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart
toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn
again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for
the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall
compass a man.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they
shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities
thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD
bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.
And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities
thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with
flocks.
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished
every sorrowful soul.
Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto
me.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the
house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man,
and with the seed of beast.
And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over
them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and
to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to
build, and to plant, saith the LORD.
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a
sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that
eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I
was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law
in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will
be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall
all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more.
Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day,
and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by
night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The
LORD of hosts is his name:
If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD,
then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation
before me for ever.
Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also
cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,
saith the LORD.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be
built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of
the corner.
And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon
the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and
all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of
the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD;
it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year
of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadrezzar.
For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and
Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison,
which was in the king of Judah's house.
For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore
dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I
will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and
he shall take it;
And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of
the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of
the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth,
and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be
until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the
Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper.
And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come
unto thee saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for
the right of redemption is thine to buy it.
So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the
prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me,
Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in
the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is
thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I
knew that this was the word of the LORD.
And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in
Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of
silver.
And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took
witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was
sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was
open:
And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of
Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine
uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that
subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that
sat in the court of the prison.
And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these
evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is
sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an
earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses
and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this
land.
Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto
Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying,
Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth
by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing
too hard for thee:
Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest
the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children
after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is
his name,
Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open
upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his
doings:
Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even
unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast
made thee a name, as at this day;
And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of
Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand,
and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;
And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their
fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy
voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of
all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast
caused all this evil to come upon them:
Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and
the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight
against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of
the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass;
and, behold, thou seest it.
And thou hast said unto me, O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for
money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand
of the Chaldeans.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any
thing too hard for me?
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city
into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come
and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon
whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured
out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.
For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only
done evil before me from their youth: for the children of
Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their
hands, saith the LORD.
For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger
and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this
day; that I should remove it from before my face,
Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the
children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to
anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and
their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem.
And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face:
though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet
they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
But they set their abominations in the house, which is called
by my name, to defile it.
And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the
valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their
daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I
commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they
should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel,
concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered
into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the
famine, and by the pestilence;
Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I
have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great
wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will
cause them to dwell safely:
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may
fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children
after them:
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will
not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my
fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will
plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with
my whole soul.
For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great
evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good
that I have promised them.
And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is
desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of
the Chaldeans.
Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and
seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in
the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in
the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley,
and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their
captivity to return, saith the LORD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second
time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison,
saying,
Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed
it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and
mighty things, which thou knowest not.
For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the
houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of
Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them
with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger
and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my
face from this city.
Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them,
and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of
Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they
have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their
iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have
transgressed against me.
And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour
before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the
good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for
all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure
unto it.
Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place,
which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast,
even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem,
that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and
without beast,
The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that
shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for
his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the
sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will
cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first,
saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is
desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities
thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their
flocks to lie down.
In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and
in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and
in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah,
shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that
telleth them, saith the LORD.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform
that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel
and to the house of Judah.
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of
righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land.
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell
safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called,
The LORD our righteousness.
For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit
upon the throne of the house of Israel;
Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to
offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do
sacrifice continually.
And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day,
and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day
and night in their season;
Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant,
that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and
with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of
the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my
servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The
two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast
them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should
be no more a nation before them.
Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night,
and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and
earth;
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant,
so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the
seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their
captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the
kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people,
fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof,
saying,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to
Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be
taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall
behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak
with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus
saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy
fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall
they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying,
Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah
king of Judah in Jerusalem,
When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and
against all the cities of Judah that were left, against
Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities
remained of the cities of Judah.
This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after
that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people
which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
That every man should let his manservant, and every man his
maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that
none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his
brother.
Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had
entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his
manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none
should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed,
and let them go.
But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the
handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought
them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with
your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,
At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an
Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath
served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee:
but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their
ear.
And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in
proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had
made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my
name:
But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his
servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at
liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into
subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me,
in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every
man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you,
saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the
famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the
kingdoms of the earth.
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant,
which have not performed the words of the covenant which they
had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and
passed between the parts thereof,
The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the
eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land,
which passed between the parts of the calf;
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into
the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies
shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the
beasts of the earth.
And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into
the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek
their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army,
which are gone up from you.
Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to
return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take
it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah
a desolation without an inhabitant.
The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and
bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the
chambers, and give them wine to drink.
Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of
Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole
house of the Rechabites;
And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the
chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of
God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above
the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the
door:
And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots
full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.
But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of
Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no
wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:
Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant
vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in
tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be
strangers.
Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our
father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all
our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;
Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we
vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done
according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came
up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to
Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear
of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell
the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not
receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.
The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his
sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they
drink none, but obey their father's commandment:
notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and
speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me.
I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising
up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man
from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after
other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which
I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not
inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.
Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed
the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but
this people hath not hearkened unto me:
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them:
because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and
I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed
the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his
precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded
you:
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before
me for ever.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from
the LORD, saying,
Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words
that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against
Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto
thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which
I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from
his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch
wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD,
which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot
go into the house of the LORD:
Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast
written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of
the people in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: and also
thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of
their cities.
It may be they will present their supplication before the
LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great
is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced
against this people.
And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that
Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the
words of the LORD in the LORD's house.
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed
a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to
all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto
Jerusalem.
Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the
house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of
Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the
new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the people.
When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had
heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,
Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's
chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the
scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son
of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the
son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had
heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah,
the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying,
Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears
of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the
roll in his hand, and came unto them.
And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears.
So Baruch read it in their ears.
Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they
were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will
surely tell the king of all these words.
And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou
write all these words at his mouth?
Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto
me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and
Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up
the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all
the words in the ears of the king.
So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out
of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the
ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which
stood beside the king.
Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and
there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four
leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire
that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the
fire that was on the hearth.
Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the
king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made
intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but
he would not hear them.
But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and
Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to
take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD
hid them.
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the
king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at
the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former
words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of
Judah hath burned.
And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the
LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou
written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly
come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from
thence man and beast?
Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead
body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the
night to the frost.
And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their
iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I
have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the
scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of
Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of
Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides
unto them many like words.
And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah
the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made
king in the land of Judah.
But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land,
did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the
prophet Jeremiah.
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and
Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet
Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they
had not put him into prison.
Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the
Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they
departed from Jerusalem.
Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah
saying,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to
the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me;
Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall
return to Egypt into their own land.
And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this
city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The
Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not
depart.
For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that
fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among
them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn
this city with fire.
And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was
broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land
of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the
people.
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward
was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the
son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the
Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took
Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him,
and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for
they had made that the prison.
When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the
cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king
asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word
from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou
shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I
offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against
this people, that ye have put me in prison?
Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying,
The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against
this land?
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my
supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou
cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe,
lest I die there.
Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit
Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should
give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street,
until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah
remained in the court of the prison.
Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of
Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of
Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all
the people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die
by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he
that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall
have his life for a prey, and shall live.
Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.
Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let
this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of
the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all
the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man
seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for
the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of
Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the
prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the
dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the
mire.
Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which
was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in
the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to
the king saying,
My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they
have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into
the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place
where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take
from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the
prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house
of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast
clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into
the dungeon to Jeremiah.
And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these
old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the
cords. And Jeremiah did so.
So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of
the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet
unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the
LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a
thing; hide nothing from me.
Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee,
wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee
counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?
So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As
the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee
to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men
that seek thy life.
Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God
of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth
unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live,
and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt
live, and thine house:
But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's
princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the
Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt
not escape out of their hand.
And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the
Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me
into their hand, and they mock me.
But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I
beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee:
so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the LORD
hath shewed me:
And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of
Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's
princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee
on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the
mire, and they are turned away back.
So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the
Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but
shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou
shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these
words, and thou shalt not die.
But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they
come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what
thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will
not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee:
Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication
before the king, that he would not cause me to return to
Jonathan's house, to die there.
Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he
told them according to all these words that the king had
commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter
was not perceived.
So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day
that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was
taken.
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth
month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army
against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the
ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.
And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in
the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim,
Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the
princes of the king of Babylon.
And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw
them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth
out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by
the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the
plain.
But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook
Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken
him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to
Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah
before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles
of Judah.
Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with
chains, to carry him to Babylon.
And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of
the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive
into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the
city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the
rest of the people that remained.
But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of
the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave
them vineyards and fields at the same time.
Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning
Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do
unto him even as he shall say unto thee.
So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban,
Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of
Babylon's princes;
Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the
prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the
son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt
among the people.
Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut
up in the court of the prison, saying,
Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my
words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they
shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou
shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art
afraid.
For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the
sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because
thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from
Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all
that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which
were carried away captive unto Babylon.
And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him,
The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath
said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not
obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which
were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with
me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if
it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear:
behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good
and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king
of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and
dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth
convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave
him victuals and a reward, and let him go.
Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah;
and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the
land.
Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the
fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of
Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the
land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children,
and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried
away captive to Babylon;
Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and
Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the
Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and
their men.
And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto
them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the
Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon,
and it shall be well with you.
As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to serve the
Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine,
and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and
dwell in your cities that ye have taken.
Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the
Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries,
heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah,
and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the
son of Shaphan;
Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were
driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto
Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.
Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of
the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to
Mizpah,
And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the
king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them
not.
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah
secretly saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it:
wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are
gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in
Judah perish?
But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of
Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest
falsely of Ishmael.
Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son
of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the
princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread
together in Mizpah.
Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that
were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of
Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon
had made governor over the land.
Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with
Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there,
and the men of war.
And it came to pass the second day after he had slain
Gedaliah, and no man knew it,
That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from
Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and
their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings
and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the
LORD.
And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to
meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass,
as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam.
And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the
midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.
But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay
us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of
barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them
not among their brethren.
Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of
the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was it which
Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were
slain.
Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the
people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all
the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away
captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.
But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of
the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the
son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are
in Gibeon.
Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with
Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of
the forces that were with him, then they were glad.
So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from
Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son
of Kareah.
But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with
eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of
the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people
whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from
Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam,
even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and
the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham,
which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them,
because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the
land.
Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of
Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people
from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our
supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the
LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but
a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk,
and the thing that we may do.
Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you;
behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your
words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the
LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep
nothing back from you.
Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful
witness between us, if we do not even according to all things
for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the
voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may
be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD
came unto Jeremiah.
Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains
of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the
least even to the greatest,
And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel,
unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you,
and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you
up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid;
be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to
save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon
you, and cause you to return to your own land.
But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey
the voice of the LORD your God,
Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we
shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have
hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of
Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye
wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn
there;
Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared,
shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine,
whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in
Egypt; and there ye shall die.
So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go
into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by
the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall
remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine
anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when
ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and
an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see
this place no more.
The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go
ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you
this day.
For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the
LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and
according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare
unto us, and we will do it.
And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not
obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the
which he hath sent me unto you.
Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword,
by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye
desire to go and to sojourn.
And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of
speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their
God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even
all these words,
Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of
Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou
speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say,
Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:
But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for
to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might
put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.
So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD,
to dwell in the land of Judah.
But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from
all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the
land of Judah;
Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters,
and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had
left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and
Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the
voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes,
saying,
Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in
the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in
Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king
of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these
stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion
over them.
And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and
deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for
captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the
sword.
And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt;
and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he
shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd
putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in
peace.
He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the
land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians
shall he burn with fire.
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which
dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at
Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen
all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all
the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a
desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
Because of their wickedness which they have committed to
provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to
serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor
your fathers.
Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising
early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable
thing that I hate.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from
their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.
Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was
kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God
of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your
souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling,
out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands,
burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither
ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and
that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations
of the earth?
Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the
wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their
wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your
wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in
the streets of Jerusalem?
They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they
feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set
before you and before your fathers.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut
off all Judah.
And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their
faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they
shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they
shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they
shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword
and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an
astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I
have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by
the pestilence:
So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the
land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that
they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they
have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return
but such as shall escape.
Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned
incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a
great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of
Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of
the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of
our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and
to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and
our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of
Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty
of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all
things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured
out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship
her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the
women, and to all the people which had given him that answer,
saying,
The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the
streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and
your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD
remember them, and came it not into his mind?
So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of
your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have
committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an
astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this
day.
Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned
against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD,
nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his
testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at
this day.
Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the
women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the
land of Egypt:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye
and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and
fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our
vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will
surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.
Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell
in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name,
saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the
mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying,
The Lord GOD liveth.
Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and
all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be
consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end
of them.
Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of
the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant
of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn
there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or their's.
And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will
punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall
surely stand against you for evil:
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of
Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them
that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the
hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that
sought his life.
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son
of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the
mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch:
Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief
to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.
Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold,
that which I have built will I break down, and that which I
have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for,
behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but
thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places
whither thou goest.
The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet
against the Gentiles;
Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt,
which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth
with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the
brigandines.
Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and
their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and
look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.
Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they
shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river
Euphrates.
Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved
as the rivers?
Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like
the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the
earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty
men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle
the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of
vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the
sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk
with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice
in the north country by the river Euphrates.
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of
Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt
not be cured.
The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled
the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty,
and they are fallen both together.
The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land
of Egypt.
Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in
Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee;
for the sword shall devour round about thee.
Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because
the LORD did drive them.
He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they
said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the
land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he
hath passed the time appointed.
As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts,
Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the
sea, so shall he come.
O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into
captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an
inhabitant.
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it
cometh out of the north.
Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted
bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away
together: they did not stand, because the day of their
calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall
march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers
of wood.
They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it
cannot be searched; because they are more than the
grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be
delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will
punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their
gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust
in him:
And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their
lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be
inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O
Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy
seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return,
and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am
with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations
whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of
thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee
wholly unpunished.
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against
the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,
and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the
land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell
therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of
the land shall howl.
At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong
horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of
his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children
for feebleness of hands;
Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,
and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that
remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the
remnant of the country of Caphtor.
Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the
remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be
quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge
against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he
appointed it.
Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and
taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.
There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have
devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from
being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the
sword shall pursue thee.
A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great
destruction.
Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be
heard.
For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up;
for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry
of destruction.
Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the
wilderness.
For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy
treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go
forth into captivity with his priests and his princes
together.
And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall
escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be
destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken.
Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the
cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell
therein.
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and
cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on
his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste
remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and
shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.
And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel
was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.
How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war?
Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen
young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King,
whose name is the LORD of hosts.
The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction
hasteth fast.
All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know
his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the
beautiful rod!
Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy
glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come
upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.
O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him
that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?
Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell
ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and
upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,
And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of
the land of Moab, far or near.
The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the
LORD.
Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the
LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall
be in derision.
For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among
thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for
joy.
O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the
rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides
of the hole's mouth.
We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his
loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the
haughtiness of his heart.
I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his
lies shall not so effect it.
Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all
Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.
O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of
Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to
the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits
and upon thy vintage.
And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and
from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the
winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting
shall be no shouting.
From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto
Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto
Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also
of Nimrim shall be desolate.
Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him
that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense
to his gods.
Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine
heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because
the riches that he hath gotten are perished.
For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon
all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of
Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like
a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.
They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab
turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a
dismaying to all them about him.
For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and
shall spread his wings over Moab.
Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the
mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart
of a woman in her pangs.
And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he
hath magnified himself against the LORD.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O
inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.
He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he
that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare:
for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their
visitation, saith the LORD.
They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of
the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a
flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of
Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for
thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.
Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter
days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no
sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad,
and his people dwell in his cities?
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites;
and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be
burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that
were his heirs, saith the LORD.
Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of
Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by
the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his
priests and his princes together.
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O
backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying,
Who shall come unto me?
Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of
hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be
driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him
that wandereth.
And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children
of Ammon, saith the LORD.
Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no
more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their
wisdom vanished?
Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I
will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will
visit him.
If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some
gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till
they have enough.
But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places,
and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled,
and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.
Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and
let thy widows trust in me.
For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not
to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he
that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go
unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall
become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all
the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent
unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against
her, and rise up to the battle.
For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and
despised among men.
Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine
heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that
holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy
nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence,
saith the LORD.
Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it
shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues
thereof.
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour
cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there,
neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will
suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man,
that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will
appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand
before me?
Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken
against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against
the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall
draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate
with them.
The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the
noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his
wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the
mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they
have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is
sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and
fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her,
as a woman in travail.
How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the
men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of
hosts.
And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall
consume the palaces of Benhadad.
Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the
LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.
Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall
take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and
their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every
side.
Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor,
saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken
counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth
without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor
bars, which dwell alone.
And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their
cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that
are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity
from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.
And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation
for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man
dwell in it.
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against
Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah,
saying,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of
Elam, the chief of their might.
And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four
quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those
winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of
Elam shall not come.
For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and
before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon
them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send
the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence
the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will
bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the
land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a
standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel
is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are
confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell
therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and
beast.
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children
of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together,
going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward,
saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a
perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused
them to go astray, they have turned them away on the
mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have
forgotten their restingplace.
All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries
said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the
LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of
their fathers.
Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the
land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the
flocks.
For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an
assembly of great nations from the north country: and they
shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she
shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert
man; none shall return in vain.
And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be
satisfied, saith the LORD.
Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of
mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at
grass, and bellow as bulls;
Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall
be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a
wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited,
but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by
Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye
that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath
sinned against the LORD.
Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is
the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she
hath done, do unto her.
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the
sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing
sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall
flee every one to his own land.
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away:
first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I
have punished the king of Assyria.
And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall
feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied
upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and
the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will
pardon them whom I reserve.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and
against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy
after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I
have commanded thee.
A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!
how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O
Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also
caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.
The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the
weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord
GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses:
cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of
her be left.
Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe
unto them! for their day is come, the time of their
visitation.
The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of
Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,
the vengeance of his temple.
Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend
the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape:
recompense her according to her work; according to all that
she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against
the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her
men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.
Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord
GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit
thee.
And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall
raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it
shall devour all round about him.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the
children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took
them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he
shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to
the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the
inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her
wise men.
A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is
upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and
upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and
they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and
they shall be robbed.
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for
it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their
idols.
Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts
of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell
therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither
shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities
thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither
shall any son of man dwell therein.
Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great
nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of
the earth.
They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and
will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and
they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a
man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his
hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of
a woman in travail.
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them
suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I
may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint
me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before
me?
Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken
against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed
against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the
flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their
habitation desolate with them.
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and
the cry is heard among the nations.
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up
against me, a destroying wind;
And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and
shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be
against her round about.
Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and
against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and
spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and
they that are thrust through in her streets.
For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of
the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin
against the Holy One of Israel.
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his
soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of
the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made
all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine;
therefore the nations are mad.
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take
balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake
her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her
judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the
skies.
The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let
us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath
raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device
is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance
of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch
strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the
LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against
the inhabitants of Babylon.
O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,
thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will
fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift
up a shout against thee.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the
world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his
understanding.
When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in
the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the
ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is
confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is
falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.
The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of
all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD
of hosts is his name.
Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will
I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy
kingdoms;
And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his
rider;
With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with
thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will
I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his
flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and
his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces
captains and rulers.
And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of
Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your
sight, saith the LORD.
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the
LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out
mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and
will make thee a burnt mountain.
And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a
stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever,
saith the LORD.
Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the
nations, prepare the nations against her, call together
against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz;
appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as
the rough caterpillers.
Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes,
the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the
land of his dominion.
And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of
the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land
of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have
remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became
as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are
broken.
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet
another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at
one end,
And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have
burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The
daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to
thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest
shall come.
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath
crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed
me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my
delicates, he hath cast me out.
The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall
the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants
of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause,
and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and
make her springs dry.
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons,
an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions'
whelps.
In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep,
and not wake, saith the LORD.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams
with he goats.
How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole
earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among
the nations!
The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the
multitude of the waves thereof.
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a
land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass
thereby.
And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out
of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations
shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of
Babylon shall fall.
My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every
man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that
shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year,
and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and
violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon
the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be
confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall
sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from
the north, saith the LORD.
As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at
Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still:
remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your
mind.
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath
covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries
of the LORD's house.
Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she
should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall
spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans:
Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of
her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters,
a noise of their voice is uttered:
Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and
her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken:
for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.
And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her
captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall
sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose
name is the LORD of hosts.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall
be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with
fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the
fire, and they shall be weary.
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son
of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the
king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign.
And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon
Babylon, even all these words that are written against
Babylon.
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and
shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this
place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither
man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this
book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the
midst of Euphrates:
And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not
rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall
be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's
name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD,
according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem
and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the
tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army,
against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts
against it round about.
So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king
Zedekiah.
And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the
famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for
the people of the land.
Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and
went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate
between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now
the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by
the way of the plain.
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and
overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army
was scattered from him.
Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of
Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave
judgment upon him.
And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his
eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon
bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him
in prison till the day of his death.
Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which
was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king
of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and
all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great
men, burned he with fire:
And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain
of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round
about.
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive
certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the
people that remained in the city, and those that fell away,
that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the
multitude.
But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the
poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD,
and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the
LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them
to Babylon.
The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the
bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith
they ministered, took they away.
And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the
caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups;
that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver
in silver, took the captain of the guard away.
The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were
under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of
the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was
eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it;
and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.
And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one
chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon
the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar
also and the pomegranates were like unto these.
And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all
the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about.
And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest,
and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the
door:
He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge
of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the
king's person, which were found in the city; and the principal
scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and
threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in
the midst of the city.
So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought
them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in
Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away
captive out of his own land.
This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive:
in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:
In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away
captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:
In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews
seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were
four thousand and six hundred.
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month,
in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach
king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the
head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of
prison.
And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne
of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat
bread before him all the days of his life.
And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the
king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his
death, all the days of his life.